Former U.S. justice officials ask for resignation of attorney general

Signatories of the text believe that the fundamental principle of equanimity and impartiality in law enforcement has been ignored

More than 1,000 former U.S. Department of Justice officials signed a petition calling for the resignation of Attorney General William Barr for his intervention to reduce the sentence of Roger Stone, a former campaign adviser and friend of President Donald Trump .

Signatories to the text posted on the Internet accuse Trump and Barr of "openly and repeatedly" ignoring the fundamental principle of equanimity and impartiality in the application of laws.

The petition stems from the political scandal caused by the allegations that Barr decided, allegedly pressured by Trump, to disallow his own prosecutors and seek a lighter sentence for Stone.

Four Justice Department prosecutors resigned the case last week in apparent protest against the president's interference.

"A person should not receive special treatment in a criminal case because he is a political ally close to the president," the statement said.

“Governments that use the power to enforce the law to punish their enemies and reward their allies are not constitutional republics; they are autocracies ”, he adds.

Prosecutors working on the case recommended a sentence of seven to nine years in prison, after Stone was found guilty of obstructing a Congressional investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election campaign and providing false testimony.

On Twitter, Trump criticized the recommendation and called it "horrible and very unfair". Hours after the tweet was published, Barr intervened in the case and eliminated the recommendation as "excessive and disproportionate".

His intervention sparked outrage, which Barr tried to contain during a television interview on Thursday, when he said that the president's tweets make his job “impossible”.

The former officials add that they welcomed Barr's "late recognition" of the damage caused by Trump's attacks on prosecutors, but that Barr's actions motivated by pressure from the president "are a stronger signal than his words".

"These actions and the damage they have done to the Justice Department's reputation for their integrity and the mandate of the law require Mr. Barr resign ”, adds the petition.

On the other hand, White House aide Kellyanne Conway defended the president's actions on Fox News , insisting that Trump did not give Barr any orders and described as "hypocritical" the claim that a president would refrain from commenting on a criminal issue. .

The former employees, however, claim that it is unprecedented that a senior Justice Department official disallows prosecutors in one case “to give preferential treatment to an employee close to the president, as Attorney General Barr did in the Stone case. “