STATEMENT BY CONGRESSMAN WM. LACY CLAY (D) MISSOURI REGARDING U.S. SENATOR JOSH HAWLEY’s REQUEST TO THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE TO INVESTIGATE ST. LOUIS CIRCUIT ATTORNEY KIMBERLY GARDNER

STATEMENT BY

CONGRESSMAN WM. LACY CLAY (D) MISSOURI

REGARDING U.S. SENATOR JOSH HAWLEY’s REQUEST TO THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE TO INVESTIGATE

ST. LOUIS CIRCUIT ATTORNEY KIMBERLY GARDNER

NOTE:

The following in its entirety, is a first-person statement by

Congressman Wm. Lacy Clay (D) Missouri

“I am appalled that Missouri’s junior U.S. Senator would attempt to interfere with an ongoing criminal investigation in the City of St. Louis by asking our racist, incompetent President and his failed Attorney General; who has long-since surrendered any allegiance to the rule of law; to misuse the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division by intervening in this case.

The Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice was created to investigate and defend the rights of African Americans and other minorities who have been subjected to generations of racially-fueled violence, police misconduct, and voter suppression.  It was not created to harass and interfere with local law enforcement.  And it was not created to allow federal elected officials to interfere with local law enforcement by inflaming racial divisions to advance their own political agendas.

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner is conducting a proper, ongoing investigation into the potentially tragic incident that occurred on Portland Place in St. Louis’ Central West End.  I am fully confident that she will apply the facts and the law, without prejudice, to reach a proper decision.

The rights of non-violent protestors are guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and should never be subject to the threat of deadly force, whether by individuals or by the police.

The young Americans who are on the streets in St. Louis and across the nation deserve constitutional policing and a government as good as they are.  I stand with them.