Tag: Stone sentencing

Stone faces sentencing amid political firestorm

The Hill logoRoger Stone is set to be sentenced Thursday in the midst of a growing political controversy after the Trump administration intervened in his case to push for a lighter prison sentence than originally sought by prosecutors.

President Trump himself helped ignite the controversy, loudly calling for a light sentence for his longtime ally, attacking the original prosecution team and using the case to declare himself the nation’s “chief law enforcement officer.”

A firestorm engulfing the sentencing process over the past week has quickly eclipsed the facts of the case, which centers around what Stone told Congress about his role as a back channel between the 2016 Trump campaign and WikiLeaks, which was releasing damaging stolen emails from then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee at the time. Continue reading.

Judge refuses to delay Stone sentencing

The Hill logoA federal judge on Tuesday refused to delay Roger Stone‘s sentencing amid the fallout over the Trump administration’s decision to intervene in the case against the president’s longtime ally.

The sentencing will move forward on Thursday at its originally scheduled time, the judge said, despite a new effort from Stone’s defense team to get a new trial.

“I think that delaying this sentence would not be a prudent thing to do under all of the circumstances,” U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson, an Obama appointee, said during a telephone conference with the two sides. Continue reading.

Barr ensnared in Roger Stone firestorm

The Hill logoAttorney General Bill Barr is engulfed in a political firestorm on Capitol Hill amid the fallout from the Justice Department’s decision to reduce its recommended sentence for Roger Stone. 

Democrats are clamoring for Barr to testify and for the department’s decision to be investigated, arguing the move is the latest sign that Trump is feeling emboldened after Republicans acquitted him last week of abusing his power and obstructing Congress.

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) called Barr an “enabler” of Trump, adding, “That’s a kind word.”  Continue reading.

Prosecutors quit amid escalating Justice Dept. fight over Roger Stone’s prison term

Washington Post logoAll four career prosecutors handling the case against Roger Stone withdrew from the legal proceedings Tuesday — and one quit his job entirely — after the Justice Department signaled it planned to undercut their sentencing recommendation for President Trump’s longtime friend and confidant.

The sudden and dramatic moves came after prosecutors and their superiors had argued for days over the appropriate penalty for Stone, and exposed what some career Justice Department employees say is a continuing pattern of the historically independent law enforcement institution being bent to Trump’s political will.

Almost simultaneously, Trump decided to revoke the nomination to a top Treasury Department post of his former U.S. attorney in the District of Columbia, who had supervised the Stone case when it went to trial. Continue reading.

Roger Stone asks to delay Feb. 6 sentencing by at least one month, saying he needs more time to complete financial disclosure statement

Washington Post logoAttorneys for longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone asked a federal judge Thursday to postpone his scheduled Feb. 6 sentencing by at least one month, saying he needs more time to collect financial and other records needed for a sentencing advisory report.

Stone, 67, was convicted by a federal jury in Washington last month of one count of tampering with a witness and six counts of lying to Congress about his efforts to learn of hacked Democratic emails during the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Stone faces a maximum 50 years in prison for the charges, although a first offender would face far less time under federal sentencing guidelines. Stone was charged as part of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into Russian election interference.  Continue reading