AG Barr spars with Nadler: Portland is under attack, we're on the defense
AG Bill Barr fires back at Jerry Nadler over use of force to combat violent crime in Portland
Attorney General Bill Barr pushed back on claims that he’s sought to punish political enemies of President Trump while shielding the president’s allies from lengthy prison sentences — asking members of the House Judiciary Committee for examples of his perceived bias at the helm of the Department of Justice.
Responding to comments made by House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., Barr balked at the assertion that he was taking sides or being influenced by politics when it comes to how the DOJ chooses to prosecute certain cases.
"I'm supposedly punishing the president's enemies and helping his friends. What enemies have I indicted?” Barr asked. “Could you point to one indictment that has been under the department that you feel is unmerited, that you feel violates the rule of law?”
Barr has been criticized by Democrats for the Justice Department’s move to put Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen back behind bars and into solitary confinement after he violated the terms of his home confinement.
COHEN SUES BARR, CLAIMS HE WAS SENT TO PRISON TO PREVENT TRUMP TELL-ALL
A federal judge in New York last week ordered Cohen released from prison and back into home confinement – saying that that the DOJ’s move were “retaliatory" and related to Cohen’s forthcoming tell-all book about the Trump.
U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York Alvin Hellerstein said he determined "the purpose of the transferring" was "because of his desire to exercise his First Amendment rights to publish a book and discuss anything about the book."
"That’s my essential finding and the injunction is against continuing retaliation against Mr. Cohen by keeping him in jail when he should be confined as he was before the retaliation at home,” the judge said.
Barr on Tuesday also denied claims that he improperly intervened in the cases of people close to the president – namely longtime GOP political operative Roger Stone and former national security adviser Michael Flynn – and said that he was only trying to “rectify the rule of law to make sure people are treated the same.”
TRUMP COMMUTES ROGER STONE'S SENTENCE, DAYS BEFORE PRISON TERM SET TO BEGIN
“Both cases I determined that some intervention was necessary to rectify the rule of law, to make sure people are treated the same,” he said. “Stone was prosecuted under me and I said all along that I thought that was a righteous prosecution. I thought he should go to jail and I thought the judge’s sentence was correct.”
Barr added: “But the lying prosecutors were trying to advocate for a sentence that was more than twice what anyone else in a similar position ever served…I agree the president’s friends don’t deserve special breaks, but also don’t deserve to be treated more harshly than other people.”
The attorney general raised eyebrows after the Justice Department in February submitted an amended filing in Stone's criminal case seeking a lighter sentence than prosecutors first recommended. Stone was convicted on charges of witness tampering, lying to Congress and obstruction tied to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Federal prosecutors initially suggested a sentence of between 87 and 108 months in prison on Monday, which Trump called "a horrible and very unfair situation." The following day, the DOJ leadership overruled the prosecutors in the case, submitting a new filing that said the DOJ "respectfully submits that a sentence of incarceration far less than 87 to 108 months’ imprisonment would be reasonable" for Stone.
APPEALS COURT ORDERS FLYNN CASE DISMISSED
Stone eventually had his 40-plus month prison sentence commuted by Trump — a move that drew sharp criticism from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers.
On Flynn, the Justice Department in May made the stunning move to drop its case against the former national security adviser – arguing that Flynn's interview by the FBI was "untethered to, and unjustified by, the FBI's counterintelligence investigation into Mr. Flynn" and that the interview was "conducted without any legitimate investigative basis," while arguing that Flynn's statements were not "material, even if untrue.”
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, however, has refused to drop the case even after a three-judge panel ordered him to grant that DOJ motion.
Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
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