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Trump is victim of politicized justice system, Kellyanne Conway claims William Barr must quit over Trump-Stone scandal – former justice officials
(about 2 hours later)
Amid deepening crisis over White House interference in Department of Justice, aide says president wanted Andrew McCabe punished As more than 1,000 public servants decry presidential interference, aide Kellyanne Conway claims justice system is rigged
The White House counsellor Kellyanne Conway has escalated the dispute over Donald Trump’s meddling in the US justice department, claiming a “two-tier criminal justice system” featuring politicised prosecutions is actively undermining the president and his associates. More than 1,000 former US justice department officials, including some of the top government lawyers in the country, have called on attorney general William Barr to resign in the wake of the Roger Stone scandal.
Conway used Fox News Sunday to pour fuel on the fire of the accusations levelled against Trump: that he is engaging in an unprecedented effort to influence criminal prosecutions in his favour. The truth, she claimed, was the exact opposite. Some 1,143 alumni of the Department of Justice posted to Medium on Sunday a group letter that tore into Barr for “doing the president’s personal bidding” in imposing on prosecutors the recommendation of a reduced sentence for Stone, a longtime friend of Donald Trump who was convicted of lying to and obstructing Congress and threatening a witness in the Russia investigation.
Far from making a dangerous intervention in criminal cases involving his friends and perceived enemies, it was Trump himself who was the victim of the politicisation of the justice system. Barr, the officials said, had damaged the reputation of the department for “integrity and the rule of law”.
“If you’re President Trump or people associated with him there’s prosecutions that have gone one way,” Conway said, alluding to the nine-year sentencing recommendation for Trump’s long-time friend and convicted criminal Roger Stone which enraged the president this week. The searing letter is the latest twist in a rapidly spiralling constitutional crisis that began earlier this week when Barr imposed his new sentencing memo, slashing a seven- to nine-year proposed prison term suggested by career prosecutors. In the fallout, the four prosecutors who had handled the case resigned in disgust.
She then contrasted the decision announced by the Department of Justice on Friday to drop charges against a prime target of Trump’s wrath, former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe. The letter carries weight because its signatories are exclusively drawn from past DoJ public servants. Among them are several former US attorneys appointed by both Republican and Democratic presidents and section chiefs of key elements of the justice department including its antiterrorism unit.
Directly contradicting her own claim that Trump, despite his “vast powers”, was not engaging in political interference in criminal cases, Conway proceeded to interfere in a criminal case. She called McCabe a “serial liar and leaker”. They write that it is unheard of for top leaders of the justice department to overrule line prosecutors in order to give preferential treatment to close associates of the president. They say that amounts to political interference that is “anathema to the department’s core mission and to its sacred obligation to ensure equal justice under the law”.
She went on: “The president thinks that Andy McCabe should have been punished because he lied and lied several times to the investigators.” Barr’s action amounted to an existential threat to the republic, the former officials say: “Governments that use the enormous power of law enforcement to punish their enemies and reward their allies are not constitutional republics; they are autocracies.”
Barr tried to squash the perception he had been leaned on by Trump by calling on the president to stop tweeting about criminal prosecutions. He told ABC News such unrestrained comments were “making it impossible for me to do my job”.
But speculation continued to swirl that Barr had kowtowed to the president. Demoralisation spread rapidly through the DoJ, intensifying when it emerged that Barr has ordered outside prosecutors to re-examine criminal cases against Trump associates including former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Despite palpable distress among both serving and former officials, and multiple warnings that Trump and Barr are threatening the very rule of law, the White House has continued to inflame the situation. Trump counsellor Kellyanne Conway on Sunday claimed the president was a victim of a “two-tier criminal justice system” that was actively undermining him and his associates.
Conway used Fox News Sunday to pour fuel on the fire. The truth, she claimed, was that far from making a dangerous intervention in criminal cases involving his friends and perceived enemies, Trump himself is the victim of the politicisation of the justice system.
“If you’re President Trump or people associated with him there’s prosecutions that have gone one way,” Conway said, alluding to the original sentence recommended for Stone which she contrasted with the decision announced by the justice department on Friday to drop charges against former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe.
Directly contradicting her own claim that Trump, despite his “vast powers”, was not engaging in political interference in criminal cases, Conway proceeded to interfere in a criminal case. She called McCabe a “serial liar and leaker” and went on: “The president thinks that Andy McCabe should have been punished because he lied and lied several times to the investigators.”
McCabe, a deputy to fired FBI director James Comey and a key figure in the Russia investigation, was fired by Trump in March 2018, two days shy of retirement.McCabe, a deputy to fired FBI director James Comey and a key figure in the Russia investigation, was fired by Trump in March 2018, two days shy of retirement.
Conway is well known as a contentious figure dispatched by Trump to disseminate highly contentious opinions on the TV circuit. The furore over Trump ignoring protocols that have kept a distance between the White House and federal prosecutors since Watergate began when the president slammed the proposed sentence for Stone as “horrible and very unfair”. Hours later, Barr announced that he was imposing a reduced recommended sentence.
The furore over Trump entirely ignoring protocols that have kept a distance between the White House and federal prosecutors imposed in the wake of Watergate has dominated the political debate for several days. It began when the president slammed the nine-year sentencing recommendation for Stone as “horrible and very unfair”. Trump then made the constitutionally dubious claim that as president he has the “legal right” to stick his finger into any criminal case.
That erupted into a full-blown constitutional crisis when the attorney general, William Barr, released a new sentencing memo. In the fallout, four career prosecutors who handled the case and framed the recommendations resigned in disgust. On Saturday he duly re-entered the fray over McCabe, claiming falsely that DoJ inspector general Michael Horowitz recommended the former FBI man’s firing. Horowitz referred criticisms of McCabe to prosecutors but did not recommend dismissal.
Barr tried to squash the perception he had been leaned on by Trump by calling on Trump to stop tweeting about criminal prosecutions. He told ABC News the president’s unrestrained comments were “making it impossible for me to do my job”. On Sunday Marc Short, chief of staff to vice-president Mike Pence, made further contentious comments on CNN’s State of the Union. Like Conway, he claimed without evidence that criminal justice was skewed against the president.
But speculation continued to swirl that Barr had kowtowed to Trump and was doing his legal bidding. Demoralisation spread rapidly through the DoJ and its cohort of career prosecutors, and intensified when it emerged that Barr has ordered outside prosecutors to re-examine criminal cases against Trump associates including former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
The gathering sense that the hallowed independence of the US justice system is being destroyed was heightened when Trump flagrantly refused to abide by Barr’s entreaty. He began by making the constitutionally dubious claim that as president he had the “legal right” to stick his finger into any criminal case.
Then on Saturday Trump re-entered the fray over McCabe, claiming falsely that DoJ inspector general Michael Horowitz recommended the former FBI man’s firing. Horowitz referred criticisms of McCabe to prosecutors but did not recommend dismissal.
Conway’s incendiary remarks, clearly following a line dictated by Trump himself, were almost identical to those of Marc Short, chief of staff to vice-president Mike Pence, on CNN’s State of the Union.
Like Conway, he claimed without evidence that criminal justice had been skewed against the president.
“The scales of justice aren’t balanced any more,” he said, “when someone like Roger Stone gets a prosecution that suggests a nine-year jail sentence and candidly someone like Andy McCabe who also lied to federal investigators gets a lucrative contract here at CNN. People say, ‘How is this fair?’ and that’s the source of the president’s frustration.”“The scales of justice aren’t balanced any more,” he said, “when someone like Roger Stone gets a prosecution that suggests a nine-year jail sentence and candidly someone like Andy McCabe who also lied to federal investigators gets a lucrative contract here at CNN. People say, ‘How is this fair?’ and that’s the source of the president’s frustration.”
Short went on to repeat a conspiracy theory popular in Trump circles: that the report of special counsel Robert Mueller into Russian connections with the Trump campaign during the 2016 election was a hoax instigated by the “deep state”. The row has also become a major talking point among Democrats vying to take on Trump in November. Former vice-president Joe Biden told NBC’s Meet the Press: “No one, no one, including Richard Nixon, has weaponised the Department of Justice” as much as Trump.
“What’s been happening inside the justice department has been unprecedented,” he said, “when you basically knew the Russian investigation was a hoax but you continue to pursue it, you continue to entrap people – that’s something the American people have not seen before.” The crisis is personal for Biden, given the efforts to coerce Ukraine into investigating him and his son Hunter which led to Trump’s impeachment. Last week it was revealed that Barr has set up a channel to review information gathered in Ukraine by Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani relating to the Bidens.
The justice row has also become a major talking point on the campaign trail among Democrats vying to take on Trump in November.
Former vice-president Joe Biden told NBC’s Meet the Press: “No one, no one, including Richard Nixon, has weaponised the Department of Justice” as much as Trump.
The crisis over judicial independence is personal for Biden, given Trump’s efforts to coerce Ukraine into investigating him and his son Hunter which led to the president’s impeachment. Last week it was revealed that Barr has set up a channel to review information gathered in Ukraine by Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani relating to the Bidens.
“To have a thug like Rudy Giuliani reporting to the attorney general – I mean this is, this is almost like a really bad sitcom,” Biden said.“To have a thug like Rudy Giuliani reporting to the attorney general – I mean this is, this is almost like a really bad sitcom,” Biden said.
“Any self-respecting Republican or Democratic top-flight lawyer would have just resigned by now, in my view. It’s just the things that are being done are so beyond the pale.”“Any self-respecting Republican or Democratic top-flight lawyer would have just resigned by now, in my view. It’s just the things that are being done are so beyond the pale.”