Judge refuses to delay Stone sentencing
A federal WASHINGTON — judge on Tuesday refused to delay sentencing for Republican political operative Roger Stone, setting up a crossroads moment later this week in an extraordinary case marked by a mini-revolt inside the Justice Department and allegations of interference by President Donald Trump.
Stone was convicted in November of a seven-count indictment that accused him of lying to Congress, tampering with a witness and obstructing the House investigation into whether the Trump campaign coordi- nated with Russia to tip the 2016 election. He is sched- uled to be sentenced Thursday.
Stone’s defense team has requested a new trial and unsuccessfully lobbied Judge Amy Berman Jackson on Tuesday to delay sentenc- ing until she rules on that motion. On the government side, a new set of attorneys took over the case after the entire prosecution team resigned last week following Attorney General William
Barr’s decision to overrule their recommendation that Stone serve at least seven years in prison.
Barr’s move became public after Trump called the orig- inal sentencing recommen- dation “horrible and very unfair.” The president added in a tweet: “Cannot allow this miscarriage of justice!”
Barr later said in an ABC News interview that he had not been asked by Trump to look into the case but that the president’s tweets were making it “impossible” for him to do his job.
Trump kept up his Twitter defense of Stone on Tuesday, before Jackson refused to delay sentencing.
“Everything having to do with this fraudulent investigation is badly tainted and, in my opinion, should be thrown out,” Trump tweeted Tuesday morning. He also tweeted a quote from Fox News commentator Andrew Napolitano, saying that the Stone jury appears to have been biased against Trump, referencing Judge Jackson by name and claiming “almost any judge in the country” would throw out the con- viction.