Fresh off signaling that probation would be just fine for the crimes of former Trump official Michael Flynn, the Justice Department is reportedly changing its sentencing recommendations for lifelong Trump confidant Roger Stone, according to Fox News producer Jake Gibson. “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 today.
The Justice Department had already spoken out on Stone's sentencing, with signed sentencing recommendations from assistant U.S. attorneys. Now apparently, a new recommendation will be made that's much more favorable to Stone on the very same day that Trump opened by threatening to pardon his bestie altogether.
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The news of the Justice Department's retreat on Stone's sentencing comes on the heels of Attorney General William Barr saying the department had an "obligation" to consider the Ukraine "dirt" Rudy Giuliani has been digging up on Trump's behalf no matter how bogus it is. So Barr's now taking his sentencing recommendations from Trump and dirt from Trump’s personal lawyer Giuliani.
That would be the same Giuliani who's under investigation by federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York. But those prosecutors all report to Barr too, so frankly who even knows anymore, as SDNY veteran Mimi Rocah noted on Twitter. "Former DOJ people are absolutely freaking out today between the Giuliani red carpet treatment at DOJ & now changing a sentence recommendation for Stone. And I have to [now] say I’m deeply concerned about SDNY, Rocah wrote, calling for hearings on the matter.
Absolutely. As former Justice Department spokesperson Matthew Miller pointed out, Giuliani is getting access to DOJ that no other American would be afforded. "If you’re under investigation and you want to provide info to DOJ about issues related to the things you’re under investigation for, you deal with the office investigating you, not a special backchannel," he wrote.
And Barr certainly isn't answering any questions about much of anything voluntarily. He's flat-out declined to appear before the Judiciary Committee since taking office. He's also dodging reporters' questions, such as ducking out of Monday's press conference on Chinese hacking after taking only a single question.
The House of Representatives already held Barr in contempt last year for defying their subpoenas on unrelated matters. It's time to subpoena him again and, if he defies it, skip court proceedings and just send the House sergeant-at-arms over to cuff Barr and put him in the "little jail down in the basement of the Capitol" that Speaker Nancy Pelosi alluded to last year.
Whatever the case, Barr needs to be preoccupied by Congress and a rush of reporter inquiries. Left unfettered, he is quickly turning the Justice Department into an extension of the State that does Trump's bidding and Trump’s bidding only.
You can't say injustice without saying justice.