Former U.S. attorneys appointed by Republican presidents endorse Joe Biden

WASHINGTON – A group of former U.S. attorneys appointed by Republican presidents are endorsing Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden, citing what they described as politicization of the Justice Department under President Donald Trump.

"The president has clearly conveyed that he expects his Justice Department appointees and prosecutors to serve his personal and political interests in the handling of certain cases – such as the investigations into foreign election interference and the prosecution of his political associates – and has taken action against those who have stood up for the interests of justice," according to a statement from 20 U.S. attorneys who were appointed by Republican presidents, including George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon and Dwight Eisenhower.

The Justice Department, under Trump and Attorney General William Barr, has intervened in the high-profile prosecutions of the president's allies, drawing criticisms from former Justice Department employees who saw the actions as unprecedented intrusions of the agency's independence to advance Trump's political interests.

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In February, prosecutors who tried longtime presidential ally Roger Stone quit the case in protest after the Justice Department leadership overruled the attorneys' recommended sentence for the longtime GOP operative. The unusual move came after Trump publicly criticized the prosecutors' recommended sentence.

Under Barr, Justice Department launched an investigation into its own prosecution of former national security adviser Michael Flynn and later sought to drop the case. Flynn, who had pleaded guilty twice, claimed he had been entrapped into admitting to a crime he didn't commit. The Justice Department argued that the FBI interview during which Flynn made false statements was "unjustified."

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Stone and Flynn are among half a dozen former Trump aides and associates who were indicted as a result of the Russia investigation headed by former special counsel Robert Mueller. The investigation, which looked into Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential race to help Trump win, cast a dark cloud over much of his presidency.

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The Justice Department under Barr's leadership has launched an inquiry into the origins of the Russia investigation. The president and his Republican allies in Congress have sought to make the investigation an election issue, relying on the Justice Department to release significant findings before November.

More recently, the president has repeatedly pressured Barr to indict his political enemies, including former President Barack Obama and Biden. Barr, who has been mum on the issue, said previously that Obama and Biden are not under a criminal investigation.

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The former U.S. attorneys also criticized the Justice Department's aggressive deployment of federal officers and agents to cities amid a nationwide civil unrest following the death of George Floyd at the hands of police officers. In many cases, the Trump administration sent federal officers despite the objections of local and state officials.

"(Trump) has undermined the Department's ability to unify and lead our nation's law enforcement by picking political fights with state and local officials in a naked effort to demonize and blame them for the disturbances in our cities over the past several months," according to the statement.

Biden, in contrast, will preserve the Justice Department's independence from political interests, the U.S. attorneys said.

"We firmly believe that Vice President Joe Biden is the candidate who can – and will – provide the leadership we need to refocus the Justice Department on the cause of impartial justice and to address the deep-seated societal issues that are roiling our country today," the U.S. attorneys said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Joe Biden supported by former U.S. attorneys appointed by Bush, Reagan