Thread by @sparrowmedia

Special Assistant US Attorney Aaron Zelinsky, one of the prosecutors in the case against Roger Stone has removed himself from the prosecution and resigned (see footnote) as AUSA for the District of Columbia.

Typically the DOJ relies on the US Probation Department to compile a "Pre-sentence Investigative Report" (PSI).

This report makes a sentence recommendation to the Judge based on a scoring system & points calculation.

Typically the prosecutor echoes the suggestion in the report.

To have the DOJ change course and argue the suggestion within the PSI report was "excessive," to not request that the PSI go back to the Probation Department for a re-calculation, to have an Assistant US Attorney who worked on the case suddenly resign —each of these are atypical.

It kind of makes you think that Trump's late night twitter screed may have been a factor. 🤔

Also. I don't relish watching an old man spend his twilight years in prison and you shouldn't either. The point I'm trying to make is that someone is eschewing jurisprudential process because the President got mad on twitter.

Correction: AT LEAST TWO US ATTORNEYS (Aaron Zelinski and now Jonathan Kravis) who prosecuted the case against Roger Stone have resigned.

UPDATE: Adam Jed becomes the third Assistant US Attorney to announce their resignation shortly ahead of Roger Stone's sentencing:

These developments may (or may not) end up having an impact on the sentencing of Roger Stone. As I mentioned above the final sentencing decision rests with the Judge (who will discern the facts, and refer to both the PSI and Prosecutors recommendations when levying a sentence.

"[E]xcessive and unwarranted," the DOJ's amended sentencing memo, submitted this afternoon in the case against Roger Stone, reads as if it were written by attorneys defending Stone —not prosecuting him. Full memo here: sparrowmedia.net/wp-content/upl…