A thousand former employees of the US Department of Justice asked this Sunday, February 16 the resignation of Bill Barr, who has headed this powerful administration for a year, accusing him of having intervened in the criminal file of a relative of Donald Trump.
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" No one should receive preferential treatment in criminal proceedings because he is a close political ally of the president, " wrote more than 1,100 former civil servants, having worked for democratic and republican administrations, in an open letter published on the internet. .
Donald Trump's former adviser and friend Roger Stone has been found guilty of lying to Congress and subjugating witnesses as part of the investigation into Moscow's 2016 presidential interference, and is awaiting trial. his sentence.
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Donald Trump is indignant
Federal prosecutors had advised Monday a sentence of between 7 and 9 years in prison, drawing the wrath of Donald Trump who had judged on Twitter the recommendation " very unfair ". The following day, the Ministry of Justice had disowned them and suggested a " much lesser " sentence in the name of "the interests of justice ".
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Bill Barr then assured that the presidential comments had had no impact on the decision of his services, while calling on Donald Trump to avoid those kinds of tweets that make his work " impossible ".
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A resignation requested
" We welcome the late recognition by the Attorney General Barr that departmental decisions must be independent of politics, " commented the former officials in their letter. " But his actions to comply with the orders of the president speak more than his words, " they argue, asking him to resign.
" As we have little hope that it will, it is up to each employee of the ministry to take the necessary measures to (...) defend an apolitical justice ", they add, calling on them to denounce any news interference with their hierarchy, withdrawing from politicized affairs, or even resigning and testifying publicly.
White House adviser Kellyanne Conway defended the president's right to " comment on criminal cases " on Sunday. " It's different to take his phone and ask his minister to intervene on a file and President Trump did not do that, " she hammered on Fox.