Tag: Stone corruption

Roger Stone asked for a judge’s removal. It may be more fuel for a Trump pardon, experts say.

Washington Post logoRoger Stone, just sentenced to 40 months in prison for impeding a congressional investigation of Russian election interference, is seeking the removal of the federal judge who sentenced him, in the latest turn of a bizarre legal odyssey involving President Trump’s longtime friend and political adviser.

The case has been fraught with political overtones as President Trump and conservative commentators have leveled broadsides against U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson and the jury’s forewoman, saying political bias has tainted the proceedings.

And that, former federal prosecutors say, is why Stone’s defense team may have thrown a Hail Mary in its motion for Jackson to recuse herself — not to win a new trial, but to win political intervention in the future. Continue reading.

Roger Stone sentenced to 40 months in prison as judge accuses him of ‘covering up’ for Trump

AlterNet logoJudge Amy Berman Jackson has sentenced Trump ally Roger Stone to 40 months in prison. The sentence follows an outcry over President Donald Trump’s interference in the case and the radically different sentencing memos that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued earlier this month.

Last year, Roger was found guilty on seven criminal courts in federal court, including witness tampering and lying to Congress.

The sentence that Jackson handed down was neither as harsh as what the DOJ originally recommended nor as lenient as what it recommended in a subsequent sentencing memo. On Monday, February 12, the DOJ issued a sentencing memo that recommended seven to nine years in prison for the veteran GOP operative and self-described “dirty trickster.” But after Trump posted an angry tweet lambasting that recommendation, the DOJ issued a new sentencing memo the following day and recommended a much more lenient sentence — inspiring four federal prosecutors to resign from Stone’s case. Three of them are still with the DOJ, although one of the four left the DOJ altogether. Continue reading.

Roger Stone sentenced to three years and four months in prison, as Trump predicts ‘exoneration’ for his friend

Washington Post logoA federal judge on Thursday sentenced Roger Stone, President 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 exonerated.”

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 P. 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. Continue reading.

Stone faces sentencing amid political firestorm

The Hill logoRoger Stone is set to be sentenced Thursday in the midst of a growing political controversy after the Trump administration intervened in his case to push for a lighter prison sentence than originally sought by prosecutors.

President Trump himself helped ignite the controversy, loudly calling for a light sentence for his longtime ally, attacking the original prosecution team and using the case to declare himself the nation’s “chief law enforcement officer.”

A firestorm engulfing the sentencing process over the past week has quickly eclipsed the facts of the case, which centers around what Stone told Congress about his role as a back channel between the 2016 Trump campaign and WikiLeaks, which was releasing damaging stolen emails from then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee at the time. Continue reading.