Prosecutors are worried about handling cases that might anger President Donald Trump after Attorney General William Barr interfered with the sentencing for Roger Stone.
Career prosecutors told the New York Times they had already been wary of taking on cases involving the president's friends and associates, but Barr's meddling in the Stone case deepened their concerns.
They also expressed fear that Barr would not support them in politically charged cases.
“The leadership of the Justice Department has commandeered the sentencing in a politically sensitive criminal matter, reversing the position uniformly accepted and promoted by the career prosecutors,” said David Laufman, who previously led the Department of Justice's counterintelligence section.
All four career prosecutors who had been handling the Stone case quit in protest after Barr interfered with Stone's sentencing.
