barr blasted mr. trump for tweets attacking the j justice department's sentencing recommendation for his friend roger stone. barr said the tweets are making it impossible for him to do his job, adding he's not going to be bullied or influenced by anyone. senate judiciary committee chairman lindsey graham stood by barr saying he has my complete confidence. the comments come after the justice department intervened and lowered stone's sentencing recommendation. all four prosecutors on the case then stepped down. naomi ruchim is in new york. what's the reaction from the white house? >> reporter: white house officials i pear to be caught offguard by barr's remarks. but the press secretary said the president wasn't bothered by the comments at all and that the president like any american has the right to publicly offer his opinions. attorney general william barr has a message for president trump. stop tweeting. >> i cannot do my job here at the department with constant background commentary that undercuts me. >> reporter: the head of the justice department, barr is under fire for overruling his prosecutors,

roger barr has now seen his house destroyed twice.t's happening. i've had to buy another house, same size but higher up. and i don't know what's going to happen with this. so you just feel abandoned by the authorities? abandoned, yeah! new flood defences are being built here, but they were no good yesterday. nikki morris's house merged with the neighbouring river and canal. she filmed this from her front door. today she's resigned to another lengthy clear—up. i hate it being here now, at this very moment in time, i don't want to be here at all. i've got my house up for sale, i have done for a few months, but that's not going to happen now, is it? further south in hampshire, a 58—year—old man was killed when a tree fell on his car on the a33. many train services were cancelled. this was glasgow central station, where the west coast main line only reopened late this afternoon. numerous other train operators reported problems caused by the weather. whoa! in the borders, this 200—year—old guesthouse in hawick collapsed into the river. and

roger barr has now seen his house destroyed twice.s ever knocked my door in seven years, to come and see what's happening. i've had to buy another house, same size but higher up. and i don't know what's going to happen with this. so you just feel abandoned by the authorities? abandoned, yeah! new flood defences are being built here, but they were no good yesterday. so a decision now has to be made whetherjust to chuck everything out or to try and clean up and salvage. you can see how the water came up to this level... the same family has run this hardware store for 30 years, but this weekend was the final straw. we were on camera in 2015, and we said that, if it ever happened again, we were going to call it a day. and we're going to call it a day. it's notjust a little bit of a mess you've got to clean up. it's the walls want drying, everything's... i'm just so mad, it's...annoying. nikki morris's house merged with the neighbouring river and canal. she filmed this from her front door. today she's resigned to another lengthy clear—up.

roger barr has now seen his house destroyed twice.ven years to come and see what's happening. i've had to buy another house, same size but higher up. and i don't know what's going to happen with this. so you just feel abandoned by the authorities? abandoned, yeah! new flood defences are being built here, but they were no good yesterday. so a decision now has to be made whetherjust to check everything out or to try and clean up and salvage. you can see how the water came up to this level... the same family has run this hardware store for 30 years, but this weekend was the final straw. we were on camera in 2015, and we said that if it ever happened again, we were going to call it a day. and we're going to call it a day. it's notjust a little bit of a mess you've got to clean up. it's the walls want drying, everything's. .. i'm just so mad, it's...annoying. nikki morris's house merged with the neighbouring river and canal. she filmed this from her front door. today she's resigned to another lengthy clear—up. i hate it, being here now, at

roger barr has now seen his house destroyed twice.ome and see what's happening. i've had to buy another house, same size but higher up. and i don't know what's going to happen with this. so you just feel abandoned by the authorities? abandoned, yeah! new flood defences are being built here, but they were no good yesterday. so a decision now has to be made whetherjust to check everything out so a decision now has to be made whetherjust to chuck everything out or to try and clean up and salvage. you can see how the water came up to this level... the same family has run this hardware store for 30 years, but this weekend was the final straw. we were on camera in 2015, and we said that, if it ever happened again, we were going to call it a day. and we're going to call it a day. it's notjust a little bit of a mess you've got to clean up. it's the walls want drying, everything's... i'm just so mad, it's...annoying. nikki morris's house merged with the neighbouring river and canal. she filmed this from her front door. today she's resigned to

roger barr has now seen his house destroyed twice.r knocked on my door in seven years, to come and see what's happening. i had to buy another house, same size, but higher up. and i don't know what's going to happen with this. so you just feel abandoned by the authorities? abandoned, yeah. new flood defences are being built here, but they were no good yesterday. so, a decision now has to be made whetherjust to check everything out or to try and clean up and salvage. you've seen how the water came up to this level... the same family has run this hardware store for 30 years. but this weekend was the final straw. we were on camera in 2015. we said if it ever happened again, we were going to call it a day. and we're going to call it a day. it'sjust not a little bit of a mess you've got to clean up. the walls want drying, everything's. .. i'mjust so mad. it's annoying. nikki morris‘ house merged with the neighbouring river and canal. she filmed this from her front door. today, she is resigned to another lengthy clear up. i hate it, being he

the attorney general of the united states, william barr, is offering surprising criticism of president trump tonight in response to the rogering controversy. in a bombshell interview barr complains the president's tweets and statements about the justice department make it impossible for him to do his job. barr telling abc news he won't be bullied as he tries to defend his credibility. the attorney general denies he was influence bid the preside p sentence for roger stone. i'll get reaction from congressman, a democrat on the house judiciary committee and our correspondents and analysts are standing by. first, let's go to our crime and justice correspondent. he's here in "the situation room" for us. the president clearly has seen the attorney general as an ally. this was pretty surprising now to hear that ally in the president, the attorney general, publicly rebuking the president. >> that's exactly it. it's the fact that he's doing this publicly and the way he's doing it. on the record before cameras to abc news. saying all this and you can view

not have these conversations with the president, and the president said he has not talked to barr about roger. barr said that very same thing. isn't that what one would expect if everything is being handled appropriately? the media would be saying that's exactly what should happen. >> oh, i don't think much of the media's ever going to be lauding donald trump for bill barr under any circumstances. but i think there is a difference between having a conversation about a decision the justice department has made, has been making whether or not it's mike flynn or mccabe and telling the president, mr. president, please stop tweeting rather than announcing it to the world. i think that's the kind of back and forth that really has people very alarmed and very mystified. eric: you know, finally, on a final note, i mean, you served 85 days in federal prison, in jail because you would not give up a source, famously. as someone who has been through that system and through that process, what is it like? what are you concerned about when you hear these type of stories? what should we watch out for? >> i am

they are concerned about how women barr handled the federal sentencing of roger stone, close friend of president trump's convicted on charges that came out of the mueller recommendation. william barr, as attorney general, stepped in and overruled the recommendations that the prosecutors made. former justice officials say barr was out of bounds. mr. barr's actions in doing the president's personal bidding, unfortunately, speak louder than words. those actions and the damage they've done to the department of justice's reputation for integrity and rule of law require mr. barr to resign. our white house correspondent jeremy diamond is in washington. this is an extraordinary and bipartisan action from a very large group of officials. how is the white house responding? >> reporter: that's right, it certainly is. we saw earlier this week already in the wake of bill barr's intervention in this case, career prosecutors working on the roger stone case resigning from that caseload. now we're seeing these 1,100 officials calling for his resignation. bill barr's words here, his rebuke of the presid

. >> reporter: barr tells me he's, quote, happy, roger stone was convicted on charges, including obstruction of congress and witness tampering. mr. barr, the president does not like to be told what to do. he may not like what you're saying. are you prepared for those ramifications? >> of course. but the thing i have most responsibility for are the issues that are brought to me for decision. and i will make those decisions based on what i think is the right thing to do, and i'm not going to be bullied or influenced by anybody. i cannot do my job here at the department with a constant background commentary that

hours after trump openly denied barr's public pleas to stop tweeting about ongoing justice department cases. trump on tuesday tweeting about the judge overseeing the roger case. in an exclusive interview with abc news last week barr had said trump's tweets about friend and convicted confidant roger stone were disrupting his ability to manage the department. >> to have public statements and tweets made about the department, about people in the department make it impossible for me to do my job. >> reporter: but a doj spokesperson insists that the attorney general has no plans to resign. >> are you making his job impossible? >> yeah, i do make his job harder. i do agree with that. i think that's true. he is a very straight shooter. we have a great attorney general. >> reporter: now barr did say the president never explicitly got involved in the case, something he and trump still maintain. >> i never spoke to him about the roger stone situation. >> reporter: the latest comments by the president come as a federal judge refused to delay sentencing for roger stone which is set for thursday. stone was convicted on charges of lying to congress and witness tamper

roger stone is. >> thank you all. happy valentine's day. >>> so how is the justice department rank and file reacting to bill barr's doing, what he's doing? well, i'm going to ask someone who worked in the same office as the four roger stone prosecutors and knows two of them personally. i'm not hungry! you're having one more bite! no! one more bite! ♪ kraft. for the win win. (v...especially when your easily distracted teenager has the car. the worst... at subaru, we're taking on distracted driving [ping] with sensors that alert you when your eyes are off the road. the all-new subaru forester. the safest forester ever. are you currently using a whitening toothpaste, but not seeing results? try crest 3d whitestrips. its enamel-safe formula lifts and removes stains to provide 100% noticeably whiter teeth or your money back. try crest 3d whitestrips. think you need to buy expensive skincare products [♪] to see dramatic results? try olay skin care. just one jar of micro-sculpting cream has the hydrating power of 5 jars of a prestige cream, which helps plump skin cells and visibly smooth wrinkles. while new olay retinol24... p

remarks appear to be a response to allegations that bill barr caved to the president's demands that he lessen sentencing recommendation for roger stone. barr says it is not the case, even if the result is what the president wanted. yet behind the scenes, the president is reportedly furious department of justice hasn't done more to punish perceived enemies like james comey and andrew mccabe when friends like stone and michael flynn are facing jail time. hans nichols at the white house. the official word is there's no division between the president and the attorney general. tell us what's happening here? >> reporter: i think we saw in the tweet from the president where in bill barr's words, he is adding grist to the mill. the president saying look, i will weigh in on cases as i please, it is my right to do so. what's fascinating about the tweet from the president, the first half starts off defensive, which is not a posture we typically get from the president, trying to claim bill barr was defending him. then the president lays down the law. where you look at where bill barr is publicly, it is not as though he established a red li

. -- expectative and complicate, democrat slamming attorney general william barr as roger stone stormtinues, barr is responding, details of surprising new comments that is just coming. >> and and andy mccart way ro cy weighing in on that, coming next. hi! we're glad you came in, what's on your mind? can you help keep these guys protected online? easy, connect to the xfi gateway. what about internet speeds that keep up with my gaming? let's hook you up with the fastest internet from xfinity. what about wireless data options for the family? of course, you can customize and save. can you save me from this conversation? that we can't do, but come in and see what we can do. we're here to make life simple. easy. awesome. ask. shop. discover. at your local xfinity store today. >> i'm happy to say the fact that president never asked me to do anything in a criminal case. however, to have public statements and tweets made about the department about people in the department, or men and women here. about cases pending in the department, and about judges before whom we have cases, make it impossib

with the way they treated people, nobody should be treated like that. >> reporter: barr tells me he's, quote, happy, roger stone was convicted on charges, including obstruction of congress and witness tampering. mr. barr, the president does not like to be told what to do. he may not like what you're saying. are you prepared for those ramifications? >> of course. but the thing i have most responsibility for are the issues that are brought to me for decision. and i will make those decisions based on what i think is the right thing to do, and i'm not going to be bullied or influenced by anybody. i cannot do my job here at the department with a constant background commentary that undercuts me. >> so, let's get to pierre thomas, with us live tonight from the justice department. and pierre, bottom line tonight, attorney general bill barr there insisting he was not pressured by the president. he says, in the interview with you, he did not talk to the president before recommending that lighter sentence for roger stone? >> reporter: david, the white house spokesman said tonight the president is not bothered by bar

their outrage is over how barr handled the federal sentencing of roger stone, a friend of president trump's convicted last year that came out of the mueller investigation. federal prosecutors made a sentencing recommendation. william barr stepped in and reduced it just a few hours after president trump's criticism on twitter. these former justice officials who signed this statement calling for barr's resignation say barr was not serving his office. instead he was only serving the president's personal interests. let's get out to cnn's jeremy diamond at the white house tonight. jeremy? >> reporter: well, a firestorm of controversy is continuing around attorney general bill barr's decision to intervene in that politically sensitive case involving the president's long-time political adviser roger stone. barr taking that extraordinary action to reverse a sentencing recommendation from career prosecutors. and now we are seeing more than 1,100 career department of justice officials, former justice department officials, some of them prosecutors, career, some of them political appointees, but having

officials demand the resignation of attorney general william barr for asserting political influence in cases involving the president's associates like roger stone and michael flynn. >> i see the rule of law being undermin undermined, attorney general barr the driving force behind the one institution in our society most responsible for reserving the rule of law. >> circular firing squad. the democrats turn on each other ahead of the high-stakes nevada caucus with mike bloomberg under fire for his

the stunning development is in response to barr's controversial decision to ask for shorter prison sentence for roger stone, a long-time trump adviser. the officials who served in both republican and democratic administrations signed and released a rare statement today, nanding barr step down. cnn's jeremy diamond joins me now from the white house. what more can you tell us about this letter? what kind of response is it getting from the department of justice and the white house? >> reporter: fredricka, this all began earlier this week when we saw attorney general bill barr rebuke the president for his tweets and specifically that roger stone case. barr said those tweets were disruptive and made it impossible for him to do his job. but nonetheless, the undercurrent of barr's remarks, really the focus of them, was that he was defending his decision to interfere in the roger stone case, specifically to overrule career prosecutors who recommended a certain sentence for roger stone and this is where this rebuke from these 1,100 former justice department officials comes into play. they write in this open l

in regards to late-breaking news with bar and roger stone. barr. the left is going to try to make an example out of him. that's how i see this coming down. i don't know the whole story. that is how i see this. >> neil: how do you see -- dog, michael bloomberg and how to present this economy that the rich have been giving the free ride -- that that will be something that will resonate, that theupsell? >> they will discuss income inequality and wage president having an uncritical, unabashed freedom to jump into whatever matter he wants. we have the separation of the justice department who is supposed to be independent, the judiciary independent. >> neil: it was that case under obama and certainly during the kennedy administration. it is blind and nonpartisan. >> i didn't say that. i said it should be. if it is wrong for bobby kennedy and obama, there are plenty of candidates that would support that. i think the president would be best to do well enough alone. i hope she makes an independent judgment. i think that she will. i also think the president

roger stone key served. now donald trump tweets, and bill barr sees the tweet. it came after we had already made the decision to intervene. the question becomes why now is the tweeting so bad? because you know, donald trump tweeted when roger stone was on trial. i don't recall bill barr being upset about that. we've had a number of tweets from donald trump that i don't recall bill barr being upset about. >> you're making a great point. there is nothing new about donald trump rage tweeting in ways that can undermine the rule of law. you're pointing out, this is something where mr. barr was a very smart person some of the call him diabolical. he sat down and brain stormed all of this and this is the best thing a smart person could come out with. anyone who follows news knows, this ain't new. >> it isn't even new for him to attack justice department by tweet. bill barr didn't stand upthe fb mueller when he said yeah, i can understand why donald trump is tweeting that it is a witch hunt. he certainly didn't stand up for the fbi and did he stand up for conspiracy theo

roger stone. i want to get, dispel an untruth that mr. barr has said. he knew from day one what the sentencing recommendation for roger stone was going to be. because it was one of the highest profile cases. they could weekly memos about what will happen in the case. and bill barr for a fact knew that we were going, we, the partner in justice would recommend 7 to 9 years. he was not accurate. he did not fwhak decision to withdraw that recommendation until after that tweet. he gave the impression that he had made decision before trump's tweet. that was really disingenuous in my view. >> where do we go from here? you had the department of justice say they won't prosecute andrew mccabe for what they said did he wrong. where does everything go from here? what are you tracking next? >> well, one of the things what happens to the relationship between president trump and attorney general barr. this is an attorney general that president trump has said is finally the attorney general whose dreams that he wanted from the start. the first real public tension we've

after tweeting his objections to federal prosecutors, just the recommendation in the roger stone case, william barr's justice department then changed the recommendation and lowered the sentencing for donald trump's friend, roger stone. that was enough for jonathan kravis who was one of the prosecutors. he notified the court that he would no longer be involved in the case and he then quit his job. at the justice department. three other prosecutors working on the roger stone case. aaron zelinsky, adam jed and mike marando notified that they would no longer be working on the case and in effected following donald trump's orders. so william barr signs new prosecutors for the sentencing phase. a phase that is now clearly meaningless, isn't it? because donald trump in his way today let us know, let roger stone know, that roger stone has nothing to worry about. >> i don't want to say that yet. but people were hurt viciously and badly by these corrupt people. >> are you considering a pardon? i don't want to say that yet. that means that he's considering a pardon for roger stone. that means he's saying that co

the new york times says trump and william barr are out of control, very upset about this, changes in the doj at the sentencing for roger. bob barr was white house counsel, he says the president should not be able to command this loyalty when the conflict concern something is from the midwest the professionalism and independence of the justice department and involves the case in which the president has a direct personal interest. they say his tweet was a message to the doj to take better care of roger stone. >> the fake news loves to drum up ridiculous narratives to get everyone talking about something that is completely beside the.. the point is the prosecutors in this instance were absolutely malicious, targeting was so excessive. if you look at the comparison between roger stone's sentencing recommendation from prosecutors that should have the interest of justice, not the interests of the democratic party at mind than this 7-9 year sentencing recommendation is absolutely excessive and outrageous which it wasn't signed off on by the doj. they were fully aware of this. they said this can't stand so to think donald trum

around attorney general bill barr's decision to intervene in that politically sensitive case in1r0678ing the preside in1r06 involving the president's political advisor roger stone. barr taking that extraordinary action to reverse a sentencing recommendation from career prosecutors, and now we are seeing more than 1100 career department of justice officials, former justice department officials, some of them prosecutors, career, some of them political appointees. but having served in both democratic and republican administrations. and essentially what they say in this statement is that while it's all well and good for barr to be coming out and criticizing the president's use of twitter to talk about some of these cases, putting him in a difficult position, they're saying that ultimately barr's actions are what really matter. here's what they say. mr. barr's actions in doing the president's personal bidding unfortunately speak louder than his words. those actions, and the damage they have done to the department of justice's reputation for integrity and the rule of law, require mr. barr to resign. >>> now, the white house for its part has spent a couple of da

now, this comes after barr intervened in the sentencing of a long-time friend of president trump. four prosecutors in the case against rogerafter the justice department lowered the recommended sentence. barr has also ordered the reexamination of the case against another trump ally, former national security advisor michael flynn. jeremy diamond has our report. >> reporter: well, a firestorm of controversy is continuing around attorney general bill barr's decision to intervene in that politically sensitive case involving the president's long-time political advisor roger stone. barr taking that extraordinary action to reverse a sentencing recommendation from career prosecutors, and now we are seeing more than 1100 career department of justice officials, former justice department officials, some of them prosecutors career, some of them political appointees, having served in both democratic and republican administrations. and essentially what they say in this statement is that while it's all well and good for barr to be coming out and criticizing the president's use of twitter to talk about some of these cases putting him in a

barr for taking charge of stone's sentencing. >> reporter: president trump continues to publicly comment on the case of his long time ally. >> roger stone was treated horribly. >> reporter: the president congratulated attorney general william barr for intervening and overruling the initial seven to nine year sentence recommendation from his department's own prosecutors in favor of a lighter sentence. the justice department insists there was no coordination with the white house. >> i didn't speak to him, by the way, just so you understand. they saw the horribleness of a nine year sentence. >> reporter: the four career prosecutors abruptly w h withdrew from the case on tuesday. >> what am i doing becoming the president's henchman. >> reporter: ultimately the sentence is up to the judge in this case who denied a request by stone's attorneys for a new trial. on twitter the president took a swipe at the judge who also sentenced paul manafort, prompting a rare rebuke from the president's allyly lindsey grah. >> i don't think the president should have tweeted about an ongoing case. >> reporter: graham says he has confidence in the doj's

general william barr personally intervene in the case of president trump ally roger stone this week. barr's justice department reversed its own lawyers and requested a lighter sentence for stone. they did it just hours after trump tweeted the sentence for his friend was too harsh are denies he was trying tohelp stone because of his friendship with trump. he also criticized the president's tweets but some believe bars push bag may have been disingenuous that it may have been staged laura jarrett reports. >>attorney general william barr delivering an unusual public rebuke of president trump. >>the with some of the some of the tweets are rare showing of disapproval from one of the president's most loyal cabinet members, i'm not going to be bullied or influence by anybody and i said at the time whether it's congress newspaper editorial boards for the president i'm going to do what i think is right. >>you know i think the i cannot do my job here at the department. >>with a constant background commentary that ares criticism coming as the justice department is under extreme scrutiny after he

department officials calling for attorney general william barr to resign after the justice department eefrld the sentencing recommendation for roger stone. barr and other supporters of the president say mr. trump should not get involved in cases, but not everyone agrees. >> barr's decision to intervene with this extreme sentence recommendation was appropriate. >> does the president have a right to tweet about a case, of course. just because you can sing though doesn't mean you should sing. >> stone was convicted on seven charges last year that came out of former special counsel robert mueller's investigation including lying to congress and witness tampering. the original sentencing recommendation was 7 to 9 years. the judge in the stone case could decide as early as today if she will grant stone's request for a new trial. >>> also, today, search teams will be back out continuing to look for a missing palo alto couple. last skeen on friday. today's search will focus on the area around that house. more than 130 trained volunteers turned out yesterday to help look for the couple. blue lines on this map mark the search areas including

calling for william barr to resign, saying it's "outrageous" the way he interfered in the case of convicted trump ally roger stone. but in an exclusive interview with abc news, barr told pierre thomas he did not coordinate with the white house in the stone case. >> so just to be clear here, did you talk to the president at all about your decision regarding the recommendations? >> the recommendations on this case? never. >> anybody from the white house call you to try to influence you? >> no, nope. i have not discussed the roger stone case at the white house. >> at all? >> at all. >> reporter: the president called the department's sentencing recommendation of seven to nine years a "miscarriage of justice." it was thrown out, prompting all four prosecutors on the case to resign. the former doj employees and federal prosecutors accuse barr of flouting principles based on an "evenhanded administration of justice," saying that the stone case was just the latest example. adding, "a person should not be given special treatment in a criminal prosecution because they are a close political ally of the president." >>

trump expressed histi frust with the sentencing recommendation for his convicted friend roger stone. william barr's doj intervened to lessen the sentence, and while he maintaineds it was not done at mr. khan's request, b--mr. trump's request, bd r said it wo better if the president did not intervene in such matters. i look over this week in politics with gary o'donoghue. puwhat you make of thiic disagreement between the two? gary: that is what it looks like on the face of it, the most loyal of attorney generals who has back to thestresident every of the way has accused his own justice department of effectively political spying along with the fbi in terms of the russian investigation, if you remember in front of congress, effectively coming out and saying, look, get off my back, don't tweet about this stuff, making my job and possible, etc., etc. ht ye to remember that in the case of the roger stone investigation, they are on the sameth page. president sought the recommendation of seven to nine years was way too long and outrageous, and soto did the atey general. if he is trying to dt'the preside's

barr to resign. democrats slamming the doj for roger stone's reduced sentence recommendation in the russia probe.riff jenkins joins us from washington with the backlash from the left. >> fresh off the campaign trail in new hampshire elizabeth lauren is joining those calls from democrats in washington for bar's resignation. >> we can't let this moment go unremarked. with the attorney general has done, we should all be calling for the resignation of the attorney general. if he won't resign -- >> he intervened in the sentencing of roger stone, facing 7 to 9 years under the prosecutor's guidelines but after midnight tweet by the president complaining, they changed course of meeting paperwork requesting a lower sentence prompting the prosecutors on the case to resign. the doj official says the president's tweet had nothing to do with the change but minority leader chuck schumer took to the senate for calling this a crisis. >> what is more swampy, what is more stinking than the most powerful person in the country literally changing the rules to benefit a crony guilty of breaking the law. we are witness

of justice has attorney general william barr under mounting scrutiny with the doj facing accusations it caved to political pressure from presidential tweets in rogertion, barr is now reviewing the case of another convicted trump ally, michael flynn. this after he announced longtime trump target and former fbi director andrew mccabe, will not face any charges. president trump was reportedly angered by that decision. mccabe is now a cnn contributor and defended his time at the fbi. >> absolutely the right thing to do then, and i would do it again tomorrow if i was in the same situation and looking at the same facts. look, what we've seen through the multiple investigations so far, all of the work of the ig looking at everything each one of us did, the decisions we made, communications around them, everything you can possibly imagine, millions of documents, even the biggest critics have concluded that we were absolutely authorized in opening the cases we did. in my judgment it would have been a dereliction of duty not to open the cases we did under the concerns that we had and the facts we were working with at the time. we're guilty of doing our jobs

wants to avoid the appearance of any impropriety. >> barr attorney general says that monday night he had inkling that reduction that sentence rogerntence needs to be reduced he was going to take care of it tuesday morning but the president's tweet happened overnight . and this is how barr said all of that played out when he first learned it be. listen here real quick. >> once tweet occurred the question is well -- now what do i do? that is safe there as you can see but barr said what do you do at that point sort of illustrates how disruptive these tweet can be. so who's the the audience for barr here? is it the president bank stop or in thes say look i did something right? >> look the democrats are going want to a ten on spike no matter what and fact of the matter is he's a prosecutor and prosecutors swear in oath that oath is to seek justice only their cases asking for a 7-9 year sentence for a guy with no criminal record this is his first offense. e he's served several presidential administrations, and had a long distinguished career it doesn't make sense that you would ask for this much time on a guy like this. >> do you think

roger stone. >> the chances as you know that bill barr steps down are pretty slim, right, but you have potential oversight of what his actions he's doing. you want graham to open an investigation. have you heard from senator graham or from anyone else on that request? >> i have not heard back. i just came from a hearing of

this, of course, after bill barr stepped in to reduce recommended sentence of trump ally roger stone. barr insists that the president wanted him to do that is totally coincidence. he stepped in to reduce the recommendation before the president tweeted about it, he said. so do we trust barr? a thousand former doj employees say no and we'll find out what federal judges think but we do know if we look back at last year barr did not tell us the truth about the content of a memo released by robert mueller, back when barr had the memo but we did not. when america saw the memo, it did not say what barr claimed it said. former national security adviser john bolton made a public appearance last night and said his new book will reveal much more than what happened in the ukraine scandal. that is the thing that got the president impeached. these pictures, by the way, have no audio behind them because our crew in north carolina was not allowed to record bolton's audio so let's ask the same question, do we trust bolton. he seems to have a lot to say to help us understand the threats to the republic

after an intense blowback after the reduced recommended sentence for the president's friend roger stone, barrerday where the attorney general is tempted to set the record straight about the doj's independence. he insisted he had already overruled the seven to nine year

slamming the president's tweet criticizing the sentencing recommendation for his long-time friend roger stone. barrent to stop tweeting about justice department criminal cases. barr says the president's tweets, and i'm quoting, make it impossible for me

i don't know if you heard today -- you probably did -- but bill barr today said that the president's tweet about rogert to play again what barr said and i'll give you a chance to respond. >> you're saying you have a problem with the tweets? >> yes -- well, i have a problem with some of the tweets. you have public statements and tweets made about the department, about people in the department, our men and women here, about cases pending in the department and about judges before whom we have cases make it impossible for me to do my job. >> what do you think the president's going to do about that, just ignore it, let bill barr say it publicly? >> well, the president and i spoke this afternoon. it's interesting we were talking about some of the background on this, not that issue directly. but, you know, the president said to me they spent, the dnc and hillary campaign, they spent a lot of money on that dossier. it turned out to be completely baseless. $15 million in public funds was spent investigating it, on what basis? all the fisa investigations found without basis. he suffered for two years, so i unde

roger stone case. but, you know, just to be clear about one thing and that is bill barr was also saying in that interview that he was standing by the way he handled the roger stone matter that he overturned the recommendation from career prosecutors who were following the rules, the rules under the trump administration, right, which is they are supposed to be tough on crime, supposed to -- the guidelines of the department says that they are to supposed to follow the rules on sentencing. so seven to nine years is exactly what trump administration says is the policy. so these guys, these prosecutors ended up getting in trouble with bill barr for following the very rules that the department and president trump say they want to be tough on crime. the interesting thing is on tuesday the very day that all this went down bill barr gave very tough on crime speech to a group of sheriffs who were in town and spoke all of the things about how we have to be very, very tough on people committing crimes and then, you know, obviously just a few hours later says that they want to go lenient on roger stone. that's one of

barr says the president played no role in his decision to reverse a tougher sentencing recommendation for rogerthe president at all about your decision regarding your recommendations? >> never. >> anybody from the white house call you to try to influence you? >> no. nope. i have not discussed the roger stone case at the white house. >> reporter: on tuesday, justice department prosecutors recommended a seven to nine-year prison sentence for the president's close friend, roger stone. the president furious tweeting, cannot allow this miscarriage of justice. and just hours later, the attorney general officially overruling his own prosecutors to recommend a lighter sentence. barr insisted he made that decision well before the president's tweet telling me trump put him in an impossible position. >> i had made a decision that i thought was fair and reasonable in this particular case. and once the tweet occurred, the question is, well, now what do i do? and do you go forward with what you think is the right decision, or do you pull back because of the tweet? that sort of illustrates how disruptive thes

as attorney general william barr has agreed to testify before the house judiciary committee to answer questions regarding former white house adviser roger stone democrats have criticized barr and the department of justice for overruling federal prosecutors after stern was sentenced to 7 to 9 years in prison for lying to congress obstruction and witness tampering after the justice department said it would reduce that all for prosecutors and investigating stones stone rather quit the case as president donald trump has declined to say whether he's considering pardoning a long time in there i mean are you considering a pardon i don't want to say that i did but i tell you what people were hurt viciously and badly by these corrupt people and i want to think if you look at what happened i want to thank the justice department for seeing this this horrible thing and i did speak to him by the way just so you know just basically the horrible this of a 9 year sentence for doing nothing you have murdered as a drug addict you don't get 9 years 9 years for doing something that nobody even can defy what he did which the president did in fact tweet that

barr will face their questioning under oath. chairman nadler will press him on how he handles the case including, yes, roger stone. he hearing set for late next month. it will mark barr's first testimony for a house committee run by democrats. they've been pounding him about four prosecutors leaving the stone case in protest. and now asking doj's watch dog to investigate. >> as a result, i have formally requested that the inspector general of the justice department investigate this immediately. >> attorney general barr ought to be ashamed and embarrassed and resign as a result of this action directly interfering in the independent prosecution of roger stone. simply the latest in examples of political interference by the president. >> and that sort of watch dog probe could happen. remember, it helped lead to the exhaustive ig probe of the fbi's tactics investigating george p papadopoulos. my one time boss, david kelly, good to see you. >> how are you? >> i'm great. people can understandably feel like a lot of stuff happens in this trump administration. how significant is what we're seeing at the justice department o

general bill barr is creating some criticism, let's say, after days of facing accusations that the justice department caved to political pressure on rogerstone's case. barr is now reviewing the case of another trump ally, michael flynn. >> the rebuke comes when he said the president's tweets made it impossible for him to do his job. the president responded to re-duke with, what else, a tweet saying as president he can intervene in a criminal case if he wanted to but hasn't so far. the president escaping washington, now at mar-a-lago, florida, for the weekend. sarah, are we seeing tensions brewing between the attorney general and trump? >> that certainly seems likely, am ara and victor. that happened this week, back and forth between the white house and department of justice so president trump was escaping that tumultuous week to take some time out at his mar-a-lago estate. he seemingly continuing to attack an impeachment process that ended a week and a half ago. and saying democrats' suck sussful campaign to remove him from office emboldened him. and he also called the impeachment a witch-hunt, which he loves to do. the florida trip com

now, barr said in that interview he believed the president had put him in an untenable position because he was weigh on this sentencing for roger stone, this recommended sentencing before bill barr himself had a chance to weigh in, which he said he planned to do and had not discussed with the white house, but now bill barr has similarly but the president in an impossible position because he has to choose between rectifying for that situation as we've seen him do in the past when people are criticized him, and of course siding with one of his favorite and seemingly most loyal cabinet members. though we're still waiting to see exactly what it is the president is going to say about all of this. >> thanks so much for that. meanwhile an emboldened president trump is not even denying he lied about giuliani's mission in ukraine. here's what he said in november. >> rudy giuliani, but he's your personal lawyer. giuliani's your personal lawyer, so you didn't direct him to go to ukraine or put any heat on anyone? >> no, i didn't direct him. >> and here's what the president told geraldo rivera on friday. >> rudy was totally on his game. >>

impossible for me to do my job barr, the attorney general also said that the president has ner asked me to do anything in a criminal case despite some criticism surrounding rogerlongtime political ally, barr says, i think it's time to stop tweeting about the department of justice criminal cases, this in an interview with pierre thomas that just aired a couple minutes ago the context is the president weighing in on twitter, saying he felt that the proposed sentence by the department of justice for roger osteasonablog to nine years was too harsh, the department of justice following up the prosecutors involved in that you foreof thom resigned, apparently in protest of that decision, or in frustration of some conflict among themselves and higher-ups at the department of justice the president then tweeted congratulations. now barr saying those tweets can make it impossible for him to do his job. it creates the impression that the president is putting political pressure on the department of justice to go easily on his political ally roger stone. barr here saying, no, no, no, that's not the case, but the tweets are making it different to proceed here. eamon javers re

after an intense blowback after the reduced recommended sentence for the president's friend roger stone, barr sat for an interview with abs news yesterday where the attorney general is tempted to set the record straight about the doj's independence. he insisted he had already overruled the seven to nine year sentence adjusted for stone before the president suggested he do so. he acknowledged the optics were bad and called mr. trump's tweets disruptive to the department and to his own job. >> i had made a decision that i thought was fair and reasonable in this particular case. and once the tweet occurred, the question is, well, now what do i do? and do you go forward with what you think is the right decision or do you pull back because of the tweet? and that just sort of illustrates how disruptive these tweets can be. >> you're saying you have a problem with the tweets? >> yes. well, i have a problem with some of the tweets. >> then in the past couple hours, the doj announced a decision that seemed to underscore barr's claims of independence. after more than two years the department declined t

attorney general william barr has agreed to testify before the house judiciary committee and to answer questions regarding the former white house adviser roger stone democrats have criticized barr and the department of justice for overruling federal prosecutors roger stone was sentenced to prison for lying to congress but the justice department said it would reduce the odds the u.s. president has brushed off a decision by the philippines to withdraw from a decade's old military pact by the end of the year donald trump said it will save the u.s. a lot of money. the former america's basketball player kobe bryant and his daughter have been birth death certificates reveal the true were laid to rest on friday they were among 9 people who died when their chopper went down near los angeles 2 weeks ago those are the headlines on al-jazeera the stream is coming up next thanks for watching. we understand the differences in similarities of cultures across the world so no matter how you take a. 0 for you the news and current affairs. down to 0. and everyone i am femi oke a more people are embracing hair extensions and wigs from a human hair but where do