Barr to meet with Arkansas officials, business leaders

07/08/2020
Arkansas Democrat Gazette

 Attorney General William Barr is traveling to Central Arkansas for meetings Thursday, it was announced today.

The head of the Department of Justice was expected to attend a roundtable with law enforcement officials Thursday morning; have lunch with Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and then meet with Arkansas business leaders in the afternoon.

Two members of the state’s all-Republican congressional delegation, U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton and U.S. Rep. French Hill were expected to meet with Barr as well.

A press conference was also tentatively scheduled.

Barr’s trip comes on the heels of a trip to Columbia, S.C., where he was scheduled to discuss “justice in America,” according to a press release.

Along with U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., Barr planned to meet separately with religious leaders at Bethel A.M.E. church and with law enforcement officials in a building near the capitol grounds.

Barr, 70, served as President George H.W. Bush’s attorney general from November 1991 to January 1993.

After the rocky departure of Jeff Sessions, Trump picked Barr as his replacement.

Last month Barr and Trump attended an event at Gateway Church in Dallas, where Barr touted the First Step Act, a law that shortened mandatory minimum prison sentences for federal inmates convicted of nonviolent offenses.

The measure passed with bipartisan support despite fierce opposition from Cotton, who questioned whether the government could accurately determine an inmate’s risk of recidivism.

“I understand why liberals have such faith. But it is surprising to me that conservatives, and especially libertarians, have faith that government bureaucrats can judge the state of a felon’s soul and predict his future behavior,” he wrote in National Review, weeks before the legislation’s passage.