I'm glad I didn't bother writing about the Roger Stone sentencing recommendation--between 87 and 108 months in prison--and contented myself with linking a tweet that called the Team Mueller prosecutors "animals." This morning Fox News is reporting: DOJ expected to scale back Roger Stone's 'extreme' sentencing recommendation:
The Justice Department is preparing to change its sentencing recommendation for Roger Stone after top brass were "shocked" at the stiff prison term initially being sought, according to a senior DOJ official.
...
“The Department was shocked to see the sentencing recommendation in the filing in the Stone case last night,” the official told Fox News. “The sentencing recommendation was not what had been briefed to the Department.”
The department is now expected to scale that back.
“The Department finds seven to nine years extreme, excessive and grossly disproportionate to Mr. Stone’s offenses,” the source told Fox News, adding that the DOJ will clarify its position on sentencing later Tuesday.
A "senior official" speaking for "top brass?" Hmmmm. Can you say: Bill Barr. And about that "not what had been briefed to the Department"--does that mean the prosecutors LIED to the Department? Really, what else could it mean? More clarity, please!
UPDATE: Sean Davis at The Federalist raises some disturbing questions-- Mueller Prosecutors May Have Lied To DOJ About Stone Prison Sentence Recommendation:
Fox News reported earlier today that DOJ was blindsided by the formal recommendation from operatives tapped by former Special Counsel Robert Mueller that Stone be sentenced to up to nine years in prison. A source told Fox that the sentence recommendation was “extreme, excessive, and grossly disproportionate” to Stone’s crimes.
...
The report from Fox News suggested that DOJ was in the process of rescinding the rogue prosecutors’ recommendation.
Sources told The Federalist that Timothy Shea, who was recently appointed to take over as the top federal prosecutor in D.C. earlier this month, was bullied into agreeing to the sentence recommendation by Adam Jed and Aaron Zelinsky, who were originally tapped by Mueller to investigate whether Donald Trump treasonously colluded with the Russian government to steal the 2016 election from Hillary Clinton. ...
Shea’s acquiescence to the demand by the disgruntled former Mueller operatives raised questions about whether Shea was operationally in control of the D.C. prosecutor’s office, or whether he had effectively outsourced major decisions in high-profile cases to Mueller’s former deputies.
...
Shea, Criminal Division Chief Thomas Martin, and a press contact for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in D.C. did not respond to requests for comment prior to publication of this article.
The only place any form of the word "Lie" appears is in the title of the article. What we're told in the body is that--OMG!--bullying is going on at the USAO in DC! Are you kidding me? You're USA in the most important USAO in the country and you're being bullied by prosecutors? It took Trump raising Holy Hell on Twitter and--in all likelihood--a tear-ass phone call either from AG Barr or approved by Barr to get you to realize you're in charge?
That's an inauspicious start.
Uh, mistakes were made? Never mind? No habla Ingles?
ReplyDeleteBullying, or blackmail, or what?
ReplyDeleteMaybe they just know how to exploit someone, just brought in earlier this month.
Lindsey, isn't this w/ in your panel's purview?
DC is incomparably the most important USAO in the country--even acknowledging the importance of SDNY. Shea caving to Team Mueller goons--and we have to assume that--suggests he's not ready for the big leagues. DoJ says they were not briefed? That was Shea's job. He was put there by Barr, so this is also a big embarrassment for Barr. Understanding sentencing guidelines is AUSA 101 stuff, and DoJ had to come out and say the recommendation was "extreme, excessive and grossly disproportionate"? That amounts to saying Shea has no business running that office.
Delete"That amounts to saying Shea has no business running that office."
DeleteThat's the conclusion that I would reluctantly come to. But how could Barr not know better? Maybe Shea is a big zero but sometimes I have to wonder if we're being fed a disinformation campaign. I say this because I have confidence in Barr and if Shea is bullied, he's not up to the job.
What is going on?
I'm gonna suggest the story is incomplete. Three of the four prosecutors, according to the Sean Davis report, resigned after submitting the sentencing memo (the fourth withdrew from the case). That's not bullying, that's burning bridges, that sticking a thumb in Shea's eye, on the way out the door.
DeleteThe list of people having left the DOJ--colored by their involvement with Russia hoax/coup and related investigations--is getting pretty long. People doing honest and honorable work don't resign effective immediately--do they?
I was genuinely unaware that "Adam" is short for Aaron...
Deletehttps://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1227347690197049344/mcm-j2hO?format=jpg&name=900x900
Bullied? "That's an inauspicious start."
ReplyDeleteTo say the least!
And now Sean Davis is reporting that Zelinsky has resigned from the case and the DOJ effective immediately...
Remedial. Damage control. Zelinsky should have been dismissed for making that recommendation, as having an unfit temperament and bias. Instead, Shea made a fool of himself and Barr and let Zelinsky play them. I know only extreme Dems will remember this, but it's the kind of own goal that the GOP and Trump doesn't need. Why should Trump have to waste twitter time on this?
DeleteAnd, isn't Shea Barr's guy?
DeleteCf. my comments above.
DeleteWe'll see how putting 'martyr for the cause' on his resume helps Zelinsky find his next job...
ReplyDeleteAnyone looking for informed but brief commentary on this:
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/willchamberlain
It's very obvious that this was planned to embarrass Barr. Shea played into that--to his discredit. Made a fool of himself before the entire legal "community." And made Barr look foolish to Trump. Trump's gotta be wondering, What's Barr's problem recommending a wuss like Shea?
"Made a fool of himself before the entire legal 'community.' "
DeleteHopefully, this is some sort of Barr-laid trap, e.g. to set up a Barr purge of D.S. types w/ in DoJ.
Stranger things have happened, esp. in recent years.
https://twitter.com/Jordanfabian/status/1227328136041451532
ReplyDeleteIt may be that Zelinsky has only resigned as a Special AUSA for the District of Columbia, not as an AUSA...
The Chamberlain tweet thread also suggests that Shea was purposely deceived by Zelinsky and DOJ was moving to disavow the Zelinsky sentencing recommendation before Trump tweeted. Perhaps the plot thickens...
ReplyDeleteIf so, Shea should have made himself available for comment to state that he had been deceived and to explain the guidelines and why this was outrageously unethical as a recommendation. Further, if Zelinsky did deceive Shea, Zelinsky should be fired--like, instanter. At least put on admin leave while his conduct is examined by OPR.
DeleteWhen will they learn that you have to be prepared to counter attack at all times? I'm very disappointed at how this was handled.
ReplyDeletewhat could Barr do? Stone refused to testify. Mueller team think he is hiding something. Why should prosecution go easy on sentencing of someone who will not give up the kingpin? ( Mueller team view )
DeleteBecause you can only be sentenced for something that you've been convicted for.
DeleteZelinsky ... and nobody thought to check his work? It's Zelinsky, ffs!
DeleteA tweeter (tweet-person?) named Maggie Alexander is now suggesting that Zelinsky fell into a Barr/Shea laid trap...https://twitter.com/MaggiePeggy123
ReplyDeleteI'm sure there's more to come. Including, as Mark suggests, at some point a full explanation from Shea.
I frankly find that hard to believe. The headlines look like they were pre-written: Barr overruling career prosecutors, rule of law flushed by Barr, yada yada yada.
DeleteAs if on cue, Schumer & Nadler have just popped off at Barr on this. So far, Mitch ducks.
DeleteHarsh tweet from @seanmdav, but he's right--what did he think he was being sent to the position to do? Even more disturbing, Didn't Barr explain that to him? When DoJ says it was blindsided, understand: The AUSA doesn't submit his work to DoJ--he submits it to his boss, the USA. DoJ was blindsided because they thought Shea was taking care of business, not being "bullied."
ReplyDeleteSean Davis
@seanmdav
Shea has the job due almost entirely to sentencing shenanigans perpetrated by Mueller's operatives under the previous incompetent and feckless D.C. prosecutor. If he didn't understand the stakes before today, he's not going to understand them later.
As aNanyMouse suggests above: This was a preplanned hit on BARR. Wake up, Tim Shea!
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, another Mueller prosecutor resigned.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/02/breaking-another-mueller-prosecutor-abruptly-resigns-from-roger-stone-case-after-doj-backs-down-from-excessive-sentencing/
Sounds like the perpetrator fired himself, and discredited the Mueller investigation even more. I view this as more of the typical over reach and arrogance by the Mueller team.
ReplyDeleteThere is a level of fight on credibility, and Trump win this round.
More to come, unfortunately. And with the fair weather allies Trump has, he is forced to wait for the deep state to make the first attack. This way Trump is not seen as over reacting, but is the underdog.
I realize that must people will pay little to no attention to this--despite the best efforts of the MSM. Still, it's so frustrating to see conservatives "blindsided". What do they expect?
DeleteSuposedly another one is resigning and a 4th is being tagged to resign.
ReplyDeleteBetcha they think this helps them appear righteous.
makes no sense to me that Stone did not put up a defense at his trial. Mueller prosecutors want to force Roger to testify against Trump. If Stone has nothing on Trump he should have used that in his defense. Tell jury that prosecution only has him on trial for that reason. Force prosecution to present what it has on Trump/Stone. But that means Stone has to testify. And perjure himself if there was some illegal contact with foreigners during the campaign.
ReplyDeleteCTH now has a post on this Stone stuff, with a long comment from the often-shrewd reader Hokkoda. Excerpts:
ReplyDelete"If anything, the over-the-top sentencing made it supremely easy, for Barr to intercede on Stone’s behalf.... In fact, I’ll go one step further, and point out that this makes John Durham’s job quite a bit easier too. DOJ has shown way too much restraint about Bob Mueller’s fraudulent investigation...."
Yes, most people will sympathize with Stone being hammered like that--or recommended for hammering. What's so frustrating is conservatives being caught flatfooted.
DeleteStone must be hiding something. Something wikileaks related. He knew wikileaks had gotten stolen stuff from the Russians. And he told Trump about it. Or, an actual crime, where Stone was the one who gave the info to wikileaks. Either way, Trump knew. Which definitely gets Trump on obstruction.
ReplyDeleteGod, you're a genius.
DeleteWhere do these guys go when they resign? Another fat government job, or do they become lobbyists? I tend to think of 'resign' as some sort of punishment. But I don't think it is. So what exactly does resign entail in this case?
DeleteAlso, Tim Shea should be fired (can he be?). He's inept, or weak, or maybe even dumb. He has to go. Replace him with a muppet.
CNN, Huffpo, or liberal law firm--of which there are many.
DeleteThe fact that we still don't really know how this went down is telling. I understand that DoJ was blindsided. The real question is: Was SHEA blindsided? If he was, then discipline or even prosecution is called for. If it's not forthcoming ...
"...He knew wikileaks had gotten stolen stuff from the Russians. And he told Trump about it. Or, an actual crime, where Stone was the one who gave the info to wikileaks. Either way, Trump knew. Which definitely gets Trump on obstruction."
DeleteYou ... really don't know what you're talking about, do you. Oh wait, I get it, you're mocking Hennessy and Wile E. Wittes. You had me going there for a second. Good one.
This is a preplanned hit, designed to trigger Barr into interceding in the case, which sets up the next ScamPeachment™, of Barr, of course,as they will claim this is "proof" that Barr is politicizing the DOJ on behalf of Trump. "Abuse of Power," "Violating his oath," and "Didn't say 'Simon Says' before taking a step forward..."
ReplyDeleteThe Lunatic Left is so utterly predictable.
High dudgeon. Resigning for Honor and Justice. Schumer and Nadler with letters ready to go at the drop of a hat. I smell another rat conspiracy. These particular Perp’s are inoculating themselves against “Political Retaliation” as was visited upon the People’s Patriots, the Lying Vindmans of the Schiff and Nadler Beltway Circus. Add in Sondland and you arrive at abuse of power and obstruction of justice. More impeachment. I expect Shea to testify that he was in the room when Trump instructed Barr to rescue his good friend Stone; and Barr tugged his forelock, bowed and said, “Yes your majesty,” according to Shea. Lying and duplicitousness seems to be the predominant traits of our Swamp betters. “Never turn your back on a lawyer,” seems to be sage advice.
ReplyDeleteWhile legal matters are involved the higher game is political, and in politics perception is everything. Expect this to blossom tomorrow into a Tuesday Night Massacre on every network.
Tom S. cynical Boomer Rube
UPDATE:
ReplyDelete>>https://twitter.com/Tom_Winter/status/1227360567507156992<<
>>Tom Winter
@Tom_Winter
· 2h
NBC News: All four prosecutors have now asked the judge to leave the Roger Stone case.
Michael Marando joins Aaron Zelinsky, Jonathan Kravis, and Adam Jed in leaving the case after the Justice Department publicly rebuked the their recommended sentence of 7-9 years.<<
Completely prearranged, coordinated scandal -- coordinated with Dems in Congress and butt-licking sycophantic MSM reporters.
And I am increasingly confident it will blow up in their faces.
Recall how puzzled we all were last week when Barr suddenly announced, with seemingly no warning, the appointment of Shea, effective last Monday? yes, we all knew Liu was scheduled to go to Treasury, but the move wasn't imminent, so the Shea appointment came as a surprise, especially with no lead time.
ReplyDeleteIn retrospect, it seems the impetus was the prosecutors on the Stone case getting ready to file their sentencing recommendation, which was on a schedule with the court.
Barr knew this, and if he knew of their plot, he knew that appointing Shea to immediately replace Liu opened the door for the conspirators to launch their scheme by briefing Shea as to some modest sentencing recommendation, then filing the much more draconian sentence recommendation. Meanwhile, Shea would have briefed DOJ what the prosecutors told him, and when the prosecutors actual filing was revealed, Barr was expected to react vigorously to being lied to, and did so.
That was the signal for the prosecutors to all resign, and for their Dem allies and MSM sycophants to start the Barr "Abuse of Power"/Impeachment drumbeat, all on cue just as we saw today.
The only rub is how is it that Barr just happened to choose the week before as the time to name a replacement for Liu as DC US A?
And then Trump cuts the legs out from under Liu nomination to Treasury, leaving Liu in limbo!
It either an incredible string of coincidences, or Barr knew exactly what the conspirators were up to ahead of time, and just handed them the rope to hang themselves.
I dunno. That sounds too easy. Shea signed off on the original sentencing memo, or so it seems--last page:
Deletehttps://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6773167-D-D-C-19-Cr-00018-Dckt-000279-000-Filed-2020-02-10.html
I don't think the signature page proves Shea signed off on the memo...
Delete...but I do expect Barr or Shea to explain to us sooner than later how this fiasco went down. I don't think Barr and Shea will let the Lawfare explanation stand:
https://www.lawfareblog.com/president-tweets-and-justice-department-complies
And It all just happens to coincide with a pause in the Primary news cycle circus so the net's can devote virtually their full attention to it for at least a couple of days.
DeleteTom S.
Cassander, No, I agree that Shea didn't necessarily fully agree, but whatever assurances or representations he received were clearly not sufficient. But in that case it should have been easy to correct that impression very quickly and place the blame very forthrightly where it belonged.
DeleteTom, actually things have worked out rather well for Trump in this regard, with the NH primary and the Jussie Smollett indictment.
@Mark
Delete"...it should have been easy to correct that impression very quickly and place the blame very forthrightly where it belonged."
Right. We really don't know the whole story yet.
But however it unfolds, we still end up with four more Rats out of the DOJ (assuming they have resigned their jobs and not just their positions as special attorneys...)
I know nobody is talking about this, but wouldn't you assume Trump pardons Stone at a politically copacetic moment? Manafort is a slightly tougher call since they did get him on tax evasion, etc, but perhaps Trump will commute the prison sentence. PapaD and Flynn, too, if Powell is unsuccessful in court.
I do assume all of that.
DeleteAn old boss of mine in the Army once told me that if there ever was a document that was presented to you that could bite you in the a** legally or financially that I should initial and date each page before signing the last page.
ReplyDeleteLooking at the original sentencing memo i dont see Shea's signature ..... i see Kravis' ( the /s/ ).
Nothing like a bait and switch last page for a fraud to occur, or in this case ----- an entire document! I wonder if Shea was smart enough to have a file copy of the original document he was briefed on AND the approval cover sheet with everyone elses signatures............
Another Anonymous
Shea is the USA for DC (acting). Anything that goes out of his office is on him, even if he didn't physically sign it--he supervises. Unless he can show some sort of fraud or deceit by the Ass't USAs (AUSA) who actually wrote it and signed it, it's on him. He supervises and is presumed to know and approve. This was a high profile case that he shoulda been all over, and shoulda known that there'd likely be shenanigans, because there always is with these people.
DeleteAnd I note that while among conservatives the word "lie" is being tossed around rather freely, I have yet to learn exactly what the lie was. If there was a lie, we should have learned what it was by now. Otherwise I suppose that there was a clever, deliberately framed, "misunderstanding," or failure to communicate. But the supervisor is supposed to catch that type of BS.
Delete@AA
DeleteYour old Army boss was right. However, these days, with email copies a bait and switch is pretty easy to prove. For example, AUSA sends Shea the 'final' draft by email and Shea says ok. If the version submitted to the court is different...kaboom! The electronic paper trail is hard to 'F' with...
There is something significant that there is so many comments on this thread, compared to other posts.
ReplyDeleteWhy is the Roger Stone sentencing so much more significant that was done to Flynn, for example?
A number of reasons. Stone never pled guilty.
DeleteThe sentencing recommendations re Flynn were all well within guidelines and usual practice.
The Flynn case was past the point of targeting Trump, whereas that's what the Stone case was totally about.
@Ray - Socal
DeleteMaybe because it treads on Americans' fundamental sense of fairness -- well, most Americans, I think, apart from a vocal minority of socialists and mental patients on the left.
My 2 ¢ ...
ReplyDeleteWhile Stone is about as unlikeable as any of the clowns Trump unfortunately associated himself with in 2016 (Cohen and Manafort being two other sorry examples) I think the prosecution of Stone by the Mueller thugs is especially reprehensible. Big picture, it is clear now (and was when Stone was indicted) that there was no Russian Collusion and it is pretty darn clear that Stone had nothing to do with the Wikileaks publication of DNC emails. In fact there are very persuasive arguments that the IC itself leaked the emails (or made up the Guccifer 2.0 ruse).
At the end of the day the Stone prosecution is another Mueller/Weissmann outrage and the resignations yesterday of the four AUSAs is undoubtedly just the tip of the iceberg of yet another Lawfare provocation to damage Trump/Barr.
As the wisest among us here constantly remind the rest of us, the bad guys are playing for keeps and they are not going to quit.
Good point-->the bad guys are playing for keeps and they are not going to quit<--
DeleteThey play by Alinsky's Rules, which means "winning is everything," while our side plays by Queensberry Rules and thinks everyone will behave as gentlemen, with decency and honor.
Where you write "our side plays by Queensberry...", I fear that it would be better put as, "those on our side, who purport to not face just how determined our foes are, to keep/ grow power, at utterly all costs".
ReplyDeleteJust saw this:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/02/muellers-thug-prosecutor-brandon-van-grack-goes-after-general-flynn-in-new-filing/
Maybe Van Grack is trying to nudge an intervention into Flynn's case by DoJ. More grist for the impeachment/Orange Man Bad/Barr's DoJ is corrupt PR mill.
Tom S.
That's pretty much just business as usual.
DeleteUPDATE:
ReplyDeleteTDS juror on Stone trial.
read her social media:
>>https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1227786964046315520.html<<
Inconceivable someone with this much bias against Trump would be allowed on a jury to hear a case against a Trump associate.
Mistrial, or reversible error?