Judge takes firm approach toward Roger Stone ahead of sentencing
Federal judges hold emergency meeting on DOJ interference in Roger Stone case as calls grow for Barr’s removal
Former deputy director of public affairs for the Department of Justice Ian Prior reacts.
The judge in the case of longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone appeared to take a firm stance toward the Republican operative ahead of deciding how severe Stone’s punishment should be for making false statements to investigators during the Trump-Russia probe.
“Mr. Stone lied,” U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said in court.
The federal courthouse in Washington was packed as spectators awaited Berman Jackson’s decision on a sentence.
Stone attorney Seth Ginsberg downplayed the charges, saying there was no real planning or preparation involved in the obstruction that would justify an aggravating enhancement of the sentencing guidelines.
During Stone’s sentencing hearing, President Trump himself weighed in, questioning the “fairness” of prosecuting his former associate.
“’They say Roger Stone lie to Congress.’ @CNN. OH, I see, but so did Comey (and he also leaked classified information, for which almost everyone, other than Crooked Hillary Clinton, goes to jail for a long time), and so did Andy McCabe, who also lied to the FBI! FAIRNESS?” he tweeted.
ROGER STONE CASE: TIMELINE OF TRUMP ASSOCIATE’S DRAMATIC PROSECUTION
The case doesn’t end with Thursday’s sentencing: Earlier this week, Jackson indicated she would sentence Stone as planned on Thursday but could delay the implementation of the sentence until after she decides whether to grant the defense’s motion for a new trial over claims of juror bias.
Stone, a longtime adviser to Donald Trump before he was elected president, was convicted in November on seven counts of obstruction, witness tampering and making false statements to Congress on charges that stemmed from former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
Stone was not charged with any underlying crime of coordinating with Russia during the election though Mueller’s team investigated Stone over tweets claiming to be in touch with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
On Thursday, the high-profile sentencing drew colorful figures to the federal courthouse in Washington, including some anti-GOP protestors.
The lead up to Thursday’s sentence was full of drama: Federal prosecutors had recommended a prison sentence of 87 to 108 months for the charges, but in a stunning reversal last week, senior leadership at the Justice Department, including Attorney General William Barr overruled and scaled back the proposed prison sentence.
Stone’s defense also made several requests for a new trial in the wake of revelations of possible political bias of a juror in his first case.
Former Memphis City Schools Board President Tomeka Hart said last week that she was the foreperson on the jury that convicted Stone, and revealed a history of Democratic activism after a string of her anti-Trump social media posts came to light—including the retweeting of an argument mocking those who considered Stone’s dramatic arrest in a predawn raid last year by a federal tactical team to be excessive force. Hart also suggested Trump and his supporters are racist and praised the investigation conducted by Mueller, which ultimately led to Stone’s prosecution.
It also emerged that Jackson had denied a defense request to strike a potential juror who was an Obama-era press official with admitted anti-Trump views—and whose husband worked at the division of the Justice Department that handled the probe leading to Stone’s arrest. And another juror donated to former Democratic presidential candidates and other progressive causes, federal election records reviewed by Fox News showed.
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Meanwhile, Barr’s move to intervene in Stone’s sentencing led to the prosecution team quitting the case. Jonathan Kravis resigned as an assistant U.S. attorney in Washington and Aaron Zelinsky filed a notice that he would leave his post as a special prosecutor in Washington but would remain as an assistant U.S. attorney in Baltimore. Prosecutors Adam Jed and Michael Marando also withdrew from the case.
The mass withdrawal caused Democrats to accuse Trump of interfering in the process, and the intervention at the DOJ level sparked an emergency meeting for the Federal Judges Association, an independent national association of federal judges, to tackle mounting concerns about Trump and Barr’s intervention in cases involving Stone and other Trump associates.
Last week, Barr announced he had appointed a federal prosecutor to review the case of former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Fox News’ Tyler Olson contributed to this report.
