Trump taken to task over crime tweets – by his own top lawman
THE US attorney General has put his neck on the block with a stinging rebuke of Donald Trump’s use of Twitter.
yesterday, Bill Barr said the US President’s constant commentary was making his job ‘impossible’.
Usually a staunch Trump supporter, he told ABC News: ‘I think it’s time to stop the tweeting about… criminal cases.’
Since arriving in the oval office, Mr Trump has made Twitter his favoured method of communication with the wider world.
But this week the President was accused of attempting to interfere with the sentencing of his former adviser Roger Stone, who had been convicted of lying to investigators and witness tampering.
Mr Barr was then at the centre of allegations that he decided to overrule his own prosecutors, under pressure from Trump, and seek a lighter prison sentence for Stone.
Four prosecutors quit after their recommendation for Stone to serve up to nine years was overturned by the Justice Department following a tweet by the president attacking the proposed term. Mr Barr said: ‘The question was, “Now what do I do?”
‘Do you go forward with what you think is the right decision or do you pull back because of the tweet – and that just sort of illustrates how disruptive these tweets can be.’
another staunch Trump ally, Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell, backed Mr Barr’s comments.
He told Fox News: ‘If the attorney general says it’s getting in the way of doing his job, then maybe the
President should listen to the attorney general.’
The rebuke seemed to have the desired effect as the president’s Twitter feed stayed quiet for more than 18 hours before bursting into life again.
addressing the controversy, Mr Trump wrote: ‘“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!’