Attorney Robert Ray, a former member of the White House legal team, told Fox News on Friday that the “president has the absolute right” to get involved in Roger Stone’s case.
Trump said on Friday that he has a “legal right” to intervene in criminal cases but denied doing so in the case of Stone, his former adviser and longtime associate. Attorney General William Barr told ABC News on Thursday that “the president has never asked me to do anything in a criminal case.”
Ray told Fox News that even if he had, that is within Trump’s power, but said that Barr was right to say that Trump’s comments create a perception problem for the department.
“With regard to sentencing, since after all someone's liberty is at stake, it's important for the government of the United States, for the Department of Justice, to speak with one voice. That's all the attorney general was saying. And parenthetically I will say, the president has the absolute right to step into this, and for what it’s worth I happen to agree that the sentencing recommendation was too severe.”
He added, “all the attorney general is saying is, at the moment when there is a pending proceeding before a judge, at a sensitive time which is right in advance of sentencing, public respect for the integrity of the Department of Justice and its functioning before the court system requires that the department speak with one voice.”
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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