In the last 24 hours, the media have gotten sucked into a supposed dispute between President Donald Trump and Attorney General Bill Barr — but it’s really not a fight at all, and the coverage itself has just served as a distraction from the real story of Barr’s interference in politically sensitive cases that could damage Trump.

Barr gave an interview Thursday to ABC News in which he objected to Trump’s tweets that urged a reversal of the sentencing recommendations against his former campaign associate Roger Stone. Barr insisted he had already decided to change the recommendations before Trump made his interjections.

“To have public statements and tweets made about the department, about people in the department, our men and women here, about cases pending in the department, and about judges before whom we have cases, make it impossible for me to do my job,” Barr said, “and to assure the courts and the prosecutors in the department that we’re doing our work with integrity.”