Attorney General William Barr did not appear before the House Judiciary Committee last week because he disagreed with chairman Jerrold Nadler's (D-NY) oversight. He specifically objected to Nadler wanting staffers to ask questions. So, the hearing proceeded without the key witness, and it went about as well as you'd expect.
The committee's failure to question Barr wasn't even the most embarrassing part of the event, however. Before the hearing began, Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) brought a bucket of KFC chicken and started chowing down on it. It wasn't even 10 a.m. yet. The meal was his attempt to tell everyone that Barr was a chicken. Yes, this is Congress and not middle school.
ICYMI:
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) May 3, 2019
Sick burn by Rep. Steve Cohen.
He’s eating chicken to indicate that AG Barr is a “chicken”. Get it!? pic.twitter.com/FuuGcSmSw1
In case no one got his message at the hearing, following the event Cohen brought a toy chicken before the cameras and spelled it out for us.
Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen, who brought a ceramic chicken and ate from a bucket of KFC during the House Judiciary hearing, says “‘Chicken Barr’ should have shown up today and answered questions” https://t.co/PVMpCmTID2 pic.twitter.com/7sOgTV2yBz
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) May 2, 2019
"Last Week Tonight" HBO host John Oliver told his viewers that the "pathetic" stunt backfired.
“Yeah, we get it. You’ve made that painfully obvious. And it gets even more pathetic,” explained Oliver. Because the Barr hearing was at 9:30 a.m., and because the nearest KFC didn’t open until 10:30 a.m., Cohen—as The Daily Beast reported—“bought the chicken the night before and kept it in his fridge.”
“Which is just tragic for so many reasons,” said Oliver. “One, he’s biting into leftover KFC—or, as it’s more commonly known, ‘trash.’ And two, that means this adult man probably lay in bed all night thinking about how fucking awesome his chicken joke was going to be—and he was completely wrong about that.”
Although he wasn't as gimmicky about it as Rep. Cohen, Chairman Nadler also accused Barr of chickening out of last week's hearing. He gave Barr until today to provide the entire, unredacted Mueller report.