DOJ credibility sinks like a Stone
Former campaign adviser for President Donald Trump, Roger Stone, leaves federal court in Washington on Feb. 1, 2019. Credit: AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais
President Donald Trump has exposed his pliable Attorney General William Barr as a willing tool in politicizing the Justice Department.
In a swirl of controversy that is still unfolding, Trump succeeded in having the DOJ reverse a tough sentencing recommendation for Roger Stone, the dirty trickster who played a key role in Trump’s 2016 campaign. As a result, four respected career prosecutors, who won a conviction against Stone for thwarting the investigations into Trump’s campaign by Congress and the FBI, withdrew from the case. Two resigned outright. This is an ominous development and should be seen as a flashing alert to the nation.
Trump made known his displeasure with the sentencing recommendation of 7 to 9 years in prison, via Twitter on Monday night. On Tuesday, he escalated his condemnation: “I thought the recommendation was ridiculous. I thought the whole prosecution was ridiculous,” Trump said. He asserted that he has “absolute” power to dictate what the Justice Department does, but that “I have not been involved in it at all.”
That’s just not believable.
The quickest way to expose the truth is for U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who is presiding over the case, to put the four prosecutors and other top Justice Department officials on the witness stand and demand that they tell the nation what’s going on.
— The editorial board
