Tag: Trump corruption

Trump commutes longtime friend Roger Stone’s prison sentence

President Donald Trump has commuted the sentence of his longtime political confidant Roger Stone, intervening in extraordinary fashion in a criminal case that was central to the Russia investigation and that concerned the president’s own conduct.

The move came Friday, just days before Stone was to begin serving a 40-month prison sentence for lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstructing the House investigation into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election.

The action, which Trump had foreshadowed in recent days, underscores the president’s lingering rage over special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation and is part of a continuing effort by the president and his administration to rewrite the narrative of a probe that has shadowed the White House from the outset. Democrats, already alarmed by the Justice Department’s earlier dismissal of the case against Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, denounced the president as further undermining the rule of law. Continue reading.

Trump commutes Roger Stone’s sentence

The Hill logoPresident Trump on Friday commuted the prison sentence of longtime confidant Roger Stone after the former campaign adviser was sentenced to three years and four months in prison in connection with former special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.

The decision capped a months-long saga that has roiled the Justice Department and divided some of the president’s advisers. Stone was set to report to prison July 14, but his allies had lobbied for a pardon or a commutation, citing his risk of contracting coronavirus while in jail.

The move Friday did not come as a particular surprise, as Trump had at various points in recent months signaled he was leaning toward intervening in Stone’s case. Trump told reporters he was considering a commutation or pardon for Stone as the date he was scheduled to report to prison loomed. Continue reading.

The past 24 hours in Trump legal issues and controversies, explained

Supreme Court decisions, closed-door testimony, and developments for Michael Flynn and Michael Cohen.

A pair of Supreme Court decisions related to President Donald Trump’s financial records and a closed-door hearing featuring a fired US attorney were just the start of an eventful day for Trump’s legal problems Thursday.

In an opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts, the Supreme Court ruled that a New York state grand jury does have the authority to investigate President Trump. The Court also ruled that congressional subpoena power to investigate the president should be limited — but not eliminated out of hand, as Trump hoped.

But as for whether Trump’s financial records will actually be turned over anytime soon, don’t hold your breath. Both of these cases were sent back to lower courts for further proceedings, and Trump’s legal team has promised to challenge them further. Continue reading.

Judge Sullivan Will Seek Additional Hearing On Flynn Sentence

Last December, Judge Emmet Sullivan made clear what he thought about Michael Flynn’s claim of being “ambushed” by FBI investigators with a one-sentence ruling: “The court summarily disposes of Mr. Flynn’s arguments that the FBI conducted an ambush interview for the purpose of trapping him into making false statements.”

The idea that Flynn—who has pleaded guilty twice to lying in connection with his phone calls to the former Russian ambassador—was trapped has been ludicrous all along. Flynn is guilty—and of a lot more than he has been charged with in court. The trivial charges of perjury were supposed to be the former national security advisor’s slap-on-the-wrist exchange for providing information that kept both Flynn and his son from facing far more serious charges.

Flynn’s only hope for avoiding sentencing doesn’t lie with any legal claim. It’s with the White House, and with Attorney General William Barr’s effort to give Flynn a pardon without Trump having to dirty his pardon pen by withdrawing the case. Two weeks ago, a three-judge panel of the Washington, D.C. Court of Appeals shockingly went along with Barr and told Flynn to go home, grab a beer, and revel in the ability of Trump to run rampant over the law. But now Judge Sullivan has replied with a not-so-fast, sending the case back to the Washington, D.C. Court in full—where the outcome is likely to be considerably different. Continue reading.

Berman Testifies That Barr Fired Him — And Then Lied

A former top prosecutor testified under oath on Thursday that Attorney General William Barr lied about the events surrounding his departure from his job last month.

Barr had announced on June 19 that Geoffrey Berman would be resigning from his role as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Berman testified in a closed-door hearing of the House Judiciary Committee that Barr had pushed him out of his job in order to install the chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Jay Clayton, in the position. Continue reading.

Rulings let Trump keep his taxes under wraps for now, but his angry reaction underscores a political risk

Washington Post logoPresident Trump reacted angrily to a pair of Supreme Court rulings about his financial records Thursday, taking to Twitter to call them “not fair to this Presidency or Administration!” and describing himself as the victim of a “political prosecution.”

Hours later, the White House released a statement saying Trump was “gratified” by one of the decisions and had been “protected” in the other.

The disjointed responses underscore what in some ways represented a split decision for the president, marked by political and legal ramifications that hold both risks and advantages ahead of the November election. Continue reading.

Prosecutor spills about Bill Barr’s ‘unprecedented, unnecessary and unexplained’ efforts to oust him

AlterNet logoGeoffrey Berman, the man who until recently served as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, told members of Congress on Thursday about Attorney General Bill Barr’s “unprecedented, unnecessary and unexplained” efforts to oust him.

In testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, Berman explained how Barr contacted him and repeatedly pressed him to step down from his position at SDNY to take another high-profile position within the government.

Berman, however, told Barr that he wanted to stay at his current job until a replacement was nominated by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the United States Senate. Continue reading.

READ: Ousted Manhattan US Attorney Berman testifies Barr ‘repeatedly urged’ him to resign

The Hill logoGeoffrey Berman, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, on Thursday testified that Attorney General William Barr “repeatedly urged” him to resign before forcing him out in June.

Berman told the House Judiciary Committee that prior to his ouster, he resisted Barr’s urging because “there were important investigations in the office that I wanted to see through to completion.”

Those investigations included whether President Trump‘s personal attorney, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, violated laws on lobbying for foreign interests as it relates to Ukraine. Continue reading.

Inside Geoffrey Berman’s closed-door testimony

Axios logoGeoffrey Berman, the former top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, was expected to say in closed-door testimony today that Attorney General Bill Barr repeatedly urged him to take another job, warned him that getting fired would not be good for his resume or job prospects and steered him toward a high-level Justice Department post in DC.

Driving the news: Axios has obtained a copy of Berman’s opening statement for his closed-door hearing before the House Judiciary Committee.

  • In the statement, Berman gives a detailed account of the conversations he had with Barr in the days and hours leading up to President Trump firing him from his post as the U.S. attorney for the powerful Southern District of New York.
  • The document also says that Barr told Berman that he should take a different job, running the Justice Department’s Civil Division, because “the role would be a good resume builder” and would help him “create a book of business” once he returned to the private sector. Continue reading.

Schiff to Vindman: ‘Right does not matter to Trump. But it matters to you’

The Hill logoHouse Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), one of the House Democrats who led the impeachment inquiry into President Trump, on Wednesday thanked Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman for participating in the proceedings after Vindman announced that he was retiring from the Army. 

Schiff wrote in a letter to Vindman that his testimony during the inquiry stuck with him because of the military officer’s stated belief that in the U.S., “right matters.” Schiff also took aim at Trump’s “bullying and retaliation,” writing that Vindman should not have had “to choose between your oath of office and your career.”

“Right matters. Right does not matter to Donald Trump. But it matters to you. It matters to this country and to its people. It will always matter,” Schiff wrote. “And with those words, you have left an indelible mark on our nations’ conscience and history. For if right does not matter in our country, if truth does not matter, then we are truly lost.” Continue reading.