Attorney general criticizes DOJ tweets by Trump

WASHINGTON — Attorney General William Barr took a public swipe at President Donald Trump on Thursday, 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 days after his Justice Department overruled its own prosecutors — who had recommended in a court filing that Trump’s ally and confidant Roger

Stone be sentenced to seven to nine years in prison — and took the unusual step of lowering the amount of prison time it would seek.

Barr has been under fire for the Justice Department action, and Thursday’s comment served as a defense of his own integrity. He is a Trump loyalist who shares the president’s views on expansive executive powers.

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

Barr said that 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.

National security adviser Robert O’brien told reporters Thursday at the White House that Trump tweets in order to bypass the mainstream media and speak directly to the American people.