Who Even Is Roger Stone?

Courtesy of FoxNews.com

By Eva Lynch

He’s a political consultant and one of Trump’s best friends. He’s been helping Republican campaigns win various elections, beginning with Richard Nixon’s. He’s the founder of the pro-Trump activist group Stop the Steal. And, he’s the unheard victim of the Mueller report. 

The purpose of the Mueller report was to examine Russian interference in President Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. It’s widely misunderstood and contended what the Mueller report found; most that read it tentatively agree that President Trump wasn’t guilty but also wasn’t totally innocent. But no action was taken against the president, and none pressed further. 

The media glossed over many people who were identified and indicted in the Mueller report, like Roger Stone. Stone was arrested in early 2019 on seven charges of the Mueller indictment: one of obstruction of justice, five of false statements, and one of witness tampering. He was found guilty during trial and awaits sentencing, the date of which was originally February 6, 2020 but is now contended.

On February 10, following the passing of this original sentencing date, prosecutors requested a sentence of seven to nine years. At midnight the same day, President Trump took to Twitter and slammed it as harsh and a “miscarriage of justice,” hinting at an accusation of abuse of power. 

On the following morning of February 11, the Justice Department released a statement suggesting it would recommend a lighter sentence, later emphasizing this decision was made before the president’s public criticism of it. And, following the publication of this revised sentencing memorandum, all four of the attorneys prosecuting the case withdrew therefrom, and one withdrew from the US Attorney’s office altogether, supposedly because of disagreement with the protocol that was broken when the Justice Department overruled their sentencing recommendation. 

Later the same day, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer sent a letter to the Department of Justice requesting an investigation into this memorandum and the possibility of political interference.

President Trump later clarified that while he had not requested a lighter sentencing from the Department of Justice, it would be within his rights to do so. On February 12, he praised US Attorney General William Barr for “taking charge of the case” in facilitating the recommendation of a lighter sentencing. 

The same day, the president withdrew his nomination for an Under Secretary of Treasury, Jessie Liu, former US Attorney for the District of Columbia and overseer of ancillary Mueller Report cases, including the prosecution of Roger Stone. She was moved from and taken off other past related cases by Attorney General Barr and replaced with his close confidants. 

On February 13, the presiding judge of Stone’s case denied his appeal for a new trial, after he privately alleged bias by one of the jurors who had read accounts of Stone’s legal matters per a previous occupation. Stone again requested a new trial two days later after the foreperson of his jury voiced support for the four withdrawn prosecutors. All jurors were vetted by the presiding judge, so she is expected to deny this new second request as well. 

Later the same day, Barr agreed to testify on Stone’s behalf over the alleged political interference in the lessening of his sentence. 

Because of the combination of the Justice Department’s surprising decision to overrule the prosecutors, the unique timing of Stone’s trial with President Trump’s impeachment trial, and the nature of the two’s relationship, this trial has been labeled a “crisis in the rule of law in America.” Many other prosecutors are reportedly discussing resigning from the DC attorney’s office, and many former officials of the Justice Department have supported this notion on Twitter.

“Do not underestimate the danger of this situation,” former Attorney General Eric Holder said in a tweet. “The political appointees in the DOJ [Department of Justice] are involving themselves in an appropriate way in cases involving political allies of the President.”