In a document presented to the DC court, DOJ prosecutor’s recommended a 7-9 year sentence for Trump’s advisor and close friend Roger Stone. Stone was accused of 7 felony counts, including lying to Congress and witness intimidation during the investigation of Russia’s interference in the 2016 Presidential election. As a result of Trump’s tweet complaining about the severity of the recommendation, DOJ leadership (Barr) overruled the prosecutor’s recommendation and suggested a lesser sentence. The timeline of the DOJ’s intervening in the process came soon after Trump’s tweet of disapproval.
The country is witnessing Trump unethically interfere in how the Justice system delivers verdicts and sentences supposedly without influence from the Executive branch. As a result of Barr’s biased interference, all 4 prosecutors on the Stone case resigned in protest. In today’s edition of The Hill, Elizabeth Warren declared, “Congress must act immediately to rein in our lawless Attorney General.” She also called for him to resign. Minority Leader Senator Chuck Schumer and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler are launching investigations into what caused the four DOJ prosecutors to quit. Barr is set to testify in front of the Senate judiciary committee on March 31st unless Trump puppet Senator Lindsey Graham blocks his appearance.
It is frightening to watch Trump’s blatant abuse of the power of his office. He intervenes in every branch of government on any issue he wants to manipulate for his own political and personal gain. Republicans in Congress are as corrupt as Trump, allowing the breaking of all norms and protocols to serve the dictator and suppress whatever compromising information Trump has on them. He must have a whopper of dirt on Lindsey Graham, who once called him kook and now acts as his corrupt puppet. Many members of the government and the press say they do not recognize the Trump version of Graham. Lindsey is another member of Trump’s circle whose legacy is becoming an embarrassment of incompetence.
Barr may or may not be compromised, but he clearly is not functioning independently from Trump’s personal and political agenda. In addition to intervening in the Stone sentencing, Barr;
- misrepresented the results of the Mueller Report, announcing “no collusion, no obstruction,” when the report found Trump committed 10 acts of obstruction of justice and co-operated with Russia’s attempt to interfere in the 2016 Presidential election.
- he removed the US Attorney who had presided over the inconclusive criminal investigation of former FBI Director Andrew McCabe, taking control of another legal matter of importance to Trump
- he supported DOJ intervention to change the sentencing recommendation for former Trump national security advisor Michael Flynn
Baby boomer resistance is joining the movement to investigate Barr’s improper, biased execution of his office. Like many other professionals in Trump’s circle, Barr has already tainted his legal legacy, and to what end? Are people so psychologically needy to be near a president they will even support a dangerous, irrational autocrat? Maybe we should legislate a Department of Psychotherapy to monitor the mentally questionable behaviors of elected officials.
Barr’s agenda as attorney general is broadly viewed as one that prioritizes protecting the president, his interests, his friends, and the prosecuting of those who the president fears or dislikes. Voters thinking of supporting Trump must ask themselves, “is corruption now acceptable as long as Trump is doing it.”? Trump signaled to Barr his displeasure about the sentencing recommendation for Stone and then thanked Barr on Twitter for having the judgment to intervene in the case. Trump obviously thinks he can fool his supporters into thinking he did not get involved in influencing the DOJ process. Still, those tweets clearly show he was engaged in Barr undermining the independence and integrity of his DOJ prosecutors.
The resistance movement is fighting to save our democracy. If Trump supporters are in favor of corruption as long as Trump is the criminal, then let’s get them to pay reparations to the victims of his policies. In their support of him, they are co-conspirators in the corrupting of our democracy.
