Name: Ex-DOJ Officials Condemn Special Treatment of Roger Stone | Law & Crime
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Ex-DOJ Officials Condemn Special Treatment of Roger Stone | Law & Crime

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Sharecopy linkOne of the federal prosecutors who withdrew from Roger Stone’s criminal case after senior officials at the Department of Justice intervened in the sentencing recommendation for President Donald Trump’s longtime associate will tell Congress that he and other career prosecutors were heavily pressured to “cut Stone a break.”&nbsp;The allegations contained in Aaron Zelinsky’s for Wednesday’s House Judiciary hearing left legal and government experts dismayed, with many saying the described conduct should result in the removal of Attorney General William Barr.Zelinsky, when testifying about&nbsp;“improper politicization” of the DOJ, will allege that he and the other prosecutors on the case–all of whom resigned in protest–were told that then-acting U.S. Attorney Timothy Shea had “political reasons” for intervening on Stone’s behalf. They were also advised to go along with the instruction “because this case was ‘not the hill worth dying on’ and that we could ‘lose our jobs’ if we did not toe the line.”In response to the bombshell revelations of special treatment for the president’s allies, several former DOJ prosecutors and current CNN and MSNBC/NBC legal analysts derided the department for failing to do its most important job in ensuring that everyone is equal under the law.Former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan and NBC News legal analyst Barbara McQuade said the testimony illustrated that the DOJ’s intervention “violated DOJ Principles of Federal Prosecution,” calling the situation a “disgrace” and declaring that “Barr must go.”Stone sentencing recommendation violated DOJ Principles of Federal Prosecution, 9-27.260:“In determining whether to .. take… action against a person, the attorney for the government should not be influenced by:The person's … political association, activities, or beliefs;”— Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade)More on the Stone prosecution. This is a disgrace. Barr must go. He is not acting as the Attorney General of the United States. He is Trump’s Roy Cohn.— Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade)Harry Litman, a Los Angeles Times legal affairs columnist who previously served as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania and Deputy Assistant Attorney General, said allegations that Stone’s relationship to the president garnered him special treatment was “nauseating,” and “an absolute dereliction of everything [the] DOJ stands for.”That it's happened so much doesn't make it any better. this is just nauseating,an absolute dereliction of everthing DOJ stands for,"What I heard – repeatedly – was that Roger Stone was being treated differently because of his relationship to the Pres."— Harry Litman (@harrylitman)Former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner said it was difficult to describe the “horror” of Zelinsky’s allegations, which he referred to as “kill shot” to the prospect of equal justice.As a former career prosecutor at the DC US Attorney’s Office it’s hard to describe the horror of this: “The US Attorney had political reasons” to go easy on Stone and “we were instructed” to “go along w/the US Attorney’s instructions because if we didn’t “we could lose our jobs.”— Glenn Kirschner (@glennkirschner2)AUSA Zelinsky’s testimony is a kill shot to the prospect of = justice under the law. The prosecutors in the Roger Stone case were told they must go easy on Stone because Trump demands it &amp; if they object they could lose their jobs. Barr MUST GO (to jail).— Glenn Kirschner (@glennkirschner2)“Let’s be clear, if Congress let’s Barr (and DC US Attorney Tim Shea) get away w/what AUSA Zelensky just revealed about them obstructing justice in the Stone case, it is a gut punch to EVERY DEFENDANT who is NOT connected or influential or powerful or wealthy or privileged!” Kirshner, an MSNBC and NBC News legal analyst, added.Let’s be clear, if Congress let’s Barr (and DC US Attorney Tim Shea) get away w/what AUSA Zelensky just revealed about them obstructing justice in the Stone case, it is a gut punch to EVERY DEFENDANT who is NOT connected or influential or powerful or wealthy or privileged!— Glenn Kirschner (@glennkirschner2)Renato Mariotti, a CNN legal analyst and former Assistant U.S. Attorney, said the DOJ’s conduct was “unethical and wrong.”Aaron Zelinsky was told that Roger Stone’s sentencing recommendation had to be reduced for political reasons. He’s right that it was unethical and wrong.No one should receive special treatment because they’re the president’s friend or associate. Period.— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti)Former Southern District of New York (SDNY) prosecutors Preet Bharara, Elie Honig, and Mimi Rocah also weighed in on the situation.Bharara called the news “unacceptable”; Honig said it was proof Barr’s DOJ would “stop at nothing” to save Trump’s “cronies”; Rocah said Barr had committed “flagrant abuses.”Unacceptable— Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara)Confirming that DOJ under Barr will stop at nothing to save the President's cronies.— Elie Honig (@eliehonig)Thank goodness for professionals at DOJ who are standing up and calling out these flagrant abuses by Bill Barr &amp; others.— Mimi Rocah (@Mimirocah1)Honig and Bharara are CNN legal analysts; Rocah is a former MSNBC/NBC News legal analyst.[Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images]Have a tip we should know?Jerry Lambe - JournalistPlease enable JavaScript to view the

Sharecopy linkOne of the federal prosecutors who withdrew from Roger Stone’s criminal case after senior officials at the Department of Justice intervened in the sentencing recommendation for President Donald Trump’s longtime associate will tell Congress that he and other career prosecutors were heavily pressured to “cut Stone a break.”&nbsp;The allegations contained in Aaron Zelinsky’s for Wednesday’s House Judiciary hearing left legal and government experts dismayed, with many saying the described conduct should result in the removal of Attorney General William Barr.Zelinsky, when...

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Jerry Lambe is a journalist at Law&Crime. He is a graduate of Georgetown University and New York Law School and previously worked in financial securities compliance and Civil Rights employment law.

Ex-DOJ Officials Condemn Special Treatment of Roger Stone | Law & Crime

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