Trump is notorious for his tweets. His Minister of Justice is actually close to him, but William Barr is now issuing an unusual warning to the President. He continues to tweet and reacts mildly to Barr. What's behind all this?
Washington (dpa) - Secretary of Justice William Barr has asked President Donald Trump to stop interfering in ongoing legal proceedings via Twitter.
The ongoing comments from the site made it "impossible to do my job," Barr told ABC News on Thursday (local time). At the same time, he emphasized that the President had never directly asked him to intervene in criminal proceedings.
Trump responded on Friday - again on Twitter: "That doesn't mean that I, as President, don't have the legal basis to do this." He had the right to intervene in criminal proceedings, but had not yet done so. At the same time, a mild comment on Barr came from the White House.
The Secretary of Justice's comments received a lot of attention in Washington. Public criticism from the cabinet has become extremely rare under Trump, especially since the President Devil likes to put biting tweets in his place.
The background to the rare publicly held difference between Barr and Trump is the fall of the President's longtime confidant, Roger Stone. He has to answer to court for his role in the so-called Russia affair. The prosecutors recommended that the Washington federal court on Monday be sentenced to seven to nine years in prison because of the seriousness of Stone's offenses. Trump then vehemently criticized the recommendation on Twitter. A few hours later, the Ministry of Justice - which is higher than the public prosecutor's office - advocated a significantly milder sentence. The four prosecutors resigned. This unusual move was widely understood as a protest against the government's apparently politically motivated interference.
"I think it's time to stop tweeting about Justice Department criminal cases," said Barr. He was "naturally" aware that the President might dislike this statement, he added. He said he would not be intimidated - either by Congress, newspapers or the President - and would continue to work for the integrity of the judiciary.
Republican Senate Mighty Leader Mitch McConnell backed Barr. The president "should listen to his advice," he told Fox News about Barr's statement. "If the Attorney General says it is hindering his work, then maybe the President should listen to the Minister of Justice," said McConnell.
CNN reported that Barr had warned Trump of his interview statements. From the White House came a surprisingly mild statement on the criticism of the Minister of Justice. Trump said through his spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham that the president was in no way annoyed by Barr's comment. Trump has "full confidence" in the work of the Minister of Justice.
Barr has been extremely loyal to Trump since taking office and regularly receives praise from the President. Observers therefore puzzled whether Barr's announcement might not be a rare revolt, but an attempt to limit the damage agreed with the White House - also to calm the minds of the Justice Department.
Trump had said in view of his tweet about the Stone case that he had not interfered. Stone had been found guilty by a jury on several charges in November. In connection with contacts with the disclosure platform Wikileaks, he is charged with false statements, hindrance to investigations and influencing witnesses.
The background to this is the investigation by special investigator Robert Mueller into whether the Trump camp had colluded with Russia in the 2016 presidential election campaign. Stone worked for Trump in 2015 and continued to be in contact with him afterwards as a kind of informal advisor.
