Headlines for February 13, 2020

Attorney General William Barr is slated to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on March 31, as calls mount for his resignation after he intervened to lessen the Justice Department’s sentencing recommendation for President Trump’s longtime friend and former campaign adviser Roger Stone. Earlier this week, four federal prosecutors withdrew from the Stone case — and one resigned from his job entirely — after senior Justice Department officials demanded Stone receive a shorter prison sentence than the initially recommended seven to nine years, even though this sentence range was based on federal sentencing guidelines.

Attorney General Barr’s intervention came after Trump went on a late-night Twitter rampage attacking federal prosecutors and calling the initial sentence a “miscarriage of justice.”

After the intervention, Trump tweeted in praise of Barr: “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.”

This comes as a judge has indefinitely postponed the sentencing of former national security adviser Michael Flynn, even though Flynn has already pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents. And Trump’s former chief of staff, General John Kelly, criticized Trump during a speech at Drew University, slamming the president over his policies on an array of issues, including North Korea, immigration, military discipline and Ukraine.