Trump Claims Has ‘Legal Right’ to Intervene in Criminal Prosecutions But Has Not Done So

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - President Donald Trump said in a statement on Friday that he has never intervened in a criminal case thus far even though he has the authority to do so.

Trump’s two-sentence statement began by repeating a statement from US Attorney General William Bar, who said, “The President has never asked me to do anything in a criminal case.”

“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!” Trump said via Twitter.

The tweet marked Trump’s first public comment since Barr told ABC news on Thursday that presidential tweets over a Justice Department decision to seek a lighter sentence make it "impossible" to do his job.

Barr’s decision to intervene in the case of former Trump aide Roger Stone to recommend a prison sentence lighter than a term of up to nine years recommended by prosecutors prompted four prosecutors to quit and congressional Democrats - including House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi - to call for an investigation of presidential meddling in the criminal justice system.

Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democratic candidate for the US presidency, called for Barr to either resign or face impeachment, while other Democratic lawmakers have refused to rule out impeaching Trump a second time over the Stone case, according to media reports.