LIVE: Republican congressman Louie Gohmert disrupts a witness' opening remarks because 'there are no rules about when you can make noise'

• The House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday ia holding a hearing on Attorney General William Barr's decisions as head of the Justice Department.
• New York Rep. Jerry Nadler, the committee's chairman, excoriated "the extremes to which Mr. Barr has reached to carry out the president's bidding."
• The committee will hear testimony from two DOJ officials: Aaron Zelinsky, a federal prosecutor at the US attorney's office in Baltimore, and John Elias, a senior official in the department's antitrust division.
• Zelinsky will testify that DOJ leaders improperly intervened in the case against the former Republican strategist Roger Stone at Barr's direction because they were "afraid of the president."
• Elias will testify that Barr weaponized the antitrust division to harass marijuana companies because he doesn't like the cannabis industry.
• The committee will also hear testimony from two former DOJ officials: former Attorney General Michael Mukasey and former Deputy Attorney General Donald Ayer. Mukasey was invited to testify by the panel's Republicans.
• Scroll down to watch the hearing and follow Business Insider's live coverage.

The House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday held an oversight hearing focusing on Attorney General William Barr's decisions as head of the Justice Department.

As part of the proceedings, the committee will hear testimony from two DOJ officials: Aaron Zelinsky, a federal prosecutor at the US attorney's office in Baltimore, and John Elias, a senior official in the department's antitrust division.

Zelinsky worked on then special counsel Robert Mueller's team during the FBI's investigation into Russian interference in the US election, and he is expected to testify Wednesday that the senior DOJ officials improperly interfered in the sentencing recommendation for the longtime former Republican strategist Roger Stone.

Specifically, he will tell lawmakers that DOJ leaders sought a weaker sentence for Stone at Barr's direction because they were "afraid of the president."

Elias will testify that Barr weaponized the antitrust division to harass marijuana companies because he doesn't like the cannabis industry.

The committee will also hear testimony from two former DOJ officials: former Attorney General Michael Mukasey and former Deputy Attorney General Donald Ayer. Mukasey was invited to testify by Republicans on the panel.

Watch the hearing below:

Republican lawmaker disrupts Ayer's opening remarks, defends his actions by saying there are 'no rules about when you can make noise'

Fox News/YouTube

While Ayer was speaking, Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert began tapping on his desk to disrupt Ayer's opening remarks because he had gone over his time limit. When Democratic lawmakers asked Gohmert to stop, Gohmert responded, "There's no rules about when you can make noise."

Ayer: 'Barr is using a criminal investigation to produce fodder for the president's campaign propaganda mill'

Donald Ayer testifies at a June 24 House Judiciary Committee hearing      Screenshot via C-SPAN

Ayer didn't mince words when he made his opening remarks, skewering the attorney general for flouting the rule of law and inappropriately meddling in criminal investigations to help Trump.

"I am here because I believe that William Barr poses the greatest threat in my lifetime to our rule of law and to public trust in it," Ayer testified.

He added that the attorney general "is using a criminal investigation to produce fodder for the president's campaign propaganda mill" by accusing the FBI of "spying" on Trump's 2016 campaign and repeatedly intervening in cases related to the Russia probe to have them overturned or to seek lesser sentences for defendants who are allies of the president.