Given the controversial behavior of US Attorney General William Barr in the case of political adviser Roger Stone, who was convicted in the Russia affair, more than 1,100 former Justice Department officials have called for his resignation.
In the open letter that circulated yesterday on the Internet, they accused Barr and US President Donald Trump of „openly and repeatedly“ violating the principle of allowing the judiciary to make an impartial and impartial decision.
„Nobody should be given special treatment in law enforcement because he is a close political ally of the President,“ wrote the former Department of Justice staff member, referring to Stone. Governments „that use the enormous power of law enforcement to punish their enemies and reward their allies“ are not part of a „constitutional republic; they are autocracies, „it said.
Stone was found guilty in November of interfering with US Congress investigations into the alleged covert Russian interference in Trump’s favor in the 2016 election campaign. A week ago, the public prosecutor filed for seven to nine years in prison.
Prosecutors resigned
After Trump sharply criticized that on Twitter, the Department of Justice intervened and spoke out for a milder prison sentence. All four prosecutors withdrew from the case in protest at the intervention. A newly appointed public prosecutor finally proposed a sentence of just three or four years in prison. The sentence will be announced on Thursday.
The otherwise energetic Trump defender Barr accused the president on Thursday last week of making his ministry’s work more difficult with his statements on Twitter. Trump then tweeted that he had the “right” to require the Justice Department to intervene in criminal proceedings.
