Trump's Roger Stone stunt may not get his guilty old crony all that far
Roger Stone, a longtime confidant of President Donald Trump, outside federal court in Washington in 2019. Credit: AP / Pablo Martinez Monsivais
President Donald Trump's skill and effectiveness in his role as a political boss comes into question.
Trump's "our-club-against-theirs" lobbying on behalf of his old crony Roger Stone — to be sentenced soon on felony charges related to the 2016 presidential campaign — may in the end have little real-world value.
On Twitter, the president echoed Stone's assertion that it was excessive for federal prosecutors to ask that his confidant serve 7 to 9 years for his almost slapstick efforts to obstruct Congress and tamper with witnesses in the Russia probe.
The Justice Department withdrew its sentencing request this week. U.S. Attorney Timothy Shea now says Stone, 67, should serve prison time, but 7 to 9 years "would not be appropriate or serve the interests of justice in this case."
A new prosecutor's memo says: "Ultimately, the government defers to the Court as to what specific sentence is appropriate under the facts and circumstances of this case."
Well, it was always going to be up to the court anyway. Stone's lawyers asked for no prison time, but that's not unusual. Guidelines are only guidelines. The next stop is U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who by all accounts has a solid reputation and who will need to assess what's fair.
On his fundraising website a year ago, Stone spread falsehoods about Jackson, even calling her part of a "deep state" conspiracy — and added a photo of her with a small symbol that looked like crosshairs.
She has played the adult at different stages of Stone's extracurricular circus. She issued gag orders, lectured Stone and solicited an apology.
Even Trump once described Stone, a fellow fan of the late sketchy attorney Roy Cohn, as a "stone cold loser" who takes credit for things he didn't do.
One can only guess how the Justice Department's overruling of its own prosecutors — who all quit the Stone case in protest — will impress Jackson.
Not surprisingly, Trump on Wednesday began ramping up conspiracy attacks on the judge — something grassy-knolly about Barack Obama, Robert Mueller and Hillary Clinton. One has to wonder what Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who already has tried to discourage this kind of presidential smearing, thinks of the latest display.
On Monday, before the intervention, the four prosecutors in their memo justified their 7- to 9-year request by saying: "Roger Stone obstructed Congress’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, lied under oath, and tampered with a witness.
“And when his crimes were revealed by the indictment in this case, he displayed contempt for this Court and the rule of law.”
Will Jackson disregard this just because the prosecutors' bosses at the Justice Department said "never mind?"
In the Ukraine fiasco, Trump ultimately failed to get even a besieged ally to announce a contrived political investigation.
Trump's histrionics in that instance ended up roiling the State Department, just as his statements in the Stone case are roiling the Justice Department and his intervention in a battlefield atrocity case roiled the Navy.
Trump is piling up quite a record of trying to meddle in Justice Department operations that affect him politically.
Aides said under oath that he tried to get them to fabricate conflict allegations against Mueller, the former special counsel. Trump also tried to get former Attorney General Jeff Sessions to withdraw his recusal in the Russia probe.
The president tried to get FBI Director James Comey to kill the investigation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn, invoking "loyalty," boss-style. That didn't work either.
Months before pardoning convicted former Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Trump reportedly asked Sessions if the case could be dropped outright.
No dice again.
Arpaio was of course a front-and-center Trump supporter, notwithstanding his misdemeanor conviction for disobeying a federal judge's order to stop racial profiling in detaining "individuals suspected of being in the U.S. illegally."
Other Trump loyalists who got themselves jammed up have been pardoned, raising the expectation that Trump ultimately will commute the sentences of Stone and his convicted ex-business partner Paul Manafort.
Trump already pardoned commentator Dinesh D'Souza, convicted of a campaign finance violation. D'Souza has compared Trump with Lincoln.
But in that case, D'Souza already avoided prison when he was fined and sentenced to probation in 2014. Prosecutors had sought a 10-to 16-month prison sentence.
Trump also pardoned British-Canadian publisher Conrad Black, who wrote the book "Donald J. Trump: A President Like No Other." He'd been convicted in Chicago of fraud and obstruction of justice.
But Black already had done prison time, and was released 10 years ago, which means Trump's pardon was of less value than it might have been when the matter was relevant.
Dan Janison is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
