"What the hell is going on at DOJ" indeed

A senior Department of Justice official on Wednesday corrected comments by Attorney General William Barr, who minutes earlier had said 200 arrests had been made within two weeks in Kansas City as part of Operation Legend, a federal anti-crime effort.

Barr’s comments had come during a news conference Wednesday about the operation, which is said to be sending hundreds of federal agents into the metro area to stop a surge of violent crime in the city.

“Just to give you an idea of what’s possible, the FBI went in very strong into Kansas City and within two weeks we’ve had 200 arrests,” Barr had said.

  KC Star

Wrong.

Speaking with McClatchy after the Wednesday event, the senior Justice Department official clarified that the 200 figure included arrests dating back to December 2019.

It also included, the official said, both state and FBI arrests in joint operations.

Bill Barr is a proven liar. (Ask Robert Mueller.) Believe nothing he says.

The official said Barr was referring to the number of arrests made in the city since the launch of Operation Relentless Pursuit, a precursor effort to Operation Legend that surged federal agents in U.S. cities facing crime waves, including Kansas City.

I guess it's fitting they give them military operations type names.

Wednesday’s statement by Barr came just two days after the first charge was announced in connection with Operation Legend.

Monty W. Ray, 20, of Kansas City, was arrested Friday by an Independence officer and an agent with the U.S. Marshals Service. Ray was charged Monday in federal court with being an unlawful drug user in possession of firearms, according to a criminal complaint.

Since you can't charge someone with protesting, I guess. Or for caring firearms in Missouri, for that matter.

Prior to the DOJ’s correction of the misinformation, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas had cast doubt on the claim. Lucas said that he was aware only of one arrest that had been announced by the U.S. attorney’s office in Kansas City.

“You can’t verify it because nothing can be verified... This is where some of the confusion goes on,” Lucas said.

[...]

Matthew Miller, a former DOJ official, was shocked by Barr’s statement after The Star reported on its inaccuracy.

“Wow. Barr says today there have been 200 arrests in the past two weeks. KC says the real number is more like one. Then DOJ backtracks and says 200 is since December and includes local arrests. What the hell is going on at DOJ?” tweeted Miller, who led the DOJ’s public affairs from 2009 to 2011 during President Barack Obama’s administration.

Probably wasn't actually shocked.

On Thursday, the White House touted the operation as a successful federal response to violent crime.

Not a federal responsibility.

Tim Garrison, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri, [...] said Monday that any federal agents making arrests as part of the new operation to reduce violent crime locally will be clearly identifiable.

Like they are in Portland?

He said the effort would not bear any resemblance to the operation playing out in Portland, Oregon.

Except for the part where they are federal officers interfering in states' policing activities, the actual operation.

“These agents won’t be patrolling the streets,” Garrison said. “They won’t replace or usurp the authority of local officers.”

Then why are they there?

“At a time when confidence and trust in the Department of Justice and federal law enforcement is at a low point, the last thing you want is to have someone suggest you are padding your numbers to make a political point or that the Attorney General is unaware of the situation on the ground in Kansas City,” said Stephen Hill, Jr., who served as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri from 1993 to 2001 during Bill Clinton’s presidency. “Either one hurts the effort and the public confidence it needs to be successful.”

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced the expansion of Operation Legend into additional cities around the country, defying local government officials who have warned that he lacked the authority to send federal agents into their streets.

[...]

Following the expansion announcement, Lucas said Trump was “exploiting the pain of our particularly Black community” during an election year.

“I do have concerns with the president’s racial undertones in his rhetoric. When I was growing up they used to call it dog-whistling. I think the president has exceeded that,” Lucas said.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.