U.S. Attorney General William Barr returned to Wisconsin Tuesday, three weeks after a visit to Kenosha to see the aftermath of arson, looting and vandalism that followed protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake. This time, he was announcing the arrests of 26 people in Milwaukee and California, charged in a sprawling drug trafficking and money laundering conspiracy, as the latest victory in Operation Legend, launched in July to target violent street crime in some major cities, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Barr’s visit to election swing-state Wisconsin came a day before Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s scheduled foreign policy speech in the state Capitol in Madison and Vice President Mike Pence’s planned visit to Eau Claire on Thursday. It also comes the day after Democratic contender Joe Biden visited a foundry in Manitowoc.
While Barr never mentioned the presidential race, he focused on the kind of law and order theme that’s been central to President Donald Trump’s campaign. Barr and U.S. Attorney Matthew Krueger hosted a similar event last month, touting the number of arrests and charges resulting from the assignment of more than two dozen federal agents to Milwaukee and seven other cities to address violent crime. On Tuesday, Krueger said the roundup included seizures under 24 search warrants of at least 33 firearms — including one stolen from the Milwaukee Police Department and recovered in California — and at least $170,000 in cash and drugs, including 700 grams of heroin at a single location.