Former Vice President Joe Biden (D) joined calls for Attorney General William Barr to resign after the Justice Department recommended a lighter prison sentence for former Trump aide Roger Stone.
When asked in an interview with MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace on Monday if Barr should resign, Biden said, “Absolutely.”
“Absolutely, positive. This has been the greatest abuse of power I have ever seen at the hands of this president who has no, no sense of decency or understanding of the Constitution. And Barr’s facilitating, and it’s beyond my comprehension. I’ve been around a long time, used to chair the Judiciary Committee for years. No president, no president, no president has ever intimidated an attorney general into abusing power as much as this man has. It’s disgusting.”
Watch the interview below:
Former VP Joe Biden on the calls for Attorney General Barr to resign:
— Deadline White House (@DeadlineWH) February 17, 2020
"This has been the greatest abuse of power I have ever seen at the hands of this president, who has no sense of decency or understanding of the Constitution." @JoeBiden @NicolleDWallace pic.twitter.com/ufRkEwG5RY
Biden’s comments come after more than 1,000 former Justice Department officials called for Barr to resign over his decision to seek a lighter sentence for Stone.
Prosecutors recommend on Feb. 10 that Stone receive seven to nine years in prison after he was convicted on charges of lying to Congress, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering. The next day, the Justice Department called the initial guidance “extreme and unwarranted.”
Democrats blasted the move and called an investigation into whether Trump pressured officials at the department to recommend a lighter sentence — noting the announcement came after the president voiced his disapproval of the recommended sentencing.
Trump has denied that he directed the Justice Department to issue a lighter sentencing recommendation. And Barr said he was already in the process of revising the existing recommendation and recommending a lighter one before Trump’s comments.