Prosecutors testify about how Barr helped Roger Stone

WASHINGTON — A federal prosecutor told lawmakers Wednesday that Roger Stone “was treated differently because of politics,” leading to a reduction in the recommended sentence for the longtime adviser to President Donald Trump.

“Roger Stone was being treated differently from every other defendant,” Aaron Zelinsky told the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.

Zelinsky and a second federal prosecutor, John Elias, told the committee that Attorney General William Barr has tilted actions toward Trump’s interests, and committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler called Barr “the president’s fixer.”

Barr has denied political motivations in his actions, and as the hearing began Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said in a tweet that the attorney general would appear before the Judiciary panel “for a general oversight hearing” on July 28.

On Wednesday, the committee’s top Republican said the attorney general is simply correcting injustices committed by antiTrump forces in the FBI and Justice Department.

“The politics was in the previous administration,” Rep. Jim Jordan said. “Bill Barr is doing the Lord’s work in seeing it doesn’t happen again.”

Zelinsky was one of four prosecutors who withdrew from the case against Stone after their original sentencing recommendation was reduced. Barr acted after Trump tweeted that the proposed sentence was “horrible and very unfair,” but the attorney general has said he came to the same conclusion before Trump spoke out.

Stone has been sentenced to 40 months for lying to Congress and tampering with a witness and is set to report to prison on June 30.