A.G. Barr Takes Swipe At Trump

[Shabibilicious]

Barr swipes at Trump: Tweets make it 'impossible' to do job

 

MICHAEL BALSAMO and ZEKE MILLER

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Associated Press•February 13, 2020

 

 

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Trump Attorney General

FILE - In this July 11, 2019, file photo, Attorney General William Barr, left, and President Donald Trump turn to leave after speaking in the Rose Garden of the White House, in Washington. Attorney General William Barr took a public swipe Thursday at President Donald Trump, saying that the president’s tweets about Justice Department prosecutors and cases “make it impossible for me to do my job.” Barr made the comment during an interview with ABC News just days after the Justice Department overruled its own prosecutors. they had initially recommended in a court filing that President Donald Trump’s longtime ally and confidant Roger Stone be sentenced to 7 to 9 years in prison. But the next day, the Justice Department took the extraordinary step of lowering the amount of prison time it would seek for Stone. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

 

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General William Barr publicly swiped at President Donald Trump on Thursday, declaring the president’s tweets about Justice Department prosecutors and open cases “make it impossible for me to do my job.”

Barr made the comment during an interview with ABC News just days after his Justice Department overruled its own prosecutors — who had recommended in a court filing that Trump’s longtime ally and confidant Roger Stone be sentenced to 7 to 9 years in prison — and took the extraordinary step of lowering the amount of prison time it would seek. The department didn't offer an amended number.

Barr himself has been under fire for the reversal. Still, it was a highly unusual move for a member of the Cabinet to criticize the president — especially a Trump loyalist who shares the president's views on expansive executive powers. Thursday's comment served as a defense of his own integrity — an effort to salvage his own reputation and that of the Department of Justice by publicly rebuking the president he's propped up from Day One of his tenure.

The remarks, made so quickly after the decision to back away from the sentencing, suggested Barr was aware the reversal had chipped away at the department's historic reputation for independence from political sway. But he stopped short of acknowledging wrongdoing by anyone.

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said Trump “wasn’t bothered by the comments at all and he has the right, just like any American citizen, to publicly offer his opinions.” She added, “The President has full faith and confidence in Attorney General Barr to do his job and uphold the law.”

But Trump has a low tolerance for criticism, especially public criticism, from his allies and often fires back in kind. And the tempered White House response raised questions of whether Barr's comments were coordinated with the White House.

Barr said Trump's tweets created perception problems for the department that called into question its independence, but he denied there was any order from Trump and said Trump's tweets did not factor into the decision.

Barr joined a roster of high level aides who have publicly criticized Trump, thought the rest left the job first. Former National Security Adviser John Bolton is to publish a book next month detailing his time in the White House including criticism of Trump actions such as his decision to withhold military assistance while seeking a political favor from Ukraine. Former Chief of Staff John Kelly, who has largely kept a low profile since leaving the White House, has grown more open about his unflattering assessments of the president.

Earlier this week, Trump applauded Barr on Twitter for the decision to reverse the sentencing recommendation, writing: “Congratulations to Attorney General Bill Barr for taking charge of a case that was totally out of control and perhaps should not have even been brought.”

The department insisted the decision to undo the sentencing recommendation was made Monday night — before Trump blasted the recommendation on Twitter as “very horrible and unfair”— and prosecutors had not spoken to the White House about it. The about-face prompted the four attorneys who prosecuted Stone to quit the case. One left the Justice Department altogether.

“I’m happy to say that, in fact, the president has never asked me to do anything in a criminal case,” Barr said in the ABC interview. “However, to have public statements and tweets made about the department, about our people ... about cases pending in the department, and about judges before whom we have cases, make it impossible for me to do my job and to assure the courts and the prosecutors in the department that we’re doing our work with integrity.”

National security adviser Robert O'Brien told reporters Thursday evening at the White House that Trump tweets to bypass the mainstream press and speak directly to the American people.

“It's just a different method of communicating with the American people and the president has every right to weigh in,” O'Brien said. "He's got First Amendment rights, even though he's president. And he's got a right to weigh in with his opinions on the big issues of the day and I think he's going to continue to do that.”

Stone was convicted in November of tampering with a witness and obstructing the House investigation into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to tip the 2016 election. He’s scheduled to be sentenced next week.

Barr said he was “of course” prepared to deal with any ramifications from the president for his comments. Administration officials said senior White House aides were not informed of the contents of Barr's interview before it aired.

“As I said during my confirmation, I came in to serve as attorney general. I am responsible for everything that happens in the department, but the thing I have most responsibility for are the issues that are brought to me for decision,” Barr said in the interview.

It is extremely rare for Justice Department leaders to reverse the decision of prosecutors on a sentencing recommendation, particularly after that recommendation has been submitted to the court. The actual sentencing is up to the judge.

Meanwhile, the Chief Judge of the D.C. District Court, Beryl A. Howell, also did something unusual: She issued a statement Thursday on the firestorm around the sentencing.

“The Judges of this court base their sentencing decisions on careful consideration of the actual record in the case before them; the applicable sentencing guidelines and statutory factors; the submissions of the parties, the probation office and victims; and their own judgment and experience," she wrote. "Public criticism or pressure is not a factor.”

“What they did to Roger Stone was a disgrace,” Trump said Thursday during an interview with Geraldo Rivera on Cleveland's Newsradio WTAM.

He said of the prosecutors who resigned in protest: “I don't think they quit the case. ... I don't think they quit for moral reasons. I think they got caught in the act by me."

"Now what am I going to do, sit back and let a man go to jail maybe for nine years when murderers aren't going to jail? You have some of the most serious horrible rapists and everything else. They don't go to jail for nine years,” Trump said.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsay Graham said in a statement that Barr “has my complete confidence” and “is the right man at the right time to reform the department and stand up for the Rule of Law.”

Earlier this week, Graham said, and Barr later confirmed, that Justice was accepting information that Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani is gathering in Ukraine about Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden and his son.

In the ABC interview, Barr said of the president, “If he were to say go investigate somebody because — and you sense it’s because they’re a political opponent — then the attorney general shouldn’t carry that out, wouldn’t carry that out.”

Democrats decried the Justice Department’s reversal on Stone and called for immediate investigations. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for the Justice Department’s inspector general to step in. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that Barr had “stooped to such levels” and that “the American people deserve better.”

Barr has been a steady ally of the president’s since he returned to the top post at the Justice Department last year. He cleared the president of obstruction of justice even when special counsel Robert Mueller had pointedly declined to do so. He declared that the FBI’s Russia investigation, which resulted in charges against Stone, had been based on a “bogus narrative.”

Barr also appointed U.S. Attorney John Durham to lead a criminal inquiry into the origins of the Russia investigation, including examining what led the U.S. to open a counterintelligence probe into the Trump campaign and the roles that various countries played.

 

https://news.yahoo.com/barr-trump-tweets-cases-impossible-213201387.html

 

GO RV, then BV

[coorslite21]

I'm with Barr.......stay the hell-o off of twitter.....let Barr do his job and clean up the mess....

 

Side note....Ivanka's  BFF will be back to reign the Donald in....I expect we will see less chaos....    JMO.   CL

[Shabibilicious]

10 minutes ago, coorslite21 said:

I'm with Barr.......stay the hell-o off of twitter.....let Barr do his job and clean up the mess....

 

Side note....Ivanka's  BFF will be back to reign the Donald in....I expect we will see less chaos....    JMO.   CL

 

If Hope Hicks can silence Donald's childish twitter fingers....the GOP should bow to her and be eternally grateful.  I know those on the Right believe Donald will win the election by a landslide, so this comment won't mean much but for me.....I think if Donald's tweets ended right now, and don't start back up EVER, he wins the election easily.  As always, just my opinion.

 

GO RV, then BV

[Shabibilicious]

 

Lindsey Graham: Trump Tweeting About Stone Case 'Is Not Appropriate’

Josie Harvey

HuffPostFebruary 12, 2020, 7:16 PM EST

 

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) suggested President Donald Trump should exercise some restraint on social media after the president seemed to confirm in a tweet that Attorney General William Barr had intervened in the sentencing of Roger Stone.

The senator and Trump ally rebuffed Democrats’ calls for a hearing to investigate the president’s possible interference in the sentencing of his friend and former adviser. Graham also told CNN congressional correspondent Manu Raju on Wednesday to put himself in Trump’s shoes and understand his feeling that “people are out to get him.”

Graham added, however, that while he’d told Trump it was understandable how he was feeling, “tweeting about an ongoing criminal matter is not appropriate.”

Manu Raju

 

✔@mkraju

 

 

Asked if Trump feels emboldened by his acquittal, Lindsey Graham said: “No, I think he feels like the people are out to get him, going overboard. I mean just put yourself in his shoes.”

 

 

2:52 PM - Feb 12, 2020

 

 

 

In a series of tweets Wednesday, Trump suggested Barr had stepped in to recommend a more lenient sentence for Stone, who was convicted last November on charges including witness tampering and lying to Congress.

“Congratulations to Attorney General Bill Barr for taking charge of a case that was totally out of control and perhaps should not have even been brought,” the president tweeted.

“Two months in jail for a Swamp Creature, yet 9 years recommended for Roger Stone (who was not even working for the Trump Campaign). Gee, that sounds very fair! Rogue prosecutors maybe? The Swamp!” Trump added, apparently referencing former Senate Intelligence Committee aide James Wolfe, who was sentenced in 2018 to two months in prison after pleading guilty to lying to the FBI.

After Trump tweeted early Tuesday that the initial sentencing recommendation was “horrible and very unfair” and a “miscarriage of justice,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia filed a new recommendation that afternoon suggesting no specific prison sentence.

Later that day, all four of the federal prosecutors on the Stone trial, who had recommended a seven- to nine-year sentence for Stone, quit the case. 

 

https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/lindsey-graham-trump-roger-stone-001611421.html

 

GO RV, then BV

[coorslite21]

1 hour ago, Shabibilicious said:

 

If Hope Hicks can silence Donald's childish twitter fingers....the GOP should bow to her and be eternally grateful.  I know those on the Right believe Donald will win the election by a landslide, so this comment won't mean much but for me.....I think if Donald's tweets ended right now, and don't start back up EVER, he wins the election easily.  As always, just my opinion.

 

GO RV, then BV

 

Perhaps you're right......I doubt the MSM would ever give him equal time.......or an honest and fair evaluation.......unfortunately he has had to use twitter to get the entire story out.......my view is without twitter .....the left and lying  MSM would have ousted him long ago....CL

[Shabibilicious]

2 minutes ago, coorslite21 said:

 

Perhaps you're right......I doubt the MSM would ever give him equal time.......or an honest and fair evaluation.......unfortunately he has had to use twitter to get the entire story out.......my view is without twitter .....the left and lying  MSM would have ousted him long ago....CL

 

The con man who Trump has historically proven himself to be, and the tweeter that is Trump, are two separate issues, in my view.  

 

GO RV, then BV

[coorslite21]

1 minute ago, Shabibilicious said:

 

The con man who Trump has historically proven himself to be, and the tweeter that is Trump, are two separate issues, in my view.  

 

GO RV, then BV

 

You can keep trying.....you can't undo the 2016 election.....and Lord knows how the left has tried......

 

Find your candidate......get behind them.....and perhaps you can help be part of a change.....at this point that's the best option for the left.....JMO.   CL

[Shabibilicious]

16 minutes ago, coorslite21 said:

 

You can keep trying.....you can't undo the 2016 election.....and Lord knows how the left has tried......

 

 

That Right wing talking point doesn't work on me, sorry....The U.S. Constitution is not to be trifled with.....So like this comment article below, the laws set forth are not to be denied....and eliciting a foreign government for political dirt on an opponent for personal gain is also strictly forbidden.  So it's not about undoing an election....it's about defending our Constitution.   Make no mistake, I will choose a candidate and back him/her 100% in November......let's hope Donald's inappropriate actions don't get him impeached AGAIN before that time comes.

 

'Phony.' Donald Trump mocks 'emoluments' clause of U.S. Constitution that bans foreign gifts

Michael CollinsDavid JacksonCourtney Subramanian

USA TODAY

 

http:// 'Phony.' Donald Trump mocks 'emoluments' clause of U.S. Constitution that bans foreign gifts Michael Collins David Jackson Courtney Subramanian USA TODAY

 

GO RV, then BV

Edited February 14, 2020 by Shabibilicious

[Shabibilicious]

Despite Barr's warning, Trump insists he has a right to intervene in criminal cases

ELIZABETH THOMAS

,

Good Morning America•February 14, 2020

 

President Donald Trump on Friday morning broke almost 17 hours of silence following ABC News' exclusive interview with Attorney General Bill Barr, pushing back on Barr's warning not to interfere in criminal cases, insisting he has the "legal right" to do so.

Trump repeated what he's said previously -- including just this past Tuesday -- that he has the "absolute" right to comment on how the Justice Department is handling criminal cases, including those involving his friends and associates.

PHOTO: President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno in the Oval Office of the White House, Feb. 12, 2020, in Washington. (Evan Vucci/AP)

(MORE: Barr blasts Trump's tweets on Stone case: 'Impossible for me to do my job': ABC News Exclusive)

“'The President has never asked me to do anything in a criminal case,'” Trump tweeted, quoting Barr. "This doesn’t mean that I do not have, as President, the legal right to do so, I do, but I have so far chosen not to!"

Donald J. Trump

 

✔@realDonaldTrump

 

 

“The President has never asked me to do anything in a criminal case.” A.G. Barr This doesn’t mean that I do not have, as President, the legal right to do so, I do, but I have so far chosen not to!

 

72.1K

8:33 AM - Feb 14, 2020

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PHOTO: Attorney General William Barr speaks to ABC News' Pierre Thomas during an interview on Feb. 13, 2020. (Jack Date/ABC News)

As questions loomed about whether Trump's complaints about the seven-to-nine years sentence career prosecutors recommended for longtime friend and former campaign adviser Roger Stone caused Barr to intervene and push for a more lenient prison term, the attorney general told ABC News Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas on Thursday that the president "has never asked me to do anything in a criminal case."

"To have public statements and tweets made about the department, about our people in the department, our men and women here, about cases pending in the department, and about judges before whom we have cases, make it impossible for me to do my job," Barr said.

ABC News Politics

 

✔@ABCPolitics

 

 

“I’m not going to be bullied or influenced by anybody….whether it’s Congress, newspaper editorial boards, or the president," Bill Barr tells @ABC News.

"I cannot do my job here at the department with a constant background commentary that undercuts me.” http://abcn.ws/39yd9bE 

 

 

5,381

4:07 PM - Feb 13, 2020

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The Justice Department did not immediately respond to an ABC News request for comment.

PHOTO: File photo: Attorney General William Barr and President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on Nov. 26, 2019, in Washington. (File-Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Barr’s interview comments were a rare break with a president who the attorney general has aligned himself with and fiercely defended. But it also puts Barr in line with many of Trump’s supporters on Capitol Hill who say they support the president but wish he’d cut back on his tweets.

In the ABC News interview, Barr characterized Trump's comments as "disruptive" and "background commentary that undercuts me."

Speaking on Fox News Thursday night, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said, "I think the attorney general knows what he's talking about. I'm not the attorney general but I have confidence in Bill Barr. I think he's doing a good job and I think he's told the president, this is not helpful, making it difficult for him to do his job. I think the president will listen to him."

 

https://news.yahoo.com/despite-barrs-warning-trump-insists-intervene-criminal-cases-151100240--abc-news-topstories.html

 

GO RV, then BV

[nstoolman1]

Per Shab's post

6 hours ago, Shabibilicious said:

Trump insists he has a right to intervene in criminal cases

 

Yes he does. He is the Chief Law Enforcement Officer in the land. Whether he should get involved is another issue. 

[Pitcher]

Now Bill Barr orders outside prosecutor to review FBI's investigation of disgraced Donald Trump adviser Mike Flynn after row over intervention in Roger Stone case

• Barr directed a U.S. attorney in Missouri to review the actions in Washington  
• Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and cooperated with the Mueller probe
• He then sought to withdraw his guilty plea 
• Charges of 'pressure' to give Flynn a lighter sentence
• News comes after AG Bill Barr urged Trump not to tweet about criminal cases
• The president repeatedly inveighed against the sentence for Roger Stone
• Justice Department told former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe he will not be charged
• Barr also ordered outside review of alleged FBI misconduct in the Russia probe 
• Flynn pleaded guilty in late 2017 to lying to the FBI about interactions with Russia's ambassador to the United States in the weeks before Trump took office 

 

PUBLISHED: 16:33 EST, 14 February 2020 | UPDATED: 18:54 EST, 14 February 2020 

 

Attorney General Bill Barr has ordered an outside review of the FBI's interview with former White House national security advisor Mike Flynn – a process that led Flynn to plead guilty to lying to the FBI.

 

The outside look at the contentious case – which has drawn the repeat personal attention of the president – comes amid a separate outside look Barr ordered at the origins of the Russia probe. 

Barr has tasked Jeffrey Jensen, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, to examine Flynn's FBI interview during the first days of the Trump administration.

He would later be charged with lying to the FBI for his false statements, which he pleaded guilty for making.   

Attorney General Bill Barr has ordered an outside review of the FBI's interview with former Donald Trump national security advisor Mike Flynn

Jensen will be working alongside the case's lead prosecutor Brandon Van Grack, a move that comes a month after Flynn told the court he wanted to withdraw his guilty plea in former Special Counsel Robert Mueller´s investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

That turnaround came after Flynn had spent months cooperating with prosecutors in Mueller's office.  

The news of Barr's decision to tap an outside prosecutor on the Flynn case caps an extraordinary week at the Justice Department.

On Tuesday, the department lightened its sentencing recommendation for Trump political ally Roger Stone after criticism from the president that an earlier recommendation for seven to nine years in prison was too harsh. 

The move prompted all four career prosecutors on the case to withdraw and one of them to quit the government entirely.

 

Read the entire article on link below.

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8005667/Bill-Barr-orders-outside-prosecutor-review-FBIs-interview-Mike-Flynn-lying-charge.html

[Theseus]

Well the President is the Chief Law Enforcer. The President is also a civilian but head of all branches of the military. The POTUS has multiple roles but only what the demoncrats decide at the moment, eh? Demoncrats be damned as they are destined to find out what its like to be in a really really warm place when it is time to meet their maker. 

[Shabibilicious]

On 2/16/2020 at 3:39 AM, Theseus said:

Well the President is the Chief Law Enforcer. The President is also a civilian but head of all branches of the military. The POTUS has multiple roles but only what the demoncrats decide at the moment, eh? Demoncrats be damned as they are destined to find out what its like to be in a really really warm place when it is time to meet their maker. 

 

Calling them "DEMONcrats" would indicate they already know what the really really warm place you mention feels like.  

 

GO RV, then BV