(CNN) Attorney General William Barr trashed the so-called resistance movement and mocked Senate Democrats -- as well as the Oscar-nominated movie "Vice" -- in a marathon speech Friday evening that affirmed his credentials as a staunch defender of presidential power.

Barr was at his most animated in the speech before a friendly crowd. But the substance of his remarks touched on some of the most serious issues facing the country now -- including Congress' ongoing investigations into President Donald Trump, and Barr's department's attempts to protect the White House from subpoenas during impeachment and other inquiries.

Before a crowd of high-powered attorneys at the annual confab of the Federalist Society, a conservative legal group, the attorney general said the Democrats "have decided to drown the executive branch with oversight demands for testimony and documents."

"I don't deny that Congress has some implied authority, but the sheer volume of what we see today, the pursuit of scores of parallel investigations through an avalanche of subpoenas, is plainly designed to incapacitate the executive branch and indeed is touted as such," Barr said.

Barr also invoked the movie "Vice" and a scene depicting a young Dick Cheney plotting a "new nefarious theory that will allow them to just take over the world"-- by giving more power to the president. But Barr said the pushes by the president in recent administrations have attempted to keep the balance of powers in check.

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