Former Rep. Trey Gowdy, a Republican, expressed his frustration amid calls from Democrats for Attorney General William Barr to resign over former Trump adviser Roger Stone’s sentencing recommendation.
“The notion that Bill Barr should resign is about the dumbest damn thing I have ever heard,” Gowdy, who represented South Carolina in the House from 2011-2019, told Fox News’s The Story host Martha MacCallum Wednesday night. “There are child pornographers who don’t get nine years. There are people who rob banks who don’t get nine years.”
Democrats have expressed outrage toward Trump after he congratulated Barr for the Department of Justice’s request for a lighter sentence recommendation for Stone after prosecutors initially recommended seven to nine years in prison. 2020 Democrat and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts called on Barr to resign Wednesday, adding that the president would continue his “corrupt rampages” because elected Republicans “do nothing.”
“Congress must act immediately to rein in our lawless Attorney General,” Warren tweeted. “Barr should resign or face impeachment. And Congress should use spending power to defund the AG’s authority to interfere with anything that affects Trump, his friends, or his elections.”
Congress must act immediately to rein in our lawless Attorney General. Barr should resign or face impeachment. And Congress should use spending power to defund the AG’s authority to interfere with anything that affects Trump, his friends, or his elections.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) February 12, 2020
“The prosecutors wanted nine years. Bill Barr thinks that two or three years is more proportional, and the only difference between the two is whether or not you count this eight-level enhancement for actively threatening a witness,” Gowdy added during the heated segment.
“If you didn’t have that enhancement, then everyone would agree that Bill Barr’s view of the guidelines is accurate. So the judge is going to decide whether or not that enhancement is appropriate — supported by the facts. Martha, this was a trial. She presided over the trial. She listened to witnesses. She’s uniquely well-positioned to decide whether or not that enhancement should be in play,” he continued.
The House Judiciary Committee announced its plan to grill Barr over the request during a hearing on March 31.
