Bill Barr's congressional testimony on Roger Stone sentencing put on hold for coronavirus

On Monday, in an expected development, House Democrats announced that the planned March 31 Judiciary Committee testimony of Attorney General William Barr is being pushed back due to the coronavirus crisis.

"DOJ has made a commitment to rescheduling the hearing for when the crisis abates and the Committee is able to reconvene," stated House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY).

The hearing is intended to address controversies at the Justice Department in recent months. A key point of contention is Barr's decision to overrule the line prosecutors recommending a heavy sentence for President Donald Trump's campaign adviser and longtime friend Roger Stone, who was convicted of false statements, obstruction, and witness tampering in former special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.

That decision — which came around the same time as Trump attacked the government attorneys involved in the case on social media — sparked outrage and prompted the prosecutors to resign in protest.