Government

Roger Stone Sentenced To Three Years, Countdown to Pardon in 3...2...

Couldn't happen to nicer ratf*cker!

By  
on

Roger Stone (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

This morning in a D.C. court room, Judge Amy Berman Jackson sentenced Roger Stone to 40 months in jail for obstruction, lying to Congress, and tampering with a witness. Looks like the old ratf*cker’s luck finally ran out.

Or maybe not, since Donald Trump has been furiously telegraphing his intent to pardon his old friend, and Lindsey Graham and Matt Gaetz leapt into action to pre-emptively sign that pardon permission slip in case President Impulse Control does anything rash.

Congratulations William & Mary Law — you must be so proud of this alum!

The DOJ clusterf*ckery over Stone’s sentencing loomed large at today’s hearing. Last week, federal prosecutors recommended a guidelines sentence of 7-9 years, only to have Bill Barr intercede and force them to walk it back days later in a truly bizarre memorandum listing a bunch of mitigating factors and decrying the harshness of the guidelines. Which is an unusual position for the DOJ, and apparently, one that the line prosecutors refused to take, since all four of them withdrew from the case. And that’s how the heads of the Government Fraud section and the Criminal Division wound up in court today on a sentencing hearing. Which is also … not normal.

Judge Jackson kicked off the hearing with a detailed breakdown of the sentencing guidelines and appropriate enhancements for things like encouraging a witness to lie or else “prepare to die, cocksucker.” Or tweeting out a photo of the presiding judge with crosshairs next to her head. Or threatening to kidnap your buddy’s dog.

Sponsored

Despite having signed off on the revised sentencing memorandum, the DOJ’s John Crabb agreed with the court that an eight-level enhancement was appropriate for physically threatening a witness, as was the three-level bump for substantial interference with the administration of justice, and the three levels for using social media to intimidate the court, and an additional two for a plan that was extensive in scope. So, pretty close to exactly what they argued in the first memo that caused Bill Barr to freak out and divulge that he routinely interferes in cases that Donald Trump cares about. Well played, DOJ!

Judge Jackson moved on to questioning Crabb about the DOJ’s shifting position. And while he flatly refused to say whether he himself drafted the second memo, which he signed, Crabb conceded that Main Justice had been aware of original sentencing recommendation before it was filed with the court. And unlike his boss, Crabb had the guts to stand up for the integrity of his Department, saying, “This prosecution was, and this prosecution is righteous.”

After a break, the judge addressed the parties.

“Roger Stone injected himself, characteristically, in one of the most significant issues of the day,” she began, laying out in painstaking detail exactly how the defendant lied to the (Republican led!) House Intelligence Committee, and the (Republican led!) Mueller team, and then threatened another witness who refused to go along with his lies.

“He was not prosecuted, as some have claimed, for standing up for the president. He was prosecuted for covering up for the president,” Jackson said. Later she referred obliquely to Trump’s tweets, noting that certain public comments about the case were completely inappropriate, and Stone’s sentence should be decided by the court, “Not someone who has a longstanding friendship with the defendant, not someone whose political career was aided by the defendant.”

Sponsored

“Nothing about this case was a joke. It wasn’t funny. It wasn’t a prank,” she said, angrily dismissing the prospect of a 67-year-old man whose allies laughs off his crimes as mere “dirty tricks.” Later she added, “This is not campaign hijinks. This is not just Roger being Roger.”

She finished by channeling Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman’s famous testimony that “Here, right matters,” saying:

The truth still exists; the truth still matters. Roger Stone’s insistence that it doesn’t, his belligerence, his pride in his own lies are a threat to our most fundamental institutions, to the foundations of our democracy. The dismay and disgust at the defendant’s belligerence should transcend party.

But of course, it doesn’t. Not today, anyway.

In the end, the Justice Department squandered its credibility for absolutely nothing. Stone got exactly the same sentence he would have if that ridiculous second memo had never been filed. And while Stone may get a pardon, Bill Barr will never undo the damage to his own prestige. Because once you set fire to your own reputation, it’s gone. And it doesn’t come back.

Stone Sentenced to More Than 3 Years, in Line With Revised Proposal [Courthouse News]
Roger Stone was just sentenced to 40 months in prison [Vox]

Topics

, , , , , , ,