On Monday afternoon, as President Trump walked from the White House to nearby St. John’s Church to stage a photo op, Attorney General William Barr gave the order to law enforcement to disperse a crowd of peaceful protesters at the north end of Lafayette Square. Riot police and mounted officers used smoke grenades and chemical spray to clear the area. Reports Forbes..
Since that violent scene unfolded, members of the faculty of George Washington University Law School, where Barr earned his law degree in 1977, have been discussing whether the school should revoke his honorary degree, conferred when he first served as attorney general under President George H.W. Bush in 1992. The move to strip Barr of his degree was first reported by the Daily Beast.
After Barr’s actions were widely criticized and the President’s media event derided by religious leaders and mocked by late night talk show hosts, the Attorney General defended himself yesterday at a news conference, claiming that the crowd was “becoming increasingly unruly.” Cell phone videos of the incident suggest that account was false.
A GW Law spokesperson confirms that members of the faculty are in conversations with one another about whether Barr should be stripped of his honorary degree. Among the things faculty members are considering is whether Barr abused his authority.
