Attorney general’s visit to WSU met by protesters 

Kylie Cameron, Editor in Chief|October 2, 2019

Matthew Kelly

Protesters argue with officers about if they have to move from in front of the Law Enforcement Training Center ahead of Attorney General Bill Barr’s October visit. Protesters were ultimately allowed to stay.

Protesters lined the streets Wednesday outside the Law Enforcement Training Center on Wichita State’s Innovation Campus ahead of Attorney General William Barr’s visit. 

Barr traveled to WSU with Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kansas) for a roundtable with local law enforcement, where they talked about reducing violent crime.

Protesters were upset about Barr’s alleged role in covering up the whistleblower complaint of President Donald Trump’s phone call where Trump requested Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky investigate 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, for Hunter’s business dealings in Ukraine. The phone calls in question took place as US aid to the Ukraine was being withheld. 

“We are very unhappy about things going on at the federal level with our president and the coverup with Ukraine, is my issue,” Levi Griffey said. “I’m here because our president basically used money to get political influence over a political opponent.

“Maybe Mr. Biden did something, maybe he didn’t, but using a foreign government to dig up goods . . .” Griffey said. “They’re all in it up to their eyeballs. They all know what’s going on.”

The protesters were originally asked to move by police, citing that the First Amendment activities must take place in one of WSU’s five “free-speech zones.” But after protesters pushed back against the request, police eventually let the protesters stay put. 

Protesters also alleged Barr doesn’t work for the United States anymore.

“We don’t have a Department of Justice anymore; we don’t have an attorney general anymore. The president does,” Vicki Wagner said. “He’s working for the president.”

“They act so guilty, and yet people keep defending them.” 

Some protesters said they were disappointed by the turnout of roughly 30 people. The protest was scheduled for 1:30 p.m., according to a Facebook event by ICTindivisible.

“I thought there’d be hundreds of people here — a lot of them had to work, I know,” Wagner said. “It was kind of sprung on us. They kept it secret for a reason.”