President Trump has a message for Attorney General William Barr: I will never log off.
Barr in a rare rebuke of Trump on Thursday criticized the president's tweets about Department of Justice cases in an interview with ABC News, begging him to knock them off because they're making his job difficult.
"I think it's time to stop the tweeting about Department of Justice criminal cases," Barr said in the interview, saying tweets like these from the president "make it impossible for me to do my job." This came amid an ongoing controversy over the Department of Justice reversing its sentencing recommendation for longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone after Trump angrily tweeted about it.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
So what was Trump's response to Barr begging him to stop it with the DOJ-related tweets? Another DOJ-related tweet, of course. Trump on Friday quoted a different part of the interview in which Barr said Trump has "never asked me to do anything in a criminal case," with Trump claiming this is true but only because he has "chosen not to" — at least "so far." Perhaps Trump's DVR cut off the "stop tweeting" portion of the interview, or he saw it but will just go ahead and decline to take that advice. Brendan Morrow
-
Taking aim at Venezuela’s autocratFeature The Trump administration is ramping up military pressure on Nicolás Maduro. Is he a threat to the U.S.?
-
Comey indictment: Is the justice system broken?Feature U.S. attorney Lindsey Halligan has indicted former FBI Director James Comey on charges of lying and obstructing Congress
-
Government shuts down amid partisan deadlockFeature As Democrats and Republicans clash over health care and spending, the shutdown leaves 750,000 federal workers in limbo
-
Judge bars Trump’s National Guard moves in OregonSpeed Read In an emergency hearing, a federal judge blocked President Donald Trump from sending National Guard troops into Portland
-
Museum head ousted after Trump sword gift denialSpeed Read Todd Arrington, who led the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, denied the Trump administration a sword from the collection as a gift for King Charles
-
Trump declares ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartelsspeed read This provides a legal justification for recent lethal military strikes on three alleged drug trafficking boats
-
Supreme Court rules for Fed’s Cook in Trump feudSpeed Read Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook can remain in her role following Trump’s attempts to oust her
-
Judge rules Trump illegally targeted Gaza protestersSpeed Read The Trump administration’s push to arrest and deport international students for supporting Palestine is deemed illegal
-
Trump: US cities should be military ‘training grounds’Speed Read In a hastily assembled summit, Trump said he wants the military to fight the ‘enemy within’ the US
-
US government shuts down amid health care standoffSpeed Read Democrats said they won’t vote for a deal that doesn’t renew Affordable Care Act health care subsidies
-
YouTube to pay Trump $22M over Jan. 6 expulsionSpeed Read The president accused the company of censorship following the suspension of accounts post-Capitol riot
