Swamp Watch News

[_MissTish]

The DOJ is changing its sentencing recommendation for Roger Stone, according to a Senior DOJ official.

“The Department finds seven to nine years extreme, excessive and grossly disproportionate," the source said, adding the DOJ will clarify its position on sentencing later todayhttps://Twitter.com/JakeBGibson/st ... 9346816000



DOJ made the 7-9 recommendation yesterday, but President tweeted his displeasure about it last night, so now they're changing their minds. Shameless corruption.

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

Funny how the Trump admin jumps all over using the DoJ to help a buddy out:

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/doj-ex ... n-official

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.

Federal prosecutors had recommended that Judge Amy Berman Jackson sentence Stone to between 87 and 108 months in prison for his conviction on seven counts of obstruction, witness tampering, and making false statements to Congress on charges that stemmed from former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.

“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.

President Trump tweeted about the sentencing recommendation early Tuesday morning, leading to speculation that a pardon may be in Stone's future.

If people can't see what's going on then we're already a banana republic.

- Doc

[_Res Ipsa]

Funny how the Trump admin jumps all over using the DoJ to help a buddy out:

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/doj-ex ... n-official

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.

Federal prosecutors had recommended that Judge Amy Berman Jackson sentence Stone to between 87 and 108 months in prison for his conviction on seven counts of obstruction, witness tampering, and making false statements to Congress on charges that stemmed from former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.

“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.

President Trump tweeted about the sentencing recommendation early Tuesday morning, leading to speculation that a pardon may be in Stone's future.

If people can't see what's going on then we're already a banana republic.

- Doc

Too late.

I wonder how many pairs of shoes Melania has.

[_MissTish]

Top Mueller prosecutor Aaron S.J. Zelinsky resigned from Roger Stone’s case, effective immediately, he told the court in a filing, after the Justice Department announced that it planned to change the recommendation to give Stone a lighter sentence


https://Twitter.com/jeremyherb/status/1 ... 3456939009


Withdrawal notice included this footnote:

"The Court is advised that the undersigned attorney has resigned effective immediately after this filing as a Special Assistant United States Attorney for District of Columbia"

[_Res Ipsa]

Later in that comment thread there is news of a second resignation.

[_Icarus]

OMG

Our Republic as we once knew it is now gone.

Prosecutors Withdraw From Roger Stone Case After DOJ Walks Back Sentencing

[_MissTish]

All four line prosecutors who signed the original Roger Stone sentencing recommendation for 7-9 years incarceration have withdrawn from the case this afternoon.

https://Twitter.com/nycsouthpaw/status/ ... 6779971584

[_EAllusion]

OMG

Our Republic as we once knew it is now gone.

A Trump re-election, which is likely, is going to allow 5 more years of the Trump-led effort to purge the government of non-corrupt civil servants to replace with unethical people driven by some combination of personal corruption, loyalty to Trump, and severe partisan hackery. As bad as some isolated examples you can point to in modern-era US history are, this is much worse.

Every time you see a story involving some person doing something principled being forced out of the admin, it is a also a story of there being a high likelihood that person is getting replaced by an ethical trainwreck.

I do not think the country survives this. It's names, symbols, and rituals will persist, but the substance will be hollowed. This is an on-going Constitutional crisis.

[_Res Ipsa]

So, is the Team Trump uniform the new Mao jacket?

[_EAllusion]

OMG

Our Republic as we once knew it is now gone.

A Trump re-election, which is likely, is going to allow 5 more years of the Trump-led effort to purge the government of non-corrupt civil servants to replace with unethical people driven by some combination of personal corruption, loyalty to Trump, and severe partisan hackery. As bad as some isolated examples you can point to in modern-era US history are, this is much worse.

Every time you see a story involving some person doing something principled being forced out of the admin, it is a also a story of there being a high likelihood that person is getting replaced by an ethical trainwreck.

I do not think the country survives this. It's names, symbols, and rituals will persist, but the substance will be hollowed. This is an on-going Constitutional crisis.

Following up on this, this is the model of modern authoritarian takeover in a range of once democratic countries we've seen since the 'aughts. Because it doesn't happen in a single moment - there is no coup - there is no popular uprising response. Just inch by inch, day by day, institutions are corrupted the underlying norms that make liberal democracy possible are winnowed. There's no one moment where democracy becomes not, so people don't take to the streets in large enough numbers to matter. Eventually, things that only a few years prior that would've brought mass protest instead bring resignation and, eventually, are accepted.