They Tried to Surprise Barr with Band, So He Grabs the Bagpipes and Unleashes Surprise of His Own
Attorney General William Barr seems to be full of pleasant surprises.
He proved that Wednesday before making remarks at the U.S. Attorneys’ National Conference at Department of Justice headquarters in Washington, D.C., when he grabbed a set of bagpipes and stunned onlookers with his obvious talent.
Barr waited until the performance by a pipe and drum band stopped momentarily.
He rose up out of his seat and — presumably to the complete and total shock of the audience — walked onto the stage with a set of bagpipes, according to The Daily Caller News Foundation.
VIDEO:
Before delivering remarks this morning to a gathering of U.S. attorneys at the Justice Department, Attorney General William Barr played the bagpipes: pic.twitter.com/4OGLmlenUc— CSPAN (@cspan) June 26, 2019
Barr, an experienced piper, showed off his talent alongside the NYPD Emerald Society pipe band, who were scheduled to play right before his speech at the conference.
He played a classic tune called “Scotland the Brave.”
After he finished the song, he jokingly asked the crowd, “Now how was that for an icebreaker?”
You can watch another, closeup clip of Barr playing the pipes below.
WATCH: Attorney General William Barr plays the bagpipes at a Justice Department event https://t.co/RfKeHkwMFs pic.twitter.com/08MT6Ijhez
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) June 26, 2019
During his remarks, Barr explained why he chose to grace the crowd with his high-level musical skills.
“[My staff was] going to surprise me by having the Emerald Society pipe band come down from New York, but as you know I’m very proficient at — dare I say the word — spying,” Barr said, which prompted laughter from the audience.
“And I discovered the plot and so this was my counter-surprise,” Barr added.
That isn’t the first time Barr has stunned an audience with his proficiency on the pipes.
After he was nominated to be attorney general by former President George H.W. Bush in 1991, he played the pipes at the reception following his swearing-in.
CNN reported that Barr also belted out tunes on the pipes as recently as December at his daughter’s wedding.
Twitter users loved his most recent performance.
Fox News analyst Brit Hume was especially impressed with Barr’s piping skills.
“You don’t have to be Irish or Scottish (I’m a Scot) to think this is cool,” he tweeted.
You don’t have to be Irish or Scottish (I’m a Scot) to think this is cool. https://t.co/ga1m4HNe1l
— Brit Hume (@brithume) June 26, 2019
Sadly, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the liberal mainstream media take his humorous “spying” joke out of context and use it to paint him as some kind of shady Trump crony.
Unfortunately, that’s the nature of the political world we live in today.
It’s so refreshing to see high-profile figures like Barr step outside of the realm of serious business for a few minutes and show off such an incredible talent.
Even if only for a short moment, the entire audience probably forgot about politics.
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