Former DOJ officials call on U.S. Attorney General Barr to resign

 

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Attorney General William Barr arrives prior to U.S. President Donald Trump's statement about his acquittal on impeachment charges by the U.S. Senate in the East Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., February 6, 2020. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than 1,000 former U.S. Justice Department officials on Sunday called for Attorney General William Barr to resign over his handling of the trial of a longtime adviser of President Donald Trump.

 

The former officials, who served under both Republican and Democratic administrations, criticized Barr, the country'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.

 

On Tuesday, the Justice Department abandoned prosecutors' initial recommendation to give the veteran Republican operative Roger Stone seven to nine years in prison after he was found guilty in November of seven counts of lying to 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," said the letter, published on the website 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," the letter said.

 

The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

 

Trump had heavily criticized the original sentencing request for Stone and the Justice 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 Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation that detailed extensive Russian interference in the 2016 election to benefit Trump's candidacy.

 

Barr said on Thursday 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."

 

(Reporting by Lindsay Dunsmuir; Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-02-17

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Well yea he’s supposed to be the people’s attorney not trumps personal attorney 

Strange how with all the thousands of cases he only chose stones case to interfere.

A conspiracy post has been removed. 

The rule of law was weakened before Trump took office...  Criminals caught red-handed were not prosecuted and staff given blanket immunity...

 

Criminals still walking around bumping their gums and crying they were robbed!

Very bad when your own rank and file give you a vote of no confidence like that.

1 hour ago, Sujo said:

Strange how with all the thousands of cases he only chose stones case to interfere.

Exactly!

1 hour ago, Sujo said:

Strange how with all the thousands of cases he only chose stones case to interfere.

Because it's a blatant misuse of justice. Comey lied, Strok lied and Clinton lied why are they not up for 9 year jail?  9 years is longer than rapists get and the foreperson was a biased Dem and if you can't see the injustice in that then you are lost to any sense of propriety. BTW I don't particularly like Stone but I love fair play.

19 minutes ago, BobBKK said:

 BTW I don't particularly like Stone but I love fair play.

And of course Trump is the epitome of "fair play".

26 minutes ago, BobBKK said:

Because it's a blatant misuse of justice. Comey lied, Strok lied and Clinton lied why are they not up for 9 year jail?  9 years is longer than rapists get and the foreperson was a biased Dem and if you can't see the injustice in that then you are lost to any sense of propriety. BTW I don't particularly like Stone but I love fair play.

The jury decided it wasnt a misuse of justice.

 

Why do you think stone will get 9 years? Heres a free bit of advice. Prosecutores give their range, defence gives mitigating circumstances and their suggestion. The judge does not need to give what prosecution asks.

 

Though stone does not have much mitigation. He went to trial so no discount for a plea. He broke a gag order and also posted a pic of the judge with crosshairs.

 

He certainly is a sandwich short of a picnic.

Integrity? 

 

The doj was compromised during the Obama administration and highly political. Full of partisans. 

 

Time to clean it up. 

 

 

 

 

25 minutes ago, Chiphigh said:

Integrity? 

 

The doj was compromised during the Obama administration and highly political. Full of partisans. 

 

Time to clean it up. 

 

 

 

 

Aaaah! The deep state again.

10 minutes ago, candide said:

Aaaah! The deep state again.

Not deep, just compromised and highly political. And obviously part of the investigation that was allowed to proceed without a shred of credible information 

14 minutes ago, Chiphigh said:

Not deep, just compromised and highly political. And obviously part of the investigation that was allowed to proceed without a shred of credible information 

Which investigation?

1 minute ago, candide said:

Which investigation?

I'll give you a guess, it triggered an unnecessary highly partisan biased special counsel. 

You can always tell when you're over the target as that's when you receive the most flack. 

Keep up the good good work Mr. Barr! ???? 

 

MAGA 

1 minute ago, Chiphigh said:

I'll give you a guess, it triggered an unnecessary highly partisan biased special counsel. 

Oh, that one. In your alternate universe, you are surely right! 

1 minute ago, candide said:

Oh, that one. In your alternate universe, you are surely right! 

You can think what you want. It is plain and simple what our govt agencies were doing. 

 

The only question to be answered is who will be prosecuted for this. 

5 hours ago, BobBKK said:

Because it's a blatant misuse of justice. Comey lied, Strok lied and Clinton lied why are they not up for 9 year jail?  9 years is longer than rapists get and the foreperson was a biased Dem and if you can't see the injustice in that then you are lost to any sense of propriety. BTW I don't particularly like Stone but I love fair play.

 

The sentence the line prosecutors recommended for Stone, before they were overruled by political appointees in the DOJ, was in line with federal sentencing guidelines for the crimes he was convicted of...  Stone's case was about much more than just lying, though it certainly included that.

 

1 hour ago, Chiphigh said:

Not deep, just compromised and highly political. And obviously part of the investigation that was allowed to proceed without a shred of credible information 

What has the mueller investigation got to do with the doj? 

 

This is a thread about convicted felon stone.

 

What evidence do you have that he was wrongly convicted.

44 minutes ago, Boon Mee said:

You can always tell when you're over the target as that's when you receive the most flack. 

Keep up the good good work Mr. Barr! ???? 

 

MAGA 

Yeah must be on the right track when your own party prosecutors tell you to resign. 555

35 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

The sentence the line prosecutors recommended for Stone, before they were overruled by political appointees in the DOJ, was in line with federal sentencing guidelines for the crimes he was convicted of...  Stone's case was about much more than just lying, though it certainly included that.

 

No, it wasn't. The prosecutors tried to invoke an enhancement to get the longest sentence possible. 

 

 

Political prosecution. It was not the first time either for the hack known as Aaron zelinsky 

 

 

5 hours ago, BobBKK said:

Because it's a blatant misuse of justice. Comey lied, Strok lied and Clinton lied why are they not up for 9 year jail?  9 years is longer than rapists get and the foreperson was a biased Dem and if you can't see the injustice in that then you are lost to any sense of propriety. BTW I don't particularly like Stone but I love fair play.

Well, if all those people lied, why are they not charged, given that Trump's guy is in charge of the US Justice Department? The reason is simple - no matter how much you would like it to be the case that they lied to the FBI, the fact is that they did not. Even the case against the Comey's deputy head of FBI was dropped because it was so flimsy.

 

So unless you have information that no one else has, you should stop with your trolling. And if you do have information that no one else has, you should immediately contact the Justice Department!

5 minutes ago, Chiphigh said:

No, it wasn't. The prosecutors tried to invoke an enhancement to get the longest sentence possible. 

 

 

Political prosecution. It was not the first time either for the hack know as Aaron zelinsky 

 

 

Remember James Wolfe whom you invoked elsewhere? Was it a political prosecution when prosecutors aimed to give James Wolfe a sentence of 2 years when the guidelines called for a sentence of 0 to 6 months? 

1 minute ago, Proboscis said:

Well, if all those people lied, why are they not charged, given that Trump's guy is in charge of the US Justice Department? The reason is simple - no matter how much you would like it to be the case that they lied to the FBI, the fact is that they did not. Even the case against the Comey's deputy head of FBI was dropped because it was so flimsy.

 

So unless you have information that no one else has, you should stop with your trolling. And if you do have information that no one else has, you should immediately contact the Justice Department!

I don't think you understand. Chiphigh believes that when a Trump supporter is found guilty, that's an injustice. And when a non Trump supporter isn't indicted, that's also an injustice.

1 hour ago, Boon Mee said:

You can always tell when you're over the target as that's when you receive the most flack. 

Keep up the good good work Mr. Barr! ???? 

 

MAGA 

So when trump said the rank and file dont like comey and he was getting all that flack it really meant he was doing a good job.

14 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

Remember James Wolfe whom you invoked elsewhere? Was it a political prosecution when prosecutors aimed to give James Wolfe a sentence of 2 years when the guidelines called for a sentence of 0 to 6 months? 

He only got 2 months, what are you carrying on about? 

14 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

I don't think you understand. Chiphigh believes that when a Trump supporter is found guilty, that's an injustice. And when a non Trump supporter isn't indicted, that's also an injustice.

Thank you for having the extraordinary power to know what others think or believe. 

 

A double standard in the justice system is obvious, unless you are a democrat. 

Just now, Chiphigh said:

Thank you for having the extraordinary power to know what others think or believe. 

 

A double standard in the justice system is obvious, unless you are a democrat. 

Well, if you don't believe that, then you've been making arguments contrary to your beliefs. But not to worry...insincerity is not a crime. At least not yet.

4 minutes ago, Chiphigh said:

Thank you for having the extraordinary power to know what others think or believe. 

 

A double standard in the justice system is obvious, unless you are a democrat. 

Since I subscribe to the argument that a justice does not have a double standard, then according to your logic, I must be a democrat. What were you saying about extraordinary power to know what others think or believe...? Doublethink much?