Schumer calls on Justice Department watchdog to probe Stone sentencing recommendations
Source: cbs
February 11, 2020 / 8:08 PM / CBS News
The Senate's top Democrat is calling on the Justice Department's internal watchdog to investigate the law enforcement agency's move to recommend a lesser prison sentence for Roger Stone, President Trump's longtime informal adviser and confidant.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, made the request in a letter to Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz on Monday evening after top Justice Department officials overruled the recommendation of prosecutors that Stone serve between seven and nine years in prison. Stone was found guilty in November of seven charges, including lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstruction.
The move by the Justice Department prompted a mass exodus of all four prosecutors involved in Stone's case. One of those government lawyers, Jonathan Kravis, resigned his post at the Justice Department entirely.
"This situation has all the indicia of improper political interference in a criminal prosecution," Schumer wrote to Horowitz.
The New York Democrat requested the Justice Department's internal watchdog look into how and why Stone's sentencing recommendations were countermanded, who at the Justice Department made the decision, and who at the White House was involved.
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/chuck-schumer-calls-for-justice-department-watchdog-to-probe-roger-stone-sentencing-recommendations/
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Perseus
(4,341 posts)bucolic_frolic
(43,258 posts)You keep saying to yourself, this can't be happening. This is about sovereignty in a way. A State without a code of justice that is perceived as fair and just is not much of a State at all.
ancianita
(36,132 posts)Prosecutors don't quit for no reason, so it needs investigating. The DOJ shouldn't even be making an internal move against any lawyer in front of judge. This is going to peel away Barr's well-tended veneer.
But the sentence won't be what Trump or Barr or DOJ "senior officials" want.
It will be what the judge decides, with or without their "input."
duforsure
(11,885 posts)This will escalate Barr promoting trump law. nothing close to the rule of law where criminals are protected by trump , and he and Barr try to criminalize his opponents and anyone opposing him, or just like putin has done in russia where only the most corrupt are allowed to prosper.
greenjar_01
(6,477 posts)oversight capacity.
It's the essence of the Trump worldview.
Anything "inside" the DOJ is going to be corrupted.
Hold public hearings, enforce subpoenas, and stop acting a goddamn fool, Schumer.