Over 1,100 Former Justice Department Officials Call For AG William Barr To Resign In Scathing Letter

Over 1,100 former federal prosecutors and Justice Department officials are calling for Attorney General William Barr to resign. According to The New York Times, former officials from both Republican and Democratic administrations wrote in an open letter that Bill Barr should step down after reportedly urging a reduction in the recommended sentence for Trump associate Roger Stone.

Prosecutors recommended a prison sentence of up to nine years for Stone after he was convicted of obstructing Congress. Shortly after, Donald Trump tweeted about the situation and Barr purportedly stepped in to reduce the recommended sentence. His actions were immediately criticized and the four prosecutors on the case resigned, prompting a widespread outcry on both sides of the aisle for blurring the traditional lines between the White House and the Justice Department.

In the open letter, former DOJ officials condemned Trump’s actions and called for department employees to blow the whistle on any concerning behavior that they see.

“Each of us strongly condemns President Trump’s and Attorney General Barr’s interference in the fair administration of justice,” the letter begins.

The officials added that when they took an oath to defend the U.S. Constitution, they also agreed to the Department of Justice Rulebook, which stipulates that “the Department’s legal decisions ‘must be impartial and insulated from political influence’; and that the Department’s prosecutorial powers, in particular, must be ‘exercised free from partisan consideration.'”

But, the officials argue in their letter, Barr and Trump have “openly and repeatedly flouted” the fundamental principles that govern the department. This was particularly egregious, they argue, in the Stone case.

“Although there are times when political leadership appropriately weighs in on individual prosecutions, it is unheard of for the Department’s top leaders to overrule line prosecutors, who are following established policies, in order to give preferential treatment to a close associate of the President, as Attorney General Barr did in the Stone case,” the letter states.

The letter goes on to say that Barr is welcome to admit the mistake and strive to do better, but that they expect that he won’t, given past behavior. As such, they support the prosecutors who resigned from the Stone case and DOJ and call on employees to report any abuses.

Barr has criticized Trump for making his job more difficult by commenting on DOJ cases via tweet, but he didn’t go so far as to condemn or apologize for any interference in the Stone case.