SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
U.S. Attorney General William Barr speaks during a press conference in Washington, D.C. on January 13, 2020. (Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Warren Says AG William Barr Must 'Resign or Face Impeachment' for Intervening in Roger Stone Case
"Congress must act immediately to rein in our lawless attorney general."
Feb 11, 2020
Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday called on Attorney General William Barr to resign for "abusing official power to protect political friends" after Barr overruled career federal prosecutors to reduce the recommended prison sentence for Roger Stone, a longtime confidant to President Donald Trump.
" Donald Trump is shredding the rule of law in this country. His AG overruled career prosecutors to reduce the sentence for his buddy Roger Stone."
--Sen. Elizabeth Warren
"Congress must act immediately to rein in our lawless attorney general," tweeted Warren, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate. "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."
"Trump and Barr's conduct has no place in our democracy," Warren added. "To end it, Congress must act--and the American people must hold them accountable in November."
Stone was convicted last November on seven counts of witness tampering and lying to Congress during the investigation into alleged collusion between Russia and Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.
Federal prosecutors on Monday recommended that Stone receive a prison sentence of seven to nine years for his crimes. Early Tuesday morning, Trump tweeted his disapproval of the recommended sentence, calling it "horrible and very unfair."
Just hours after Trump's tweet, the Justice Department said it was "shocked" by the recommended sentence and announced plans to reduce it, leading all four prosecutors handling the Stone case to withdraw in protest. In a tweet Wednesday morning, Trump applauded Barr for intervening.
"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," Trump wrote.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a government watchdog group that called for Barr to step down late Tuesday afternoon, tweeted Wednesday that "it's both scary and telling to see him so openly pat the attorney general on the back for interfering in a prosecution on behalf of one of his associates."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday called on Attorney General William Barr to resign for "abusing official power to protect political friends" after Barr overruled career federal prosecutors to reduce the recommended prison sentence for Roger Stone, a longtime confidant to President Donald Trump.
" Donald Trump is shredding the rule of law in this country. His AG overruled career prosecutors to reduce the sentence for his buddy Roger Stone."
--Sen. Elizabeth Warren
"Congress must act immediately to rein in our lawless attorney general," tweeted Warren, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate. "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."
"Trump and Barr's conduct has no place in our democracy," Warren added. "To end it, Congress must act--and the American people must hold them accountable in November."
Stone was convicted last November on seven counts of witness tampering and lying to Congress during the investigation into alleged collusion between Russia and Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.
Federal prosecutors on Monday recommended that Stone receive a prison sentence of seven to nine years for his crimes. Early Tuesday morning, Trump tweeted his disapproval of the recommended sentence, calling it "horrible and very unfair."
Just hours after Trump's tweet, the Justice Department said it was "shocked" by the recommended sentence and announced plans to reduce it, leading all four prosecutors handling the Stone case to withdraw in protest. In a tweet Wednesday morning, Trump applauded Barr for intervening.
"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," Trump wrote.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a government watchdog group that called for Barr to step down late Tuesday afternoon, tweeted Wednesday that "it's both scary and telling to see him so openly pat the attorney general on the back for interfering in a prosecution on behalf of one of his associates."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday called on Attorney General William Barr to resign for "abusing official power to protect political friends" after Barr overruled career federal prosecutors to reduce the recommended prison sentence for Roger Stone, a longtime confidant to President Donald Trump.
" Donald Trump is shredding the rule of law in this country. His AG overruled career prosecutors to reduce the sentence for his buddy Roger Stone."
--Sen. Elizabeth Warren
"Congress must act immediately to rein in our lawless attorney general," tweeted Warren, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate. "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."
"Trump and Barr's conduct has no place in our democracy," Warren added. "To end it, Congress must act--and the American people must hold them accountable in November."
Stone was convicted last November on seven counts of witness tampering and lying to Congress during the investigation into alleged collusion between Russia and Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.
Federal prosecutors on Monday recommended that Stone receive a prison sentence of seven to nine years for his crimes. Early Tuesday morning, Trump tweeted his disapproval of the recommended sentence, calling it "horrible and very unfair."
Just hours after Trump's tweet, the Justice Department said it was "shocked" by the recommended sentence and announced plans to reduce it, leading all four prosecutors handling the Stone case to withdraw in protest. In a tweet Wednesday morning, Trump applauded Barr for intervening.
"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," Trump wrote.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a government watchdog group that called for Barr to step down late Tuesday afternoon, tweeted Wednesday that "it's both scary and telling to see him so openly pat the attorney general on the back for interfering in a prosecution on behalf of one of his associates."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.