Attorney General William Barr’s recent criticism of President Donald Trump was actually a “carefully staged message” to calm members of the Justice Department, according to former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele.
Barr said in an interview with ABC News on Thursday that Trump’s “constant background commentary” makes it “impossible for me to do my job.” He made the remark after facing criticism for the DOJ’s decision to lower its sentencing recommendation for longtime GOP operative Roger Stone despite the department’s own prosecution team asking the judge to sentence him to multiple years in prison.
“Slow your roll if you think Barr is breaking from Trump,” Steele tweeted Thursday evening. “This was a carefully staged message to cool down pissed off DOJ attys whom Barr undercut & to avoid any further internal strife. This message does not get sideways with Trump because he’s already done what Trump wanted.”
Trump claimed on Friday that although he has “so far chosen not to” ask Barr to intervene in a criminal case, “this doesn’t mean that I do not have, as President, the legal right to do so, I do.”
Barr will testify before the House Judiciary Committee on his leadership of the DOJ and the president’s influence at the end of March.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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