Trump hails Barr for 'taking charge' of Stone case; Democrats vow probe

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday praised Attorney General William Barr for “taking charge” of the case against his long-time adviser and friend Roger Stone, as Democrats pushed investigations into the Justice Department’s actions.

The Justice Department on Tuesday reversed course and urged a lighter sentence for Stone after prosecutors a day earlier recommended that the veteran Republican operative face sentencing within federal guidelines of seven to nine years.

The highly unusual move, which came hours after Trump complained about the recommended sentence on Twitter, prompted all four U.S. prosecutors to quit the case and Democrats to accuse Barr of political interference ahead of next week’s scheduled sentencing.

Trump later told reporters that he did not discuss Stone’s case with the department but called the sentencing recommendation “ridiculous.” A senior Justice Department official called the timing of Trump’s initial tweet and the department’s actions a coincidence.

“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 tweeted early Wednesday. Trump also targeted the judge in the case and the outgoing prosecutors in other tweets late Tuesday, and retweeted a post that urged a full pardon of Stone as well as another former Trump adviser, Michael Flynn.

Legal experts called the department’s intervention after filing a formal recommendation highly unusual. While some experts said the initial recommendation appeared severe, the original prosecutors said they were in line with “the seriousness of” Stone’s crimes.