‘Red flag for democracy’: Trump’s Attorney General William Barr ‘taking control of legal matters of interest to president’

Democrats call for investigation into Department of Justice move to reduce sentence of Roger Stone

Donald Trump described Roger Stone's sentencing as a 'miscarriage of justice' just before the Department of Justice said the sentence was being re-evaluated (EPA)

Donald Trump’s determined efforts to seize and wield ever greater power within government are setting more alarm bells ringing as opponents claim the president has now engineered significant legal sway within the Department of Justice.

Attorney General William Barr is increasingly taking control of “legal matters of personal interest to President Donald Trump”, NBC News reports, citing “multiple people” familiar with the matter.

The move has been widely interpreted as an erosion of the separation of powers between the president’s office and the justice system — a keystone of democracy.

Concerns have mounted after Mr Barr apparently intervened in the Roger Stone case.

Last year Stone was convicted on seven counts, including witness tampering and lying to investigators in relation to his work for the Trump campaign.

But on Tuesday, the president lashed out at the sentence recommended by Stone’s prosecutors, of nine years in jail.

“This is a horrible and very unfair situation. The real crimes were on the other side, as nothing happens to them. Cannot allow this miscarriage of justice!” Mr Trump wrote on Twitter.

His tweet was condemned by Democrat House speaker Nancy Pelosi, who said the president had “engaged in political interference in the sentencing of Roger Stone”, and said his actions should be investigated.

Later on Tuesday, the prosecution team then resigned en mass, when the Department of Justice — reportedly under Mr Barr’s direction — said it was planning to reduce the recommended sentence.

Mr Trump’s administration has also rescinded the nomination of Jessie Liu, who had supervised the Stone Case, for a job as an undersecretary at the Treasury Department.

Ms Liu was also overseeing the inconclusive criminal investigation into former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe, who was accused by the Department of Justice’s inspector general of lying to investigators. Mr McCabe has not been charged, despite Mr Trump repeatedly saying he should be sent to prison.

Mr Trump and Mr Barr’s interventions in the Department of Justice come as the president has attacked those officials subpoenaed to testify in the impeachment proceedings against him.

Democrat politician and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, has called on the Justice Department Inspector General to “open an investigation immediately”.

“The president seems to think the entire Justice Department is just his personal lawsuit to prosecute his enemies and help his friends. Rule of law in this grand tradition in this wonderful Justice Department is just being totally perverted to [suit] Donald Trump’s own personal desires and needs, and it’s a disgrace,” Mr Schumer told reporters in Washington.

Dr Brian Klaas, a UCL lecturer and expert on democracy, authoritarianism and American politics, told The Independent Mr Trump and Mr Barr were in “serious breach of democratic norms”.

He said: “For a country to be a democracy, rule of law must be completely separate from political machinations. In authoritarian regimes — and in countries lurching towards authoritarianism like Turkey or Hungary — rule of law is a weapon wielded by the leader. They use it to protect their political allies and investigate their political rivals.

“With Attorney General Barr, President Trump has found someone willing to bend rule of law to his whims and wishes. And what’s remarkable is that it’s not even being done secretly. Trump is openly calling to investigate political rivals. He has repeatedly called to imprison political opponents. And now the Justice Department, which is supposed to be separate from politics, is getting directly involved in a case to reduce the sentence for the president’s longtime friend and adviser, Roger Stone.

“That move came shortly after Trump tweeted his disapproval of how the case was being handled. This is a serious breach of democratic norms and a serious red flag for the erosion of democratic institutions. When rule of law breaks down, the decline of democracy follows.”