More than 1,000 former US Department of Justice officials on Sunday called for US Attorney General William Barr to resign over his handling of the trial of a longtime adviser of US President Donald Trump.
The former officials, who served under Republican and Democratic administrations, criticized Barr, the nation’s top law enforcement officer, for overruling his own prosecutors in a case that has prompted accusations that the Trump administration is weakening the rule of law.
ROGER STONE
On Tuesday last week, the department abandoned prosecutors’ initial recommendation to give veteran Republican operative Roger Stone seven to nine years in prison after he was found guilty in November last year of seven counts of lying to the US Congress, obstruction and witness tampering, prompting all four prosecutors to quit the case.
“It is unheard of for the Department’s top leaders to overrule line prosecutors, who are following established policies, in order to give preferential treatment to a close associate of the President, as Attorney General Barr did in the Stone case,” read the letter, published on the Web site Medium.
“Those actions, and the damage they have done to the Department of Justice’s reputation for integrity and the rule of law, require Mr. Barr to resign,” it said.
The justice department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
INTERFERENCE
Trump had heavily criticized the original sentencing request for Stone and the department subsequently abandoned it, instead deciding to make no formal sentencing recommendation.
Democrats blasted the department’s shift in the high-profile case involving Stone, whose friendship with Trump dates back decades.
Stone’s trial arose from former US special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation that detailed extensive Russian interference in the 2016 election to benefit Trump’s candidacy.
Barr on Thursday said in an interview with broadcaster ABC that Trump’s criticism of those involved in the Stone case “make it impossible for me to do my job.”
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