President Donald Trump falsely claimed on Tuesday that he is “the chief law enforcement officer of the country.”
“I’m allowed to be totally involved,” he told reporters. “I’m actually, I guess, the chief law enforcement officer of the country. But I’ve chosen not to be involved.”
This comes weeks after the president maintained he was not above the law during his impeachment trial. Since he was acquitted, Trump has granted clemency to political allies, has made several attempts to punish impeachment trial witnesses, intervened in ongoing cases to persuade the judge to be lenient towards his associates, and even threatened to sue the government for investigating his suspicious activities.
As a defense for all of these actions, the president argued that he’s allowed to be “totally involved.”
The person who is actually the “the chief law enforcement officer,” as Trump has described the position, is the Attorney General William Barr.
Barr has recently come under fire for suggesting leniency in sentencing Roger Stone, a longtime ally of Trump’s. Since, over a thousand former Justice Department have come forward urging him to resign, stating that his actions cause a “grave threat to the fair administration of justice.”
