ATTORNEY General Bill Barr is “considering resigning over President Donald Trump’s tweets”, a source close to the top lawyer said.
It comes after thousands called for Barr to quit, accusing him of “doing the President’s personal bidding”.
Last week senior Justice Department officials withdrew an earlier sentencing recommendation for longtime Trump friend Roger Stone, who was found guilty in November of seven counts of lying to
Congress, prompting upheaval within the department.
More than 2,000 former department officials have now called for Barr to resign.
In a letter they wrote: “Mr Barr’s actions in doing the President’s personal bidding unfortunately speak louder than his words.
“Those actions, and the damage they have done to the Department of Justice’s reputation for integrity and the rule of law, require Mr. Barr to resign”.
Trump has used Twitter to attack the four prosecutors who had argued the case as well as the judge presiding over it.
Barr said in an ABC Interview on Thursday that he could not do his job “with a constant background commentary” and that it was “time to stop the tweeting about Department of Justice criminal cases.”
While Trump offered words of support for Barr, he also spoke enthusiastically about tweeting.
“Social media for me has been very important because it gives me a voice,” he said.
Trump also reminded critics: “I’m actually, I guess, the chief law enforcement officer of the country”.
Barr has told people close to Trump about his concerns, but it was not immediately clear if Barr had told Trump directly, the Washington Post reports.
“He has his limits,” the newspaper quoted one person familiar with Barr’s thinking as saying.
Barr may be sharing his position with people close to Trump in hopes the president gets the message and stops tweeting about the Justice Departments criminal investigations, the Post said.
Trump said on Tuesday he had total confidence in Barr, who last week said in an interview that Trump’s tweeting habit had made it impossible for him to do his job.
“I do make his job harder … I do agree with that,” Trump told reporters before boarding Air Force One.
“The attorney general is a man with great integrity.”
He added: “He’s a very straight shooter. We have a great attorney general and he’s working very hard.
“He’s working against a lot of people that don’t want to see good things happen, in my opinion.
“That’s my opinion, not his opinion. You’ll have to ask what his opinion is”.
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