-- Barr made remarks at conference held by Federalist Society in Washington, DC
-- He slammed 'encroachment' by judicial and legislative branches of government
-- Barr accused Democrats of questioning legitimacy of Trump's presidency
-- His speech came as House heard more testimony in impeachment inquiry

By ARIEL ZILBER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM and ASSOCIATED PRESS, 16 November 2019

Attorney General William Barr accused Democrats of ‘waging a scorched-earth, no-holds-barred war of resistance’ against President Trump designed to ‘sabotage the functioning of the executive branch.’

The nation’s top prosecutor made the remarks in a speech to conservative lawyers who gathered in Washington, DC, on Friday for a conference.

‘In waging a scorched-earth, no-holds-barred war of resistance against this administration, it is the left that is engaged in a systematic shredding of norms and undermining the rule of law,’ Barr told guests of the Federalist Society convention in the capital.

Barr, who was named Attorney General by Trump after the resignation of Jeff Sessions last year, accused the ‘resistance’ of ‘dangerous’ and ‘incendiary’ language by questioning the legitimacy of the sitting government.

This is a very dangerous and indeed incendiary notion to import into the politics of a democratic republic,’ Barr said.

‘The fact is that, yes, while the president has certainly thrown out the traditional beltway playbook and punctilio, he was upfront about what he was going to do and the people decided that he was going to serve as president.’

Barr said the legislative and judicial branches were in the midst of a yearslong campaign to chip away at the powers of the executive branch.

‘I deeply admire the American presidency as a political and constitutional institution,’ Barr said.

‘Unfortunately over the past several decades, we have seen a steady encroachment on executive authority by the other branches of the government.’

Barr lamented the ‘avalanche of subpoenas’ as well as Democratic efforts to derail appointments by the Trump administration.

These tactics, according to Barr, have had the effect of ‘incapacitating’ the executive branch.

‘Immediately after President Trump won the election, opponents inaugurated what they called the “resistance” and they rallied around an explicit strategy of using every tool and maneuver to sabotage the functioning of the executive branch and his administration,’ the Attorney General said.

The cost of this constant harassment is real,’ he continued.

He said they 'essentially see themselves engaged in a war to cripple by any means necessary.'

Barr said that the use of the term ‘resistance’ to describe opposition to Trump is problematic since it implies that the administration seized power by undemocratic means.

‘Now resistance is the language used to describe insurgency against rule imposed by an occupying military power,’ Barr said.

‘It obviously connotes that the government is not legitimate.’

Barr’s remarks came on the same day that his Justice Department secured a conviction against a former Trump associate, Roger Stone.

A federal jury convicted Stone of tampering with a witness and lying to Congress about his attempts to learn of hacked Democratic emails during the 2016 presidential election.

He’s scheduled to be sentenced on February 6 and could face up to 20 years behind bars.

The President is also facing the growing specter of impeachment as the Democrat-run House of Representatives continues its investigation into contacts with Ukraine.

The investigation centers on whether Trump’s push for Ukrainian officials to investigate his political rivals amounted to an abuse of power, a charge he and Republicans vigorously deny.

In chilling detail, ousted US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch described to Trump impeachment investigators on Friday how she felt threatened upon learning that Trump had promised Ukraine’s leader she was ‘going to go through some things.’

Trump was unwilling to stay silent during Yovanovitch’s testimony, focusing even greater national attention on the House hearing by becoming a participant.

He tweeted fresh criticism of her, saying that things ‘turned bad’ everywhere she served before he fired her - a comment that quickly was displayed on a video screen in the hearing room.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...resistance.html