Lawyers quit after DOJ intervenes for Trump confidant
Four lawyers who prosecuted Roger Stone have quit the case after the US Justice Department said it would take the extraordinary step of lowering the amount of prison time it would seek for President Donald Trump’s longtime ally and confidant.
The decision came just hours after Trump complained that the recommended sentence for Stone was “very horrible and unfair”. The Justice Department claimed the sentencing recommendation was made before Trump’s tweet and prosecutors had not spoken to the White House.
The four attorneys, including two who were early members of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia team, had made up the Justice Department’s trial team and had signed onto a court filing that recommended up to nine years in prison for Stone.
The department’s decision to back off the sentencing recommendation has raised questions about political interference and the independence of the Justice Department under Attorney General William Barr.
Barr has been a strong ally of Trump’s, clearing the president of obstruction of justice, even when special counsel Robert Mueller had pointedly declined to do so, and declaring that the FBI’s Russia investigation had been based on a “bogus narrative”.
Prosecutors had recommended Stone serve seven to nine years behind bars after being convicted of charges including lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstructing the House investigation into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to tip the 2016 election.
It is extremely rare for Justice Department leaders to reverse the decision of its own prosecutors on a sentencing recommendation, particularly after that recommendation has been submitted to the court.
Sentencing decisions are ultimately up to the judge, who in this case may side with the original recommendation.
Federal prosecutors also recently softened their sentencing position on Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn, saying that they would not oppose a probation of punishment after initially saying that he deserved up to six months in prison for lying to the FBI. The Flynn prosecution is also being handled by the US Attorney’s office in Washington.