DOJ set to lower Roger Stone sentencing recommendation...

[Tennesseer]

DOJ set to lower Roger Stone sentencing recommendation that was criticized by Trump

The Justice Department on Tuesday is reportedly expected to change its sentencing recommendation for Roger Stone a day after telling a federal judge the Trump associate should serve between seven and nine years in prison, guidance that was sharply criticized by President Trump.

Department officials found prosecutors’ initial recommendation “excessive,” according to multiple news outlets, including The Washington Post, Fox News and the Associated Press, citing an anonymous department source.

Reports of the expected change came after Trump denounced the recommended prison term as “horrible and very unfair” in an early Tuesday morning Tweet.

“The real crimes were on the other side, as nothing happens to them. Cannot allow this miscarriage of justice!” Trump said, sharing a message from a Daily Caller reporter about Stone’s prison sentence.

Complete article here: DOJ set to lower Roger Stone sentencing recommendation that was criticized by Trump

[oped]

Authoritarian state...

[teen persuasion]

Fits right in with details from the White Collar Crime article:

One of the most conspicuous aspects of white-collar cases is the doting, near-veterinary care with which judges try to prevent defendants from facing harsh punishment. In 2014, a Colorado judge ruled that two farm owners whose tainted cantaloupes caused a listeria outbreak and killed 33 people couldn't be sent to prison because it would interfere with their ability to earn income for their families. As he announced a sentence of five years probation, the judge explained, “I must deliver both justice and mercy.”

Eventually, after a five-year investigation, Enron founder Ken Lay and former CEO Jeffrey Skilling were convicted of securities fraud and a meal deal of lesser charges. Though Lay died at a rented mansion in Colorado shortly afterwards, Skilling got 24 years in prison. At the time, it was one of the longest white-collar sentences in U.S. history. Prosecutors called it a victory. Skilling’s lawyers called it just the beginning. As soon as the nation turned its attention elsewhere, Skilling’s lawyers began quietly dismantling his sentence. They filed appeals objecting to the statutes used to convict him, the trial’s Houston location and the questionnaires filled out by potential jurors. In 2013, citing the “extraordinary resources” it had spent prosecuting and defending Skilling’s conviction, the Department of Justice agreed to cut ten years off Skilling’s sentence if he promised not to file any more appeals. He was released in February 2019 after serving less than half his original sentence.

[MN-Investor]

Aaron Zelinsky, one of the prosecutors who recommended the 7-9 year sentence, has now withdrawn from the case and resigned as a Special Assistant United States Attorney for District of Columbia.

(Note - Mr. Zelinsky remains with the Department of Justice and is a Special Assistant United States Attorney for District of Maryland.)

[Gardening Grandma]

As if we needed more evidence of the corruption of this GOP administration.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

This is unfair but the Central Park Five should have received the death penalty.

Not racist my ass. . .

[Tennesseer]

Feb 11, 2020 15:36:51 GMT -5 MN-Investor said:

Aaron Zelinsky, one of the prosecutors who recommended the 7-9 year sentence, has now withdrawn from the case and resigned as a Special Assistant United States Attorney for District of Columbia.

(Note - Mr. Zelinsky remains with the Department of Justice and is a Special Assistant United States Attorney for District of Maryland.)

Another prosecutor (Jonathan Kravis) resigned also and no longer represents the government in Stone's case.

Justice Dept. to Seek Shorter Sentence for Roger Stone, Overruling Its Prosecutors

[billisonboard]

The judge graduated with honors from Harvard Law.  She got a first sentencing recommendation from those who worked the case.  She will get a second one signed by who knows who.  It will be interesting to see how close to which the sentence she hands down ends up being.

[billisonboard]

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he did not ask the Justice Department to change its sentencing recommendation for former campaign associate Roger Stone.

...

He tweeted early Tuesday morning that the sentence recommendation was a "horrible and very unfair situation." link

[Tennesseer]

And now a third prosecutor, Timothy J. Shea has withdrawn from the case.


Three prosecutors quit Roger Stone case after DOJ sentencing reversal

[Tennesseer]

Feb 11, 2020 17:21:52 GMT -5 billisonboard said:

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he did not ask the Justice Department to change its sentencing recommendation for former campaign associate Roger Stone.

...

He tweeted early Tuesday morning that the sentence recommendation was a "horrible and very unfair situation." link

Wikipedia has already updated its information on Roger Stone including your quoted information and mine in Reply #9. News travels fast.

[billisonboard]

Feb 11, 2020 17:27:54 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

And now a third prosecutor, Timothy J. Shea has withdrawn from the case.


Three prosecutors quit Roger Stone case after DOJ sentencing reversal

Looking like they will need another update to change the number to 4.

[Tennesseer]

Feb 11, 2020 17:50:37 GMT -5 billisonboard said:

Feb 11, 2020 17:27:54 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

And now a third prosecutor, Timothy J. Shea has withdrawn from the case.


Three prosecutors quit Roger Stone case after DOJ sentencing reversal

Looking like they will need another update to change the number to 4.

Just heard that.

[thyme4change]

Feb 11, 2020 17:21:52 GMT -5 billisonboard said:

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he did not ask the Justice Department to change its sentencing recommendation for former campaign associate Roger Stone.

...

He tweeted early Tuesday morning that the sentence recommendation was a "horrible and very unfair situation." link

President Trump said he did not ask...

Did he tell, or command, or suggest, or imply, or encourage?

[busymom]

Good Lord!  Just when you think the corruption can't get any worse, then our country sees a new low.



How much longer until we see his minions goose stepping down Pennsylvania Avenue?  

[billisonboard]

Feb 11, 2020 19:58:57 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

Feb 11, 2020 17:21:52 GMT -5 billisonboard said:

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he did not ask the Justice Department to change its sentencing recommendation for former campaign associate Roger Stone.

...

He tweeted early Tuesday morning that the sentence recommendation was a "horrible and very unfair situation." link

President Trump said he did not ask...

Did he tell, or command, or suggest, or imply, or encourage?

My wife sniffs, wrinkles her nose, makes a little noise of disgust and I have the bag out of house and into the garbage can.

[countrygirl2]

I think its going to get worse and worse. Hubs thinks finally even the repubs will get enough of it. I just don't, I fear what more he is going to do. He has filled all the offices with corrupt people all the way to the top. I think he is dumb, but man he knows every crooked, devious way of doing things.  And on top of it, he is evil.

[OldCoyote]

So when is John Brennan going to jail for lying to the Congress??

Or is this only reserved for people associated with Trump?

[TheHaitian]

All 4 now; Welcome to the new AMERICA!!!

www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1134961

Former DOJ Inspector General Michael Bromwich sounded alarms in a tweet late Tuesday.

"Memo to all career DOJ employees," he said. "This is not what you signed up for. The four prosecutors who bailed on the Stone case have shown the way. Report all instances of improper political influence and other misdeeds to the DOJ IG, who is required to protect your identity."

[countrygirl2]

Abuse of power, we are seeing it daily.  What more has to happen? He is destroying the whole American system.

The crooks are slinking out of the cesspool.  And Collins said he had learned his lesson, for real?

[TheHaitian]

Feb 12, 2020 0:23:27 GMT -5 countrygirl2 said:

Abuse of power, we are seeing it daily.  What more has to happen? He is destroying the whole American system.

The crooks are slinking out of the cesspool.  And Collins said he had learned his lesson, for real?

You see abuse of power I see being white and rich in America...

Poor us black folks would never Dreamed of such a thing!

[countrygirl2]

I sure can't say you are wrong. I used to think it was getting better for minorities, now I don't. And looks like it will get worse for everyone but the rich and trump connected.

The sad part I don't think a lot of Americans even realize this is beyond the abuse of power. If the federal judge isn't strong enough to resist he will likely walk scot free.  Wonder if they will threaten her or her family till she relents.  We are living in dangerous times for all of us.

[trippypea]

Feb 11, 2020 22:29:56 GMT -5 countrygirl2 said:

I think its going to get worse and worse. Hubs thinks finally even the repubs will get enough of it. I just don't, I fear what more he is going to do. He has filled all the offices with corrupt people all the way to the top. I think he is dumb, but man he knows every crooked, devious way of doing things.  And on top of it, he is evil.

Republicans are not going to get enough of it because they consistently vote against their own best interest. There's a reason why Red states rank the worst in education. And then when it is all too late to do anything about it, they will say "they didn't know."

Same thing the people who supported Hitler said too.

[countrygirl2]

I agree with that too. Hubs for a long time said I was to radical this would never happen.  He is changing his tune now.  He still thinks they won't be able to override federal judges or the supreme court.  I said are you kidding me, they now have over 190 federal judges and are only 1 short of the supreme court being gone.  Nothing is going to be safeguarded from "them" soon.  I would not be surprised if the woman is bodily threatened and her family like Vindman was.  He already has almost total control, a few up there are fighting back and look what is happening to them.

[mmhmm]

Feb 12, 2020 8:16:20 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

Feb 12, 2020 0:23:27 GMT -5 countrygirl2 said:

Abuse of power, we are seeing it daily.  What more has to happen? He is destroying the whole American system.

The crooks are slinking out of the cesspool.  And Collins said he had learned his lesson, for real?

You see abuse of power I see being white and rich in America...

Poor us black folks would never Dreamed of such a thing!

I hear you! Poor brown folks, and red folks, and yellow folks - heck, even the green folks - don't have much hope,  either!

[Tennesseer]

[Tennesseer]

WILLIAM BARR NOW JUST DOING TRUMP’S DIRTY WORK OUT IN THE OPEN

“Everything that used to be hush hush is now just...out in the open.”

Time was, Attorney General William Barr had to at least go through the motions of pretending his role at the Department of Justice was that of top attorney for the United States and not Donald Trump’s personal lawyer. No one actually believed it, given Barr’s proclivity for telling Congress things like “it’s not a crime” for the president to demand staffers lie to investigators, but a mild effort was put in nevertheless. But now that Senate Republicans have made it clear Trump can effectively do anything he wants and will never, ever be held accountable? Barr has apparently decided to drop the charade and not even try to hide the fact that the Justice Department’s main function is to do Trump’s dirty work. What a weight off his shoulders!

NBC News reports that, at the end of last month, the U.S. attorney presiding over an inconclusive investigation into former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe—who Trump once suggestedshould be sentenced to death—was abruptly removed from the job “in one of several recent moves by Attorney General William Barr to take control of legal matters of personal interest to [the] president.” Other moves reportedly include senior Justice Department officials intervening last month to change the sentencing recommendation for former national security adviser (and Ivanka Trump hire) Mike Flynn from up to six months in jail to probation. That filing conveniently came on the day that U.S. attorney Jessie Liu, who oversaw the McCabe investigation, was removed from her post and replaced by a former prosecutor selected by Barr. And, of course, there were the events of yesterday, wherein Barr’s DOJ intervened to change the sentencing recommendation of longtime Trump pal Roger Stonefrom seven to nine years in prison to something more comfortable for all involved. (By the end of the day, all four line prosecutors had resigned from the case, and one quit his job at the Justice Department altogether.)

For anyone wondering if Barr’s actions related to the Stone case—wherein the new filing says the nine-year recommendation “does not accurately reflect the Department of Justice’s position on what would be a reasonable sentence in this matter”—are totally normal and customary, the answer is apparently a resounding fuck no. “This signals to me that there has been a political infestation,” NBC News legal analyst Chuck Rosenberg, a former U.S. attorney in Virginia, said on MSNBC. “And that is the single most dangerous thing that you can do to the Department of Justice.” As Gregory Brower, a former U.S. attorney for Nevada and senior FBI official, told NBC News, “I’ve never seen this happen, ever. I’d be shocked if the judge didn’t order the U.S. attorney to come into court to explain it.”

Complete article here: WILLIAM BARR NOW JUST DOING TRUMP’S DIRTY WORK OUT IN THE OPEN

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

I never thought I would reach the point of saying I miss Sessions as AG.

[Tennesseer]

trump has learned nothing. Why am I not surprised.

Trump says what he learned from impeachment is that 'Democrats are crooked'

President Trump told reporters Wednesday that he learned from his impeachment that Democrats are “crooked” and “vicious.”

Trump was asked by reporters in the Oval Office what he had learned from his impeachment by the Democrat-controlled House.  

“That the Democrats are crooked,” Trump replied. “They’ve got a lot of crooked things going, that they’re vicious, that they shouldn’t have brought impeachment and that my poll numbers are 10 points higher because of fake news like NBC.”

Complete article here: Trump says what he learned from impeachment is that 'Democrats are crooked'

[Deleted]

When you elect someone that behaves like Tony Soprano to President, we shouldn’t be shocked when he acts like..... Tony Soprano