The Federal Judges Association’s (FJA) board of directors will hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday in the wake of President Donald Trump and Attorney General Bill Barr’s meddling in the criminal case of Trump’s former adviser, Roger Stone.
Though the board’s annual meeting is slated for April 18-19, the president of FJA, Philadelphia U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe, told USA Today that the association’s leaders “could not wait” until then to discuss the ongoing scandal.
“There are plenty of issues that we are concerned about,” she said. “We’ll talk all of this through.”
FJA Executive Director Megan Cruz confirmed the meeting in a phone call with TPM.
Rufe also defended Judge Amy Berman Jackson, the U.S. district judge presiding over Stone’s case, whom Trump attacked in his screed against the four now-former prosecutors in the trial.
“We are supportive of any federal judge who does what is required,” Rufe told USA Today.
Trump’s complaints about the case and Barr’s subsequent decision to walk back the prosecutors’ recommended prison sentence of seven to nine years for Stone, who was found guilty on all charges of obstruction and witness tampering, triggered a crisis last week in the federal criminal justice community.
Democratic senators and more than 2,000 former Justice Department employees have called for Barr’s resignation since the disaster began.
