Rep. Maxine Waters, California Democrat, likened President Trump to a “mafia boss” Tuesday over concerns involving his administration intervening in the sentencing of Roger Stone.
Ms. Waters made the remark after thousands of former Department of Justice officials called on Attorney General William P. Barr to resign over his involvement in the Stone case.
“More than 2000 former DOJ officials courageously organized letter explaining why Barr’s interference in Roger Stone’s sentencing is dangerous & a threat to our democracy,” Ms. Waters said on Twitter. “Trump doesn’t seem to care that it’s rumored he has mafia associations, but he sure acts like a mafia boss!”
Stone, Mr. Trump’s longtime confidant and former campaign adviser, is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday after being convicted by a jury late last year on seven felony counts.
Federal prosecutors recommended last Monday that Stone receive a prison sentence of seven to nine years. Mr. Trump subsequently called their proposal “horrible and very unfair,” and within hours the Justice Department revised its initial recommendation to suggest that Stone serve “far less” time behind bars than previously proposed.
All four of the prosecutors who signed the initial sentencing recommendation resigned from the case in the interim, and Mr. Trump later thanked 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,” Mr. Trump said last Wednesday on Twitter.
More than 1,000 former Justice Department officials later signed their name to a letter released Sunday calling for Mr. Barr’s resignation. The number of signees surpassed 2,000 as of Monday afternoon.
“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,” the letter says.
Mr. Barr, who succeeded Jeff Sessions to become attorney general last February, denied in an interview released Thursday that Mr. Trump told him to intervene in the Stone case.
He added that Mr. Trump’s posts on Twitter have made it “impossible” for him to do his job, however.
“I think it’s time to stop the tweeting about Department of Justice criminal cases,” Mr. Barr told ABC News in the interview.
Stone, 67, was found guilty in November of lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstruction. He faces up to 50 years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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