STONE PRISON TERM OVER 3 YEARS
Trump dangles possible pardon for longtime friend
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced Roger Stone, President Donald Trump’s longtime friend and political adviser, to serve three years and four months in prison for impeding a congressional investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
The penalty from U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson comes after weeks of infighting over the politically charged case that threw the Justice Department into crisis, and it is likely not to be the final word. Even before the sentencing hearing began, Trump seemed to suggest on Twitter that he might pardon Stone. With the proceedings ongoing, Trump questioned whether his ally was being treated fairly. Afterward, he attacked the jury in the case and said he would “love to see Roger ex-
onerated.”
In a lengthy speech before imposing the penalty, Jackson seemed to take aim at Trump, saying Stone “was not prosecuted for standing up for the president; he was prosecuted for covering up for the president.” She also appeared to call out Attorney General William Barr, saying his intervention to reduce career prosecutors’ sentencing recommendation was “unprecedented.” But she said the politics surrounding the case had not influenced her decision.
“The truth still exists; the truth still matters,” Jackson said, echoing prosecutors’ closing arguments at trial in November. “Roger Stone’s insistence that it doesn’t, his belligerence, his pride in his own lies are a threat to our most fundamental institutions, to the foundations of our democracy. If it goes unpunished, it will not be a victory for one party or another. Everyone loses.”
She added, “The dismay and disgust at the defendant’s belligerence should transcend party.”
Trump, meanwhile,
weighed in from afar. As the hearing was ongoing, the president, who was traveling on the West Coast, suggested in a tweet that Stone was being treated unfairly compared with political rivals he wants to see charged with crimes, including former FBI director James Comey, former FBI deputy director Andrew Mccabe and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who ran against him for president in 2016.
Not long after Stone’s hearing ended, Trump made similar comments in an appearance before former inmates in Las Vegas. Trump sought to make common cause over the criminal justice system. “These people know more about bad juries than everybody,” he said. Then he specifically attacked the panel and forewoman who decided Stone’s case.
“This is a woman who was an anti-trump person, totally,” he said. “Is that a defrauding of the court? You tell me.”
Trump said he was “following this very closely, and I want to see it play out to its fullest because Roger has a very good chance of exoneration in my opinion.” But he
added, “I’m not going to do anything in terms of the great powers bestowed upon a president of the United States. I want the process to play out.”
Overnight, Trump had hinted he could pardon Stone, tweeting a video clip in which Fox News host Tucker Carlson said, “President Trump could end this travesty in an instant with a pardon, and there are indications tonight that he will do that.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, RS.C., one of Trump’s allies on Capitol Hill, reiterated Trump’s right to grant clemency to his friend.
“Under our system of justice, President Trump has all the legal authority in the world to review this case, in terms of commuting the sentence or pardoning Mr. Stone for the underlying offense,” Graham wrote.
Stone, 67, was convicted by a federal jury on seven counts of lying to Congress and tampering with a witness about his efforts to learn about hacked Democratic emails related to Clinton.
A jury found the longtime GOP operative guilty of lying during testimony to the House Intelligence Committee
in September 2017 to conceal his central role in the Trump campaign’s efforts to learn about computer files hacked by Russia and made public by the anti-secrecy group Wikileaks. Stone also threatened a witness who was an associate of his in an attempt to prevent the man from cooperating with lawmakers.
Stone did not speak in court and showed no visible emotion as the sentence was read. Emerging from the courtroom in a wide-striped suit and polka-dot tie, he appeared calm.
“I have nothing to say,” Stone said. “Thank you.”
Stone, his wife and a large entourage exited the courthouse to a large crowd of photographers, supporters and antagonists. As he climbed into an SUV, protesters shouted “Lock him up!” while supporters yelled “Pardon Roger Stone!”
Stone requested a new trial last week, after Trump suggested the forewoman in Stone’s case had “significant bias.” Jackson, the judge, said previously that she would delay implementing his sentence until she resolves that request. A filing is due from Stone’s defense team Monday. In addition to prison, Jackson ordered Stone to pay a $20,000 fine
and serve two years of supervised release. He remains out of prison on bond, and even if he loses his motion for a new trial, he will have at least two weeks to turn himself in — unless an appeal further delays things.
The penalty capped an unusual sentencing hearing in which Jackson sought not only to resolve disputes between prosecutors and defense attorneys, but also to seek answers on the internal Justice Department haggling over what punishment the government would endorse.
The initial team of four career prosecutors recommended that Jackson impose a term of seven to nine years, only to see Trump tweet about the matter and Barr personally intervene. All four prosecutors then quit the case — with one leaving the government entirely — and their replacements filed a new recommendation suggesting that three to four years was “more typical” in cases like Stone’s.
Yet the new prosecutor in court Thursday defended his predecessors and argued for the same stiff sentencing enhancements as they had.
“The Department of Justice and the United States attorney’s office is committed
to following the law without fear, favor or political influence,” Assistant U.S. Attorney John Crabb Jr. said. “This prosecution was and this prosecution is righteous.”
Crabb said the court “should impose a substantial period of incarceration,” although he did not propose a specific number of months or years.
At the Justice Department, one senior official expressed relief that the sentence was more in line with Barr’s preferred recommendation than the career prosecutors’ guidance of seven to nine years. “It was messier than we wanted, but we ended up in the same place,” the official said.
That official, like others in this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
Jackson called Stone’s testimony to Congress “plainly false” and “a flat-out lie,” and said his misdirection “shut out important avenues” for lawmakers to investigate. The judge said Stone knew his efforts to obtain damaging information about Clinton “could reflect badly on the president.”