BARR

[dislaxxic]

LEV PARNAS SAYS BILL BARR SHOULD RECUSE … BUT DOESN’T SAY WHY

..

[dislaxxic]

Four Prosecutors On Roger Stone Case Bail After DOJ Sentencing Reversal

"After the stunning news that the Justice Department will scale back a sentencing recommendation filed by prosecutors who led the Roger Stone case, four of those prosecutors withdrew from the case, with one of them resigning from the Justice Department entirely.

In a notice to the court that he was withdrawing from Stone’s case, prosecutor Jonathan Kravis told the court he was resigning from his role as Assistant U.S. attorney.

Two other prosecutors who announced their withdrawal from Stone’s case, Adam Jed and Aaron Zelinsky, were both members of special counsel Robert Mueller’s team.

Michael Marando, another federal prosecutor assigned to the case, withdrew without resigning from the Justice Department as well.

Zelinksy’s withdrawal notice said he was resigning from his role in the U.S. Attorney’s office in D.C. — which took over the prosecution of Stone when Mueller’s shop shut down — but Zelinksy is reportedly retaining his position at the U.S. Attorney’s office in Maryland.

Several of the withdrawal notices came even before the Justice Department filed its amended sentencing recommendation for Stone, who is slated to be sentenced later this month.

A senior DOJ official earlier Tuesday told several media outlets that the Department was going to “clarify” the recommendation because the sentencing memo filed Monday was “extreme, excessive and grossly disproportionate to Mr. Stone’s offenses.”

Trump tweeted angrily overnight about Monday’s memo, but the DOJ official reportedly claimed that the decision to amend the recommendation was made before Trump’s outburst.

By the end of the day Tuesday, every prosecutor who had signed Monday’s sentencing memo — with the exception of U.S. Attorney for D.C. Timothy Shea, who only stepped into that role late last month — had withdrawn from the case.

For the Department of Justice to so publicly and sloppily override the sentencing recommendation was extraordinary and shocking, former DOJ officials told TPM."

Kick the krap outta that Deep State, right? Right??

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[youthathletics]

Durham is about to drop the hammer.

[dislaxxic]

BILL BARR NEEDS TO SOFTEN ROGER STONE’S SENTENCE TO PREVENT HIM FROM TALKING

"...the brazenness of this fight may be a reflection of the damaging information Roger Stone may have about Trump’s own conduct.

The trial itself provided ample evidence of what Mark Meadows considers “collusion” involving Donald Trump personally. It showed the campaign — and probably Trump personally — were working through Stone to optimize the WikiLeaks releases from the very day they came out on June 14, 2016. It showed that Stone was informing Trump personally about his efforts to optimize the releases. After some arm-twisting to adhere to his grand jury testimony, Steve Bannon testified he knew of all this, contrary to some of what he had said in earlier testimony that Trump would learn about. Erik Prince was in the loop. Gates testified that Stone was strategizing with Jared Kushner on all this. And it appears that Paul Manafort was in the loop, too.

But all that really damning evidence came out in a trial that only had to prove that Stone had lied to cover up the actions he took to optimize the release of the WikiLeaks emails. The trial did not need to explain what Stone’s actual back channel was, what he had to do to obtain it, and how involved Trump was in that process. And the trial did not explain it."

Don the Con may have a VERY busy post presidency with all the litigation/prosecution that is lining up steadily against him. He thinks he knows vendetta? Maybe just maybe, he ain't seen NUTTIN' yet.

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[Kismet]

What a coincidence that these crooked clowns attempted this on the day of the NH primary?

[RedFromMI]

What a coincidence that these crooked clowns attempted this on the day of the NH primary?

The original set of prosecutors had dropped their own sentencing recommendations the day before. Trump and Barr did not want to let it stand, and had to move fast. Not sure that the original group had much flexibility in when they provided their recommendation (which BTW is the actually normal range of sentences for the commited/convicted crimes).

[seacoaster]

It's worth looking at the credentials of the guy who resigned from the DOJ, Jonathan Kravis. As I understand it, he was the No. 2 trial lawyer in the Public Integrity Section of the Criminal Division of the DOJ -- a big and important job. Law degree from Yale, clerked for Merrick Garland and then Breyer. Could do anything he wanted, and devoted himself to almost entirely public sector, prosecutor work. His resignation should send a message, if anyone is listening, to folks about Barr and the state of things within the DOJ.

[MDlaxfan76]

It's worth looking at the credentials of the guy who resigned from the DOJ, Jonathan Kravis. As I understand it, he was the No. 2 trial lawyer in the Public Integrity Section of the Criminal Division of the DOJ -- a big and important job. Law degree from Yale, clerked for Merrick Garland and then Breyer. Could do anything he wanted, and devoted himself to almost entirely public sector, prosecutor work. His resignation should send a message, if anyone is listening, to folks about Barr and the state of things within the DOJ.

No one is listening.

The authoritarian drum beat rolls on.

question for the lawyers: Is the judge bound in any way bound by these new sentencing recommendations?

[seacoaster]

It's worth looking at the credentials of the guy who resigned from the DOJ, Jonathan Kravis. As I understand it, he was the No. 2 trial lawyer in the Public Integrity Section of the Criminal Division of the DOJ -- a big and important job. Law degree from Yale, clerked for Merrick Garland and then Breyer. Could do anything he wanted, and devoted himself to almost entirely public sector, prosecutor work. His resignation should send a message, if anyone is listening, to folks about Barr and the state of things within the DOJ.

No one is listening.

The authoritarian drum beat rolls on.

question for the lawyers: Is the judge bound in any way bound by these new sentencing recommendations?

I'm (happily) not a criminal lawyer, but I think the Judge is not bound by any sentencing recommendations. NJBill? Ggait?

[njbill]

That is my understanding as well: she is not bound.

[ggait]

question for the lawyers: Is the judge bound in any way bound by these new sentencing recommendations?

No. By the way, DOJ's new recommendation is no recommendation -- they ask the judge to use her discretion (which she always has anyway).

The recommendations are just advocacy by the two sides. So this advocacy would be influential (like any advocacy) only to the extent that it was well reasoned and convincing to the judge.

So if the prosecutors had in fact way overshot the mark in recommending 7-9 years for Stone, the judge would see that advocacy as weak and would give it little weight. And might tend to rely upon the advocacy coming from the defense, who argued for a much shorter sentence.

So the problem, presumably, was that the prosecutors' advocacy was actually sound -- not faulty. DOJ feared the judge might rely upon it.

Of course this is all BS show for Trump. Given how unusual and suspicious this all is, the judge may drag in the old and new DOJ lawyers and grill them on what the heck is going on. Also, the judge might lean into the reasoning for the 7-9 recommendation (which the judge can't unsee) since it looks like some kind of fix is in.

But no worries. No matter what the judge does, Stone will get his pardon once the election is over.

P.S. I feel bad for the runt of the Stone prosecutorial litter who "only" went to Cornell Law. The other three were all SCOTUS clerks (Kennedy, Stevens, Breyer) from Harvard/Yale Law. It is a full time job for Barr and Trump to whack-a-mole all these crooked Deep Staters. They are everywhere!!

[Kismet]

https://lincolnproject.us/news/doj-roger-stone/

WASHINGTON, DC US, February 12, 2020 – Today, The Lincoln Project released the following statement:

"Yesterday’s decision by the Justice Department to overrule the prosecutor’s sentencing recommendation on convicted felon Roger Stone, is a blatant example of political interference, retaliation, and coercion by an emboldened, unbowed President.

“Attorney General Barr’s subservience to Trump is both cowardly and damaging to the country,” said Jennifer Horn, spokesperson for The Lincoln Project. “It is obvious that Barr is overriding the best judgment of Justice Department professionals to appease an angry, vindictive president. Clearly, the President feels emboldened by his acquittal in the Senate and is now set on expanding his criminal enterprise approach to the Presidency and Attorney General Barr is aiding and abetting him in that effort.

The Department of Justice is intended to be an independent, neutral agency of justice in this country, free of political influence, assuring that all are treated equally under the law, not used as an enforcer for a wannabe strongman president. Barr’s actions, in this case, set a dangerous precedent and should alarm all Americans.”

[njbill]

Hmm. If Vindman’s brother was sent to Siberia for the “crime” of being a twin, wonder if Kellyann will get frog marched for the “crime” of being married to George?

[ggait]

As I've posted before, the next administration should really look into making USAG a more independent position a la the FBI Director or the Fed Reserve Chair.

It isn't the Department of Legal Administration; it is called the Department of Justice for a reason.

P.S. to Republicans: Wasn't it just AWFUL that time Bill Clinton chatted with the USAG (who then recused herself from the Hillary case) on the tarmac? SHOCKING!!!!!!

[njbill]

P.S. to Republicans: Wasn't it just AWFUL that time Bill Clinton chatted with the USAG (who then recused herself from the Hillary case) on the tarmac? SHOCKING!!!!!!

A very apropos reference. But those were simpler times.

[old salt]

BILL BARR NEEDS TO SOFTEN ROGER STONE’S SENTENCE TO PREVENT HIM FROM TALKING

" The trial ...showed the campaign — and probably Trump personally — were working through Stone to optimize the WikiLeaks releases from the very day they came out on June 14, 2016. It showed that Stone was informing Trump personally about his efforts to optimize the releases. After some arm-twisting to adhere to his grand jury testimony, Steve Bannon testified he knew of all this, contrary to some of what he had said in earlier testimony that Trump would learn about. Erik Prince was in the loop. Gates testified that Stone was strategizing with Jared Kushner on all this. And it appears that Paul Manafort was in the loop, too.

But all that really damning evidence came out in a trial that only had to prove that Stone had lied to cover up the actions he took to optimize the release of the WikiLeaks emails. The trial did not need to explain what Stone’s actual back channel was, what he had to do to obtain it, and how involved Trump was in that process. And the trial did not explain it."

Did evidence surface that Stone actually connected with wikileaks ? ...& if he connected, did he have any success in his supposed "efforts to optimoze the releases" ? ...or was that all just Stone's normal bs boasting & speculating ?

[seacoaster]

Frank Easterbrook and his friends have something to say to Dogboy Bill:

http://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/r ... 462983:S:0

Pretty good read.

[njbill]

I hear Trump has ordered the IRS to audit the tax returns of all of the jurors who found Roger Stone guilty.o

[seacoaster]

“Congratulations to Attorney General Bill Barr for taking charge of a case that was totally out of control and perhaps should not have even been brought. Evidence now clearly shows that the Mueller Scam was improperly brought & tainted. Even Bob Mueller lied to Congress!”

DJT, in plain sight. Susan Collins must be concerned and maybe even disappointed.

[Typical Lax Dad]

I hear Trump has ordered the IRS to audit the tax returns of all of the jurors who found Roger Stone guilty.o

The voters knew this and he was still duly elected.