President Trump tweeted about Attorney General William Barr one day after the top law enforcement official said Trump’s social media commentary about the Justice Department hurts his ability to do the job.
“‘The President has never asked me to do anything in a criminal case,'” Trump said Friday on Twitter, 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!”
“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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 14, 2020
Barr told ABC News on Thursday that it is “impossible” for him to do his job with Trump tweeting about the Justice Department, and requested the social media missives about criminal cases would stop.
This came after Trump criticized federal prosecutors for recommending a seven-to-nine-year sentence for his longtime friend Roger Stone, who was convicted for lying to Congress and witness tampering. After Trump called the recommendation a “miscarriage of justice,” the Justice Department scaled back the guidance.
Both Trump and Barr deny the president played a role in the Justice Department’s intervention in the Stone case. Barr claimed the department had determined it would recommend a lighter sentence before Trump’s criticism. The prosecutors on the case who made the recommendation have since quit the case.
White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said the president “wasn’t bothered” by Barr condemning his tweets.
“The president has full faith and confidence in Attorney General Barr to do his job and uphold the law,” she said in a statement Thursday.
