RedState: Frankly, I don’t want to go through all the details of this again — so I won’t.
But I did so already in the following locations — it’s a great story and if you haven’t read it I would encourage you to do so.
A member of the Special Counsel’s Office, Aaron Zelinsky — one of the younger prosecutors who was left behind to finish the Roger Stone case after the Special Counsel’s Office closed up shop– went public with a complaint that political influence had played a role in the changing of the Government’s Sentencing Statement, removing the recommendation by the Trial Team that Stone be sentenced to between seven and nine years in custody. That recommendation was replaced by one signed by the Acting US Attorney which made no specific recommendation on the length of time to which Stone should be sentenced — leaving that question to the Court — but suggesting that an “enhancement” under the sentencing guidelines for Stone having made a “threat of physical violence” in an effort to obstruct witness testimony before Congress, led to a sentencing recommendation that was far more severe than other similar cases in other parts of the country.
The four prosecutors who were part of the trial team — three confirmed Democrat partisans and one “career” guy with the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, all withdrew from the case, and the sentencing hearing went forward with supervisors from the US Attorney’s Office standing in. The Judge ended up disagreeing with the position of the trial team in the Sentencing Statement that was withdrawn and agreeing with the substituted Statement filed at Attorney General Barr’s direction. She then sentenced Stone to 40 months in custody which was consistent with the position advocated by the Barr -directed Statement.
Several months ago Zelinsky decided he needed to have a “Star Turn” with congressional testimony of his own on the subject of “politicization” of the Justice Department by Attorney General Barr. He made claims about political influence having been brought to bear on the Acting United States Attorney to withdraw the trial team’s Sentencing Statement, claiming that pressure came from Main Justice in order to make President Trump happy after he had publicly criticized the trial team’s effort to have Stone sentenced to 7-9 years. But his testimony was full of holes, innuendo, and speculation about the supposed “political interference” in order to please President Trump. He didn’t actually talk to any senior DOJ official on the subject, and he wasn’t sure what form that pressure was supposed to have taken.
The problem for him now is that the specific individuals he identified as having been the source of the information Zelinsky said he relied upon have all come out and accused him of mischaracterizing what they said. more
For far, far too long, I assumed that there must have been some decent and competent people working in the swamp among all the sleazy pols and possibly even more sleazy top tier bureaucrats. Now I writhe in shame at having once thought that. Betting on that assumption would be even more stupid and risky than betting big bucks in a crooked carny game. How long do you suppose it takes to become thoroughly corrupted there? A year? A few months? A few weeks? A few soft blandishments? Or do you have to be already corrupt to want to go there and to be given a job there? Anyone know?
“Off with their heads!!”
Mike Flynn is turning out to be quite the tarbaby for the deep state. Now it looks like Roger Stone might become tarbaby jr.
But at least they got Manafort for, ummm…something or other. And nobody is taking a second look at that prosecution and sentencing.Yet.
He should be sentenced to home confinement, if it can/’ be proven he broke any law.