A top U.S. Senator says Attorney General Bill Barr “has no choice” but to resign after his “brazen assault on the independence and integrity of the Justice Department.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), who serves on the Judiciary Committee, is blasting Barr after the DOJ intervened in the case of Roger Stone, President Donald Trump’s confidant and former campaign advisor. President Trump on Wednesday thanked Barr publicly for “taking charge” and reducing the DOJ’s sentencing recommendation in Stone’s case.
Blumenthal, who served as a U.S. Attorney and as the Attorney General of Connecticut, calls Barr’s actions in supporting Trump’s personal agenda “unprecedented.” He says Barr has become Trump’s “henchman” and a “political operative.”
The Connecticut Democrat says he is also asking for Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham to call Barr to testify, and has asked the Justice Dept. Inspector General to investigate.
Just before 2 AM on Tuesday President Trump launched an angry tweet blasting the DOJ for telling a federal judge Roger Stone should serve 7 to 9 years for witness tampering, including threatened a witness, and lying to Congress. The requested sentence is within federal guidelines.
The DOJ responded within hours, signaling it would overrule the sentencing recommendation of its own prosecutors. Those four attorneys, one by one on Tuesday afternoon, quit.
Also on Tuesday announced he has the “absolute right” to direct the Dept. of Justice in who and how it prosecutes, which is widely considered to be false.
Watch Sen. Blumenthal on MSNBC: