After President Donald Trump was acquitted following his Senate impeachment trial, the House Impeachment Managers expressed their concerns that the results would only help encourage future indiscretions.
As it turns out, it seems as if President Donald Trump truly does believe he’s above the law, after declaring himself the “chief law enforcement officer of the country” after he granted clemency to a string of his political allies, evading the processes usually undertaken by the Justice Department, the Washington Post reports.
“I’m allowed to be totally involved,” he told reporters on Tuesday. “I’m actually, I guess, the chief law enforcement officer of the country. But I’ve chosen not to be involved.”
As the Post notes, this sudden spree of involving himself in ongoing criminal issues has sparked the concern of Attorney General William Barr, who apparently told those close to him that he would consider quitting if the Tweeter-in-Chief did not stop tweeting about ongoing cases.
DOJ spokesperson Kerri Kupec later tweeted that these “rumors” were not true, saying that Barr “as no plans to resign.”
So far, Trump has granted executive clemency to 11 people, including again, some political allies, and others who were convicted of white-collar crimes, like corruption and fraud.
Trump said that he granted clemency based on “the recommendations of people that know them.”
These pardons and commutations are also being closely watched because the president has already gone to bat for his former campaign adviser and long-time ally, Roger Stone.
Trump raged when federal prosecutors recommended up to nine years in prison for Stone for his role in impeding an investigation into Trump’s 2016 campaign calling the situation “horrible and very unfair.”
Following Trump’s tweet, and after the Department of Justice said that it planned to review the sentencing suggestion, all four of the prosecutors who were handling the case against Stone withdrew from the proceedings, although they never officially said why.
Whether Stone might be next to be pardoned is anyone’s guess.