Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer slammed President Donald Trump on Twitter Wednesday for discussing the Department of Justice's sentencing recommendation for Roger Stone, a longtime ally and confidant.
“When the WH comments on a matter traditionally left to the Justice Dept., it makes the matter political instead of judicial,” wrote Fleischer, who was President George W. Bush's press secretary. “Justice must be blind."
Trump criticized the seven-to-nine year sentence recommended for Stone in a tweet on Tuesday, after which the Department of Justice announced it was changing its recommendation to a much lighter sentence, according to The Hill.
This sparked the four-prosecutor team working on the case to resign from it and broader calls for an investigation into why the Department of Justice made the decision.
On Wednesday, Trump tweeted “Congratulations to Attorney General Bill Barr for taking charge of a case that was totally out of control and perhaps should not have even been brought.”
George W. Bush ethics lawyer Richard Painter, who is a consistent Trump critic, also slammed the president’s interference, writing on Twitter that “With yet more politicization of prosecutions Bill Barr builds his reputation as the most corrupt Attorney General in American history.”