Los Angeles Times: Four prosecutors quit Roger Stone case after Justice Department overturns sentencing proposal
Los Angeles Times: Four prosecutors quit Roger Stone case after Justice Department overturns sentencing proposal
WASHINGTON — Hours after President Trump slammed a recommended prison sentence for his longtime confidant Roger Stone as “horrible and very unfair,” the Justice Department said Tuesday it would seek a shorter prison term, prompting four career prosecutors to resign from the case in protest.
The Justice Department decision to overrule the front-line prosecutors’ sentencing recommendation was highly unusual and sparked concerns that Atty. Gen. William P. Barr, who has strongly backed Trump, was bowing to political pressure to help the president’s former advisor.
It came four days after Trump, newly emboldened by his Senate acquittal on impeachment charges, ordered the recall of his ambassador to the European Union and the ouster of a decorated Army officer from the National Security Council as public payback for their damaging testimony during the inquiry.
Stone, a flamboyant self-described Republican dirty trickster, was convicted last year of lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstructing a congressional investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. …
“Presidents and attorneys general cannot put their thumbs on the scales of justice for any reason — including to aid friends and associates — or we cease to be a nation of laws,” said Karen Hobert Flynn, president of Common Cause, a nonpartisan organization focused on preserving constitutional norms and safeguards.