DEMOCRACY SCORECARD
More Than 2,000 Former US Department of Justice Officials Tell William Barr: Resign Now
Why does this matter to you?
Such behavior is a grave threat to the fair administration of justice. In this nation, we are all equal before the law. A person should not be given special treatment in a criminal prosecution because they are a close political ally of the President. Governments that use the enormous power of law enforcement to punish their enemies and reward their allies are not constitutional republics; they are autocracies.
Such behavior is a grave threat to the fair administration of justice. In this nation, we are all equal before the law. A person should not be given special treatment in a criminal prosecution because they are a close political ally of the President. Governments that use the enormous power of law enforcement to punish their enemies and reward their allies are not constitutional republics; they are autocracies.
More Than 2,000 Former US Department of Justice Officials Tell William Barr: Resign Now!
'Barr’s actions in doing the President’s personal bidding unfortunately speak louder than his words'
by Common Dreams staff
'Barr’s actions in doing the President’s personal bidding unfortunately speak louder than his words'
by Common Dreams staff
Attorney General William Barr speaks as President Donald Trump listens during a press conference the White House on July 11, 2019 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Chen Mengtong/China News Service/Visual China Group via Getty Images)
More than 1,100 (UPDATE: Now over 2,000) former US Department of Justice officials called on Attorney General William P. Barr on Sunday to step down after he intervened last week to lower the Justice Department’s sentencing recommendation for President Trump’s longtime friend and political crony Roger J. Stone Jr.
“It is unheard of for the Department’s top leaders to overrule line prosecutors, who are following established policies, in order to give preferential treatment to a close associate of the President, as Attorney General Barr did in the Stone case,” wrote the former Justice Department attorneys in their Sunday letter. “It is even more outrageous for the Attorney General to intervene as he did here — after the President publicly condemned the sentencing recommendation that line prosecutors had already filed in court.”
“Each of us strongly condemns President Trump’s and Attorney General Barr’s interference in the fair administration of justice,” the bipartisan former Justice Department lawyers wrote in their open letter on Sunday. Those actions, they said, “require Mr. Barr to resign.”
Stone was convicted last November on seven counts of witness tampering and lying to Congress during the investigation into alleged collusion between Russia and Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.
Federal prosecutors on Monday recommended that Stone receive a prison sentence of seven to nine years for his crimes. Early Tuesday morning, Trump tweeted his disapproval of the recommended sentence, calling it "horrible and very unfair."
Just hours after Trump's tweet, Barr's Justice Department said it was "shocked" by the recommended sentence and announced plans to reduce it, leading all four prosecutors handling the Stone case to immediately withdraw in protest. In a tweet Wednesday morning, Trump applauded his Attorney General for intervening.
"Congratulations to Attorney General Bill Barr for taking charge of a case that was totally out of control and perhaps should not have even been brought," Trump wrote.
Here is the full text of the letter:
DOJ Alumni Statement on the Events Surrounding the Sentencing of Roger Stone
We, the undersigned, are alumni of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) who have collectively served both Republican and Democratic administrations. Each of us strongly condemns President Trump’s and Attorney General Barr’s interference in the fair administration of justice.
As former DOJ officials, we each proudly took an oath to support and defend our Constitution and faithfully execute the duties of our offices. The very first of these duties is to apply the law equally to all Americans. This obligation flows directly from the Constitution, and it is embedded in countless rules and laws governing the conduct of DOJ lawyers. The Justice Manual — the DOJ’s rulebook for its lawyers — states that “the rule of law depends on the evenhanded administration of justice”; that the Department’s legal decisions “must be impartial and insulated from political influence”; and that the Department’s prosecutorial powers, in particular, must be “exercised free from partisan consideration.”
All DOJ lawyers are well-versed in these rules, regulations, and constitutional commands. They stand for the proposition that political interference in the conduct of a criminal prosecution is anathema to the Department’s core mission and to its sacred obligation to ensure equal justice under the law.
And yet, President Trump and Attorney General Barr have openly and repeatedly flouted this fundamental principle, most recently in connection with the sentencing of President Trump’s close associate, Roger Stone, who was convicted of serious crimes. The Department has a long-standing practice in which political appointees set broad policies that line prosecutors apply to individual cases. That practice exists to animate the constitutional principles regarding the even-handed application of the law. Although there are times when political leadership appropriately weighs in on individual prosecutions, it is unheard of for the Department’s top leaders to overrule line prosecutors, who are following established policies, in order to give preferential treatment to a close associate of the President, as Attorney General Barr did in the Stone case. It is even more outrageous for the Attorney General to intervene as he did here — after the President publicly condemned the sentencing recommendation that line prosecutors had already filed in court.
Such behavior is a grave threat to the fair administration of justice. In this nation, we are all equal before the law. A person should not be given special treatment in a criminal prosecution because they are a close political ally of the President. Governments that use the enormous power of law enforcement to punish their enemies and reward their allies are not constitutional republics; they are autocracies.
We welcome Attorney General Barr’s belated acknowledgment that the DOJ’s law enforcement decisions must be independent of politics; that it is wrong for the President to interfere in specific enforcement matters, either to punish his opponents or to help his friends; and that the President’s public comments on DOJ matters have gravely damaged the Department’s credibility. But 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. But because we have little expectation he will do so, it falls to the Department’s career officials to take appropriate action to uphold their oaths of office and defend nonpartisan, apolitical justice.
For these reasons, we support and commend the four career prosecutors who upheld their oaths and stood up for the Department’s independence by withdrawing from the Stone case and/or resigning from the Department. Our simple message to them is that we — and millions of other Americans — stand with them. And we call on every DOJ employee to follow their heroic example and be prepared to report future abuses to the Inspector General, the Office of Professional Responsibility, and Congress; to refuse to carry out directives that are inconsistent with their oaths of office; to withdraw from cases that involve such directives or other misconduct; and, if necessary, to resign and report publicly — in a manner consistent with professional ethics — to the American people the reasons for their resignation. We likewise call on the other branches of government to protect from retaliation those employees who uphold their oaths in the face of unlawful directives. The rule of law and the survival of our Republic demand nothing less.
If you are a former DOJ employee and would like to add your name, click here. Protect Democracy will update this list daily with new signatories.
“It is unheard of for the Department’s top leaders to overrule line prosecutors, who are following established policies, in order to give preferential treatment to a close associate of the President, as Attorney General Barr did in the Stone case,” wrote the former Justice Department attorneys in their Sunday letter. “It is even more outrageous for the Attorney General to intervene as he did here — after the President publicly condemned the sentencing recommendation that line prosecutors had already filed in court.”
“Each of us strongly condemns President Trump’s and Attorney General Barr’s interference in the fair administration of justice,” the bipartisan former Justice Department lawyers wrote in their open letter on Sunday. Those actions, they said, “require Mr. Barr to resign.”
Stone was convicted last November on seven counts of witness tampering and lying to Congress during the investigation into alleged collusion between Russia and Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.
Federal prosecutors on Monday recommended that Stone receive a prison sentence of seven to nine years for his crimes. Early Tuesday morning, Trump tweeted his disapproval of the recommended sentence, calling it "horrible and very unfair."
Just hours after Trump's tweet, Barr's Justice Department said it was "shocked" by the recommended sentence and announced plans to reduce it, leading all four prosecutors handling the Stone case to immediately withdraw in protest. In a tweet Wednesday morning, Trump applauded his Attorney General for intervening.
"Congratulations to Attorney General Bill Barr for taking charge of a case that was totally out of control and perhaps should not have even been brought," Trump wrote.
Here is the full text of the letter:
DOJ Alumni Statement on the Events Surrounding the Sentencing of Roger Stone
We, the undersigned, are alumni of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) who have collectively served both Republican and Democratic administrations. Each of us strongly condemns President Trump’s and Attorney General Barr’s interference in the fair administration of justice.
As former DOJ officials, we each proudly took an oath to support and defend our Constitution and faithfully execute the duties of our offices. The very first of these duties is to apply the law equally to all Americans. This obligation flows directly from the Constitution, and it is embedded in countless rules and laws governing the conduct of DOJ lawyers. The Justice Manual — the DOJ’s rulebook for its lawyers — states that “the rule of law depends on the evenhanded administration of justice”; that the Department’s legal decisions “must be impartial and insulated from political influence”; and that the Department’s prosecutorial powers, in particular, must be “exercised free from partisan consideration.”
All DOJ lawyers are well-versed in these rules, regulations, and constitutional commands. They stand for the proposition that political interference in the conduct of a criminal prosecution is anathema to the Department’s core mission and to its sacred obligation to ensure equal justice under the law.
And yet, President Trump and Attorney General Barr have openly and repeatedly flouted this fundamental principle, most recently in connection with the sentencing of President Trump’s close associate, Roger Stone, who was convicted of serious crimes. The Department has a long-standing practice in which political appointees set broad policies that line prosecutors apply to individual cases. That practice exists to animate the constitutional principles regarding the even-handed application of the law. Although there are times when political leadership appropriately weighs in on individual prosecutions, it is unheard of for the Department’s top leaders to overrule line prosecutors, who are following established policies, in order to give preferential treatment to a close associate of the President, as Attorney General Barr did in the Stone case. It is even more outrageous for the Attorney General to intervene as he did here — after the President publicly condemned the sentencing recommendation that line prosecutors had already filed in court.
Such behavior is a grave threat to the fair administration of justice. In this nation, we are all equal before the law. A person should not be given special treatment in a criminal prosecution because they are a close political ally of the President. Governments that use the enormous power of law enforcement to punish their enemies and reward their allies are not constitutional republics; they are autocracies.
We welcome Attorney General Barr’s belated acknowledgment that the DOJ’s law enforcement decisions must be independent of politics; that it is wrong for the President to interfere in specific enforcement matters, either to punish his opponents or to help his friends; and that the President’s public comments on DOJ matters have gravely damaged the Department’s credibility. But 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. But because we have little expectation he will do so, it falls to the Department’s career officials to take appropriate action to uphold their oaths of office and defend nonpartisan, apolitical justice.
For these reasons, we support and commend the four career prosecutors who upheld their oaths and stood up for the Department’s independence by withdrawing from the Stone case and/or resigning from the Department. Our simple message to them is that we — and millions of other Americans — stand with them. And we call on every DOJ employee to follow their heroic example and be prepared to report future abuses to the Inspector General, the Office of Professional Responsibility, and Congress; to refuse to carry out directives that are inconsistent with their oaths of office; to withdraw from cases that involve such directives or other misconduct; and, if necessary, to resign and report publicly — in a manner consistent with professional ethics — to the American people the reasons for their resignation. We likewise call on the other branches of government to protect from retaliation those employees who uphold their oaths in the face of unlawful directives. The rule of law and the survival of our Republic demand nothing less.
If you are a former DOJ employee and would like to add your name, click here. Protect Democracy will update this list daily with new signatories.
Trump Continues Politicizing the DOJ and the Court System
After his acquittal by the Senate on February 5, Donald Trump has continued brazenly politicizing the Department of Justice and attempting to intimidate the courts. First of all, he interfered in the sentencing recommendations a convicted Roger Stone, causing the abrupt resignation of the four federal prosecutors in the case. He has since commenced a Twitter attack on the federal judge in the case, Judge Amy Berman Jackson, vilifying her reputation and seeking to intimidate her.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/justice-dept-to-reduce-sentencing-recommendation-for-trump-associate-roger-stone-official-says-after-president-calls-it-unfair/2020/02/11/ad81fd36-4cf0-11ea-bf44-f5043eb3918a_story.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/02/12/trump-stone-judge/
After his acquittal by the Senate on February 5, Donald Trump has continued brazenly politicizing the Department of Justice and attempting to intimidate the courts. First of all, he interfered in the sentencing recommendations a convicted Roger Stone, causing the abrupt resignation of the four federal prosecutors in the case. He has since commenced a Twitter attack on the federal judge in the case, Judge Amy Berman Jackson, vilifying her reputation and seeking to intimidate her.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/justice-dept-to-reduce-sentencing-recommendation-for-trump-associate-roger-stone-official-says-after-president-calls-it-unfair/2020/02/11/ad81fd36-4cf0-11ea-bf44-f5043eb3918a_story.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/02/12/trump-stone-judge/
CLIMATE WATCH
Bumblebees are Dying Off
Accelerating climate change continues to take its toll on the planet's life forms. This report show that bumblebees are the latest victims of global warming.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/02/06/bumblebees-are-vanishing-scientists-blame-climate-change/
Accelerating climate change continues to take its toll on the planet's life forms. This report show that bumblebees are the latest victims of global warming.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/02/06/bumblebees-are-vanishing-scientists-blame-climate-change/
Thwaites Glacier is Melting From Below
Accelerating climate change is starting to have noticeable and alarming effects in Antarctica. The continent was formerly thought to be relatively immune from climate change, but new data is beginning to show that changes in remote icy continent were present, but mostly hidden from our view until now. In the story below, the Thwaites Glacier is being eroded from below by warm water. Why should you be concerned? The huge Thwaites Glacier is like a huge ice dam, keeping the vast ice pack of Antarctica's interior from rapidly sliding off the continent and into the ocean, thus drastically raising sea levels, measured not in inches, but feet.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/01/30/unprecedented-data-confirm-that-antarcticas-most-dangerous-glacier-is-melting-below/
Accelerating climate change is starting to have noticeable and alarming effects in Antarctica. The continent was formerly thought to be relatively immune from climate change, but new data is beginning to show that changes in remote icy continent were present, but mostly hidden from our view until now. In the story below, the Thwaites Glacier is being eroded from below by warm water. Why should you be concerned? The huge Thwaites Glacier is like a huge ice dam, keeping the vast ice pack of Antarctica's interior from rapidly sliding off the continent and into the ocean, thus drastically raising sea levels, measured not in inches, but feet.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/01/30/unprecedented-data-confirm-that-antarcticas-most-dangerous-glacier-is-melting-below/