Trump news: President attacked over 'vile smear job' after claims of meddling in Roger Stone case
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump is receiving swift backlash for claiming without evidence that “rogue prosecutors” were possibly responsible for handing his longtime associate Roger Stone a lengthy prison sentence, as Bernie Sanders' celebrates victory in New Hampshire.
The president's comments were described as a "vile smear job" by a key witness as former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said in a tweet: "Justice must be blind." Mr Trump's incendiary tweets came shortly after prosecutors said Stone should be sentenced to seven-to-nine years for lying to Congress during an investigation into Russian interference in the 2020 election.
Meanwhile, results from New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary continued to be dissected throughout the day, as Mr Sanders' strong showing appeared to place him on a clearer path to securing the Democratic nomination than ever before. Pete Buttiegieg and Amy Klobuchar, who trailed the Vermont senator respectively, have also since thanked supporters for their solid performances on Tuesday night.
The attorneys then resigned from the case after the Justice Department overruled them and said it would take the extraordinary step of lowering the amount of prison time it would seek for Stone.
The departures on Tuesday raised immediate questions over whether Mr Trump, who earlier in the day had blasted the original sentencing recommendation as “very horrible and unfair,” had at least indirectly exerted his will on a Justice Department that he often views as an arm of the White House.
The department insisted the decision to undo the sentencing recommendation was made Monday night — before Mr Trump’s tweet — and prosecutors had not spoken to the White House about it.
Even so, the departures of the entire trial team broke open a simmering dispute over the punishment of a Trump ally whose case has long captured the Republican president’s attention.
The episode was the latest to entangle the Justice Department, meant to operate free from White House sway in criminal investigations and prosecutions, in presidential politics.
The four attorneys, including two who were early members of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia team, comprised the entire Justice Department trial team that won convictions against Stone last fall.
Additional reporting by AP. Please allow a moment for our liveblog to load
Chuck Schumer has releases a statement about the Roger Stone case
The New York Democrat and Senate Minority Leader said on Wednesday: "I call on Judiciary Committee Chairman Graham to convene an emergency hearing ... to conduct oversight and hold hearings. That's the the job of the Judiciary Committee, no matter who is president."
The former White House press secretary under George W Bush has slammed Donald Trump after he claimed without evidence "rogue prosecutors" were responsible for sentencing his longtime associate Roger Stone to a lengthy prison sentence.
Ari Fleischer condemned the president’s comments after he lashed out on Twitter over Stone’s seven-to-nine year prison sentence, which he received for lying to Congress during an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
“Trump governs like an outsider, saying what he thinks, letting it rip,” Mr Fleischer said in a tweet of his own to 370,000 followers.
“But there is a downside,” he added. “When the WH comments on a matter traditionally left to the Justice Dept., it makes the matter political instead of judicial.”
The former White House official added: “Justice must be blind.”
The latest CNN delegate count has Pete Buttigieg with two more delegates than Bernie Sanders. However, given the Vermont senator's decisive victory in New Hampshire, his path towards the nomination appears priced in. Still, anything can happen with the vast majority of states still waiting to hold their own primaries.
Breaking news: Deval Patrick, a former Massachusetts governor who launched a late bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, has ended suspended his campaign after failing to garner significant support along the campaign trail.
The former governor, seen as a moderate and longshot candidate in the race to the White House, said in a statement on Wednesday: “I believed and still believe we had a strong case to make for being able to deliver better outcomes.”
“But the vote in New Hampshire last night was not enough for us to create the practical wind at the campaign's back to go on to the next round of voting,” he said. “So I have decided to suspend the campaign, effective immediately."
ICYMI: Here are the most cringe-worthy moments from the Democratic campaign trail thus far.
The Independent's Andrew Naughtie asks whether Andrew Yang will launch a bid to serve as the mayor of the BIg Apple after suspending his presidential campaign last night:
After two dismal performances in the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, entrepreneur Andrew Yang has dropped out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. It makes for a quiet end to a campaign in which he spent tens of millions of dollars and successfully vaulted himself into the national spotlight despite his paucity of political experience.
Along the way, he injected some big ideas into the mainstream of Democratic debate — chief among them a universal basic income — and roused a movement of supporters big enough and enthusiastic enough to earn themselves a nickname: The Yang Gang.
But in the end, it wasn’t enough to make him president. So what next?
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has more troubling predictions from today's speech on the Senate floor about Donald Trump's possible attempts to intervene in the 2020 election:
Here's my latest on the backlash Donald Trump is facing after claiming without evidence that "rogue prosecutors" were responsible for offering a lengthy prison sentence in his longtime associate Roget Stone's trial:
Donald Trump has sent out a message to Republicans in the Senate urging them not to support the bipartisan Iran War Powers Resolution, writing: "We are doing very well with Iran and this is not the time to show weakness."
Kamala Harris has posted a clip of the viral moment when she questioned Attorney General William Barr last year, writing: "His refusal to give me a straight answer spoke volumes. The American people deserve to know whether Trump is politicizing our Justice Department."
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