Roger Stone’s defense attorney, Seth Ginsberg, argued that the judge shouldn’t take into consideration a higher sentencing guideline because of Stone’s threats to witness Randy Credico.

What’s this about: In April 2018, Stone wrote an email to Credico, saying “you are a rat. A stoolie. You backstab your friends-run your mouth my lawyers are dying Rip you to shreds.” Stone also said he would “take that dog away from you.”

«It’s not that they weren’t a serious enough threat to trigger the guidelines, the words themselves did not constitute a threat at all,» Ginsberg said.

Stone is known for using «rough, hyperbolic language.» Credico knew «it was just Stone being Stone.»

There was no violence in this case, Ginsberg said, pointing to Credico’s letter to the judge before Stone’s sentencing. In that letter, Credico said he never believed Stone would actually take or hurt his dog, and he asked the judge for leniency.

Ginsberg says he can’t find case law that would support the sentencing recommendation increase if a victim doesn’t believe they’re being threatened. «That’s a very blunt instrument,» he said.

«I have the authority to deal with that,» Judge Jackson responded.

More context: Prosecutors had initially asked Stone to be sentenced to seven to nine years in prison, resting that recommendation on the severity of his crimes and behavior. President Trump called that ask «very unfair,» however, in a late-night tweet. Attorney General William Barr overrode the recommendation the next day, saying seven years in prison would be too harsh a sentence.

None of the prosecutors who won the case at trial signed the revised sentencing memo, and two new DC US Attorney’s Office supervisors have stepped up to handle Stone’s sentencing, exposing how politically charged the case has become inside the Justice Department.