Trial team quits Roger Stone case in dispute over sentence recommendation

Departures of four prosecutors raises questions over whether President Trump exerted his will on the Justice Department.

By

National News

February 12, 2020 - 9:51 AM

Former advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump, Roger Stone departs the E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse after being found guilty of obstructing a congressional investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election on Nov. 15, 2019 in Washington, DC. Prosecutors are seeking up to 9 years in prison for Stone. Photo by (Win McNamee/Getty Images/TNS)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The four lawyers who prosecuted Roger Stone quit the case after the Justice Department overruled them and said it would take the extraordinary step of lowering the amount of prison time it would seek for President Donald Trump’s longtime ally and confidant. 

The departures on Tuesday raised immediate questions over whether Trump, who earlier in the day had blasted the original sentencing recommendation as “very horrible and unfair,” had at least indirectly exerted his will on a Justice Department that he often views as an arm of the White House.

The department insisted the decision to undo the sentencing recommendation was made Monday night — before Trump’s tweet — and prosecutors had not spoken to the White House about it. Even so, the departures of the entire trial team broke open a simmering dispute over the punishment of a Trump ally whose case has long captured the Republican president’s attention. The episode was the latest to entangle the Justice Department, meant to operate free from White House sway in criminal investigations and prosecutions, in presidential politics.

Related
June 24, 2020
February 20, 2020
February 18, 2020
February 13, 2020