Senate Republicans defended Attorney General William Barr’s decision to intervene in lowering the sentencing recommendation for Trump ally Roger Stone, a move that prompted four prosecutors to quit the case.
“Congratulations to Attorney General Bill Barr for taking charge of a case that was totally out of control and perhaps should not have even been brought,” President Trump tweeted one day after he criticized the original seven-to-nine-year sentencing recommendation of the federal prosecutors.
The tweet prompted Democrats to question if the president urged Barr to lean on prosecutors to seek a reduced sentence for his longtime friend. Stone was convicted of obstruction, witness tampering, and lying to Congress.
At a press conference Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Senate Democrats would investigate Stone’s sentence reduction. The New York Democrat also asked Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz to conduct an investigation into the reduced sentencing recommendation for Stone.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell did not comment on Stone’s sentence when pressed by reporters on Tuesday. However, other Republicans were quick to point the finger at the prosecutors and away from Barr and the president.
“Schumer wants to investigate everything. I love Chuck, but he’s like a teenager. He hates everybody, including and especially the president,” Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy told the Washington Examiner.
Kennedy said he thinks the sentencing recommendation change happened as a result of “a miscommunication.”
“It sounds to me like there was a miscommunication between the front-line prosecutors and the supervisors at Justice. When a public figure is involved, front-line prosecutors cannot just make the decisions themselves,” Kennedy said. “They can’t even indict without going to the appropriate supervisors and at Justice. And based on the reporting I’ve seen, it sounds as if the front-line prosecutors did not communicate their recommendations to their supervisors and their supervisors objected.”
He added, “Now, if the front-line prosecutors want to quit, that’s their business. This is America. If you’ve got options, you shouldn’t stay in a job that you’re not happy in.”
Sen. Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican, blamed the bureaucracy at the Justice Department, with whom he said the president has been “generous over the years.”
“I think the president’s been generous over the years with the bureaucracy — more generous than he probably should have been, but you know, that the Justice Department’s history going back to the Crossfire Hurricane investigation, and right up till now has been that they have a strong bias against this president and people associated with this president,” Cramer told reporters.
“So, I think it’s entirely appropriate that leadership would intervene if they see an injustice, either way, if they see either too harsh new penalties or are too light penalties if it’s appropriate for them,” he added.
Sen. Kamala Harris, a California Democrat, demanded Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham call on Barr to answer questions about the sentencing recommendation change before the panel.
Graham, a South Carolina Republican, told reporters on Wednesday that Barr would eventually appear before the committee as part of its mission to conduct oversight, “but we’re not going to call him based on this.”
