"I was happy that he was convicted," Barr told ABC News in February. Get the latest breaking news delivered straight to your inbox.
", She added, "Mr. Stone, like every American, deserves a fair trial and every opportunity to vindicate himself before the courts. Since Stone's conviction, he's focused on criticizing the judge who oversaw his trial and one prosecutor, Aaron Zelinsky, who had worked on the Mueller investigation then on Stone's trial. Stone was convicted in November of seven charges -- including lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstructing a congressional committee proceeding -- as part of former special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. Roy knew some very tough guys, I will tell you that. / CBS News. The two other prosecutors on the case resigned as well.
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But Jackson said Stone’s effort to obstruct a congressional investigation into Russian election meddling “was deliberate, planned - not one isolated incident.” The investigators were not some “secret anti-Trump cabal,” Jackson said, but lawmakers on a committee led at the time by Republicans. Stone, 67, was indicted in January 2019 when armed FBI agents arrested him at his Florida home.
He weighed in on Twitter, claiming Stone had been treated unfairly. Watergate prosecutor weighs in, Judge in 2000 election recount issues warning about Trump, Russia's top state TV anchor weighs in on US elections, Hear Trump's response to NYT story about his taxes, Stelter: Trump will call this 'fake news.' Stone has long embraced no-holds-barred politicking and sports a tattoo of former President Richard Nixon -- who also received clemency from a president -- on his back, as a tribute to his idol. Stone declined to speak at the hearing.
Barr deemed that recommendation too harsh and overruled the prosecutors, prompting all four to withdraw from the case, with one resigning from the Justice Department outright. He has been on supervised release and under a gag order over the course of the case. (CNN)President Donald Trump on Friday commuted the prison sentence of his longtime friend Roger Stone, who was convicted of crimes that included lying to Congress in part, prosecutors said, to protect the President. Stone declined to speak at the hearing and did not address a swarm of media outside the courthouse.
The judge also said Stone “knew exactly what he was doing” when he posted an image on social media last year with a gun’s cross-hairs placed over her head. In the meantime, Attorney General William Barr intervened in Stone's case.
She strenuously rejected claims that Stone's prosecution was motivated by politics, as Mr. Trump and other allies have argued, and said she was imposing the sentence strictly based on the facts in the case.
“Mr. Jackson called the original memorandum "well-researched" and "in accordance with the law," but said she thought a sentence of seven to nine years would be "greater than necessary." Hours after he was sentenced to more than three years in prison, Roger Stone sat in a Washington, DC restaurant, using a phone to watch as President Trump talked about Stone’s sentence. "The sentence is not just about punishing him, but also about deterring others and upholding the law. the prosecutor asked Gates. Stone had been bearish that the appeals court would allow for another delay. Those prosecutors quit the case.
", There were periods where the two men barely spoke. At times Trump had seemed reluctant to intervene, fuming and bad-mouthing Stone to others. The friendship between Trump and Stone stretches back roughly 40 years, albeit with some rocky periods along the way. Trump's knowledge of Stone's efforts to get leaked Democratic documents in 2016 was a major question in the Mueller investigation, one that Democrats on Capitol Hill still want to investigate. They talk about dirty trickster and lots of other things," Trump said in the documentary about Stone.
At Stone's trial, prosecutors argued that "truth still matters." WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A federal judge on Thursday sentenced President Donald Trump’s long-time adviser Roger Stone to three years and four months in prison and said his lies to lawmakers investigating Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election posed a threat to American democracy.
Just two months later, Stone was out.
I’m going to watch it very closely,” Trump said. Stone himself circulated a petition on his website asking for Trump to grant him a full pardon. The 67-year-old Stone, who has been a friend and adviser to Trump for decades, was convicted on Nov. 15 on all seven counts of lying to Congress, obstruction of justice and witness tampering. Some Trump’s allies have urged him to pardon Stone.
"I am not here to judge Roger Stone the person.
They also said he threatened radio host Randy Credico not to cooperate in the investigation by the House Intelligence Committee, which was examining Russian interference in the 2016 campaign.
Washington — Roger Stone, the longtime GOP operative and Trump confidant, has been sentenced to 40 months behind bars for lying to Congress about his efforts to collaborate with WikiLeaks during the 2016 campaign and threatening a witness to cover up his actions.
A new team of prosecutors filed a revised memo seeking an unspecified amount of prison time.
Stone’s career has stretched from the Watergate scandal era of the early 1970s to Trump’s campaign four years ago.
Stone wrote late Monday.
Surprisingly, the new prosecutors largely hewed to the original recommendation at Wednesday's hearing, arguing in favor of sentence enhancements that were included in the initial filing. First published on February 20, 2020 / 9:34 AM.
More than 2,000 former Justice Department employees signed an open letter calling on Barr to step down for interfering in Stone's sentencing. Stone was one of several Trump associates who were convicted or pleaded guilty to charges stemming from former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation that detailed Russian meddling in the 2016 election to boost Trump’s candidacy. He had covered up records that would have revealed he sought to reach WikiLeaks in 2016 to help Trump, lied about the effort when he testified to a Republican-led congressional committee, then threatened another congressional witness, according to the charges brought by Mueller and the DC US Attorney's Office. Trump was incensed. Factbox: Stone is one of dozens ensnared in Trump-Russia probe. © 2020 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. His lawyers have requested a new trial based on allegations of political bias, and Jackson said earlier this week that Stone's sentence would be deferred until she rules on that request. After U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson sentenced the veteran Republican operative in Washington, Trump indicated he has no immediate plans to pardon Stone and would let the legal process play out, while adding that “at some point I’ll make a determination.”. Roger Stone listens to Judge Amy Berman Jackson at a sentencing hearing in federal court in Washington, D.C., on February 20, 2020.
Zelinsky testified to Congress in late June he knew of political pressure "from the highest levels" of the Justice Department to cut Stone a break. Trump early Tuesday morning blasted the first recommended sentence for Stone. Copyright © 2020 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. The Justice Department said on Friday it believed Stone should have had to go to prison on Tuesday, following a judge's order. The judge also fined Stone $20,000.
Trump announced his presidential bid in June 2015, with Stone serving as a senior adviser.
"Mr. Stone is incredibly honored that President Trump used his awesome and unique power under the Constitution of the United States for this act of mercy. Debates commission plans to cut off mics if Trump or Biden break rules, Brad Parscale resigns from Trump campaign after incident at home, Chrissy Teigen shares heartbreaking news of pregnancy loss, AG gets more time to release Breonna Taylor grand jury audio, Moderna CEO says its COVID-19 vaccine won't be ready until 2021, FBI seeks witnesses in unsolved murder of hip-hop producer, Trump urges supporters to monitor polling places, a federal crime, California bans chokeholds, shortens probation sentences, Man charged in ambush-style shooting of two deputies, Battleground Tracker: Latest polls, state of the race and more, 5 things to know about CBS News' 2020 Battleground Tracker, CBS News coverage of voting rights issues.
But Stone's allies have lobbied Trump for months to clear him, telling him Stone was facing devastating legal fees.
"Roger has a really rough reputation.
But Roy always felt that Roger was not only tough, but a smart guy and very political," Trump said in the 2017 Netflix documentary "Get Me Roger Stone.". "It's time to stop the Deep State from working against our President," it says.
He was treated very unfairly, as were many others in this case. Over his career, Stone earned a reputation as a dirty trickster and did little to try to water down the image.
The truth still matters,” Jackson added.
He's publicly appealed for a pardon, claiming he was treated unfairly by the justice system and that coronavirus would be a death sentence if he were to surrender to prison.
Two weeks ago, when Stone was originally set to report, that prison had no confirmed cases. Stone's attorney, Grant Smith, applauded the President Friday for "this act of mercy.". This has included selective declassification of intelligence materials, a ramped-up counter-investigation into the origins of the Russia probe and attempts to drop the case against Michael Flynn. “This is intolerable to the administration of justice.”.
"This is not 'Roger just being Roger.' At a Las Vegas event for rehabilitated prisoners, Trump praised Stone as a “good person” and “smart guy” while repeating his claim that the trial’s jury forewoman was “totally tainted.” Trump said he would not use the presidency’s “great powers” as Stone seeks a new trial, but left open the possibility of a pardon.
In the same documentary, Trump confirmed that Stone had pressed him over and over again to make a bid for the Oval Office.
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