President Trump tweeted Friday that he has "the legal right" to ask Attorney General Bill Barr to intervene in criminal cases, saying that he has "so far chosen not to."
Why it matters: The tweet comes just one day after Barr said Trump's tweets "make it impossible for me to do my job" and publicly advised the president that "it's time to stop the tweeting about Department of Justice criminal cases."
- The president acknowledged in a tweet earlier this week that Barr had personally intervened to overrule career prosecutors' sentencing recommendation for Roger Stone.
What Trump's saying:
"The President has never asked me to do anything in a criminal case." A.G. Barr This doesn’t mean that I do not have, as President, the legal right to do so, I do, but I have so far chosen not to!
The big picture: Barr's statement during an ABC News interview Thursday was a rare public rebuke of the president by the attorney general, who has faced allegations of politicizing the Justice Department.
- White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham later said that Trump has "full faith and confidence in Attorney General Barr to do his job and uphold the law."
