WATCH: Attorney General William Barr Compares Coronavirus Lockdowns To Slavery

Attorney General William Barr suggested on Wednesday evening that “other than slavery” coronavirus lockdowns are the “greatest intrusion on civil liberties” in U.S. history.

Barr’s comments came during a Constitution Day forum at Hillsdale College, commemorating the Framer’s official Constitutional signatures in 1789 in Philadelphia.

During the convention, Barr had a four-minute conversation by the event host, who had asked him to explain the “constitutional hurdles for forbidding a church from meeting during COVID-19.”

Barr jumped into a discussion about how state governors were using their executive powers to prevent citizens and businesses from going back to work.

In recent weeks, Barr has taken a much more aggressive stance toward defending Trump administration policies, including arguing that voting by mail is not safe and castigating state governors for their coronavirus responses.

“Most of the governors do what bureaucrats always do, which is they … defy common sense,” Barr said. “They treat free citizens as babies that can’t take responsibility for themselves and others.”

“We have to give business people an opportunity, tell them what the rules are you know the masks, which rule of masks, you had this month…and then let them try to adapt their business to that, and you’ll have ingenuity and people will at least have the freedom to try to earn a living,” he added.

.@WhipClyburn, the highest-ranking African American in Congress, calls Barr’s comment comparing coronavirus lockdown orders to slavery one of the “most ridiculous, tone-deaf, God-awful things I’ve ever heard.” pic.twitter.com/3GMYWNGE1X

— Quint Forgey (@QuintForgey) September 17, 2020