Trump says he has "legal right" to ask Barr to intervene in criminal cases

• The president acknowledged in a tweet earlier this week that Barr had personally intervened to overrule career prosecutors' sentencing recommendation for Roger Stone.

What Trump's saying:

"The President has never asked me to do anything in a criminal case." A.G. Barr This doesn’t mean that I do not have, as President, the legal right to do so, I do, but I have so far chosen not to!

The big picture: Barr's statement during an ABC News interview Thursday was a rare public rebuke of the president by the attorney general, who has faced allegations of politicizing the Justice Department.

• White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham later said that Trump has "full faith and confidence in Attorney General Barr to do his job and uphold the law."