Barr takes center stage in Jan. 6 hearings and dangerous heat arrives

Barr told Trump his fraud claims were 'bull----.'

• Former Attorney General Bill Barr's deposition was center stage at Monday's hearing of the committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. Historically seen as an ally of Trump's, Barr sat hunched over a table surrounded by committee investigators and told story after story of how he pushed back on baseless claims of election fraud embraced by the former president and some of his allies. “Right out of the box on election night, the president claimed that there was major fraud underway,” Barr said in videotaped testimony shown Monday. “I mean, as far as I could tell, before there was actually any potential evidence."

• After the election, the Department of Justice received an “avalanche of allegations of fraud,” all of which Barr said were “completely bogus and silly and based on misinformation.” Barr said he told Trump that the Justice Department “is not an extension of your legal team” and that his campaign would have to raise those concerns with individual states.

• Seemingly fed up with the president, on Dec. 1, 2020, Barr sat for a lunchtime interview with a news reporter and told the reporter the Justice Department had not found any amount of fraud in the 2020 election that would have changed the outcome. Barr had an already scheduled meeting with chief of staff Mark Meadows a few hours later. Before leaving for the meeting, Barr said, he told his secretary that he may get fired, and she would have to clean out his office for him if he wasn't allowed back in the building. “The president was as mad as I’d ever seen him, and he was trying to control himself,” Barr said. “The president said: ‘Well this is killing me. You didn’t have to say this. You must have said this because you hate Trump. You hate Trump.’”

• The hearing continues Wednesday morning.

Here comes the heat

• Heat index values -- what it actually feels like outside when heat is combined with humidity -- will reach 100 to 105 degrees across much of southern Wisconsin, including the Milwaukee metro area, on Tuesday and again on Wednesday.

• Milwaukee Public Schools will be closing early on Tuesday due to the expected hot weather.

• Here's how and where to cool off.

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The Fun Stuff

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The Games

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BREWER PROSPECTS: Most of the Brewers' top 10 prospects are faring well, while Jackson Chourio breaks through.

Today's Weather

It's hot. See above.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Barr takes center stage in Jan. 6 hearings and dangerous heat arrives