WASHINGTON (AP) – The four lawyers who prosecuted Roger Stone have 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 resignations raise immediate questions over whether Trump had at least indirectly exerted his will on a Justice Department that he often views as an arm of the White House.
The president had blasted the original sentencing recommendation as “very horrible and unfair.” Both he and the Justice Department say there was no communication.
Meantime, also on Wednesday, Trump tweeted a congratulations to Attorney General William Barr ``for taking charge of a case that was totally out of control and perhaps should not have been brought,`` suggesting the prosecutors had gone rogue.
Barr, the Justice Department’s leader, has been a steady ally of the president’s since taking the position.
Barr last year cleared the president of obstruction of justice even when Mueller had pointedly declined to do so, and has declared that the FBI’s Russia investigation, which resulted in charges against Stone, had been based on a “bogus narrative.”
Congratulations to Attorney General Bill Barr for taking charge of a case that was totally out of control and perhaps should not have even been brought. Evidence now clearly shows that the Mueller Scam was improperly brought & tainted. Even Bob Mueller lied to Congress!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 12, 2020
It’s unclear what sentence the department will ultimately seek _ a new sentencing memo filed Tuesday evening indicated that the original recommendation was too harsh but proposed no specific punishment of its own.
