Barr: Questioning Election Results ‘Precipitated’ the Capitol Riot

Former U.S. Attorney General William Barr is suggesting that questioning the results of the 2020 presidential election “precipitated” the U.S. Capitol riot nearly two weeks ago.

Barr noted during an ITV News interview that “most people are exercising their First Amendment rights” protesting, but “there was a substantial group” that went further with breaking into the U.S. Capitol.

“I’m sad to see, but not surprised in a way to see, the kind of violence we saw on Capitol Hill,” Barr, who left office in December, continued. “I consider it despicable.”

He added, “Regardless of which side of the political spectrum is involved, we just cannot tolerate violence interfering with the processes of government.”

Watch Barr’s interview below:

He also said:

“I’ll leave it to the people who are looking into the genesis of this to say whether incitement was involved. I don’t know if I’d use the word ‘inevitable,’ but I think that when you start suppressing free speech, when people lose confidence in the media, and also when they lose faith in the integrity of elections, you’re going to have some people resort to violence.”

Barr noted that when he first became the attorney general “one of the things I was concerned about was the emergence of violence in the political process.”