House Judiciary Committee postpones hearing with Barr amid coronavirus outbreak

The House Judiciary Committee announced Monday that it had postponed an upcoming oversight hearing with Attorney General William Barr due to the coronavirus outbreak.

In a tweet, Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) explained that “overwhelming” health concerns necessitated the hearing to be pushed to a later date.

Due to overwhelming health and safety concerns, the @HouseJudiciary will postpone our March 31st oversight hearing with Attorney General Barr. DOJ has made a commitment to rescheduling the hearing for when the crisis abates and the Committee is able to reconvene.

— (((Rep. Nadler))) (@RepJerryNadler) March 23, 2020

The committee was set to grill Barr on allegations that the White House, particularly President Trump, urged the Department of Justice (DOJ) to interfere with the sentencing recommendations for Roger Stone, a top political ally of the president who informally advised the 2016 Trump campaign.

Democrats on the panel, as well as across the House and Senate, have accused the president and Barr of politicizing the DOJ after it requested “far less” time for Stone’s sentence than was recommended only a day earlier by career prosecutors on the case.

“This situation has all the indicia of improper political interference in a criminal prosecution,” Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in February.

The House and Senate have begun operating under altered protocols amid the coronavirus epidemic, which has sickened more than 377,000 people worldwide and tens of thousands in the U.S.