'He has his limits': Barr reportedly considering an exit over Trump tweets - Washington Examiner

Attorney General William Barr reportedly is open to resigning from his post because of President Trump's tweets on Justice Department affairs.

Barr told multiple people both in and outside the White House that the president's conduct has prompted him to consider leaving the DOJ, according to the Washington Post. Barr has asked the president multiple times not to comment on ongoing law enforcement matters, though Trump has denied his requests.

“He has his limits,” one person familiar with Barr’s thinking said.

In a tweet addressing "beltway rumors," Barr's spokeswoman denied that her boss is planning an exit. "The Attorney General has no plans to resign," Kerri Kupec said.

Addressing Beltway rumors: The Attorney General has no plans to resign.
— KerriKupecDOJ (@KerriKupecDOJ) February 19, 2020

Last week, Barr told ABC News he felt it was “impossible for [him] to do [his] job" while the president was tweeting about the affairs of the Justice Department.

“I’m not going to be bullied or influenced by anybody ... whether it’s Congress, a newspaper editorial board, or the president,” Barr said. “I’m going to do what I think is right, and, you know … I cannot do my job here at the department with a constant background commentary that undercuts me.”

Last week, Barr intervened on prosecutors' initial recommended punishment of seven to nine years for former Trump adviser Roger Stone, a punishment the president categorized as a "miscarriage of justice." The DOJ said the original recommendation did not "accurately reflect the Department of Justice’s position on what would be a reasonable sentence in this matter."

Barr said the DOJ's decision for a more lenient sentence had nothing to do with Trump's tweets. “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,” he said then.

Critics, however, were unconvinced. Some Senate Democrats, such as Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, called for the department's inspector general to look into the president's involvement in the DOJ's decision.

2020-02-19 03:23:00Z
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