Some thoughts on Roger Stone
Warning: this won’t be popular with many of my followers, but I’m gonna call balls and strikes anyway
THREAD
Warning: this won’t be popular with many of my followers, but I’m gonna call balls and strikes anyway
THREAD
THE JUROR
Yes, it’s outrageous that an anti-Trump, Collusion Truther awaiting Mueller Time ended up as the Jury Foreman
Yes, it’s outrageous that an anti-Trump, Collusion Truther awaiting Mueller Time ended up as the Jury Foreman
But we need to know more, because there could be many reasons for this:
—Stone’s legal team didn’t properly try to strike the juror
—or if they did, the judge overruled (possibly abusing her discretion)
—juror lied so Stone couldn’t strike
A mistrial isn’t likely - yet
—Stone’s legal team didn’t properly try to strike the juror
—or if they did, the judge overruled (possibly abusing her discretion)
—juror lied so Stone couldn’t strike
A mistrial isn’t likely - yet
(And a mistrial, while embarassing to the Judge/DOJ *wouldn’t matter that much* for reasons I’ll get into later, unless rock solid evidence of bad faith could be proved, highly unlikely)
THE SENTENCE
While 7-9 years was based on the harshest literal reading of the guidelines/enhancements for lying, obstruction & witness tampering/physical threats — it’s NOT something Mueller’s guys just made up
But: it isn’t in the interests of *justice* given similar cases
While 7-9 years was based on the harshest literal reading of the guidelines/enhancements for lying, obstruction & witness tampering/physical threats — it’s NOT something Mueller’s guys just made up
But: it isn’t in the interests of *justice* given similar cases
Why? Because the guy Stone was threatening didn’t take it seriously and Stone is a first time felon & quite old. Plus, the obstruction was of a blatantly political investigation ran by Congress which is almost never prosecuted at all, never mind ending up with jail time
But Stone DID lie and DID obstruct
The case for those is overwhelming, just take a look at his testimony versus the evidence (texts) introduced at trial. Again, that’s not made up by Mueller’s crew. Nobody forced Stone to do this since he wasn’t even Colluding with Russia anyway
The case for those is overwhelming, just take a look at his testimony versus the evidence (texts) introduced at trial. Again, that’s not made up by Mueller’s crew. Nobody forced Stone to do this since he wasn’t even Colluding with Russia anyway
If you want people like Clapper/Comey etc. nailed for lying to Congress or obstructing investigations into them, then the correct answer can’t be that Stone should *get away* with the same crimes - either by not being prosecuted or being pardoned. Commuted at some point? Maybe
The real issue is *selective prosecution*: Democrats or GOP in good standing in D.C or the media don’t get the same treatment. It’s NOT that the crime isn’t a real one
Stone should do some time (not 7-9 years), and *everyone else* who deliberately lied to Congress should do too
Stone should do some time (not 7-9 years), and *everyone else* who deliberately lied to Congress should do too
As for Obstruction, Mueller’s guys charged Stone under the same statute & theory they tried to pin on Trump. That was nonsense in Trump’s case (& likely cooked up by Weissmann), because for most “obstruction” examples Trump was NOT obstructing an “official proceeding”. See here:
But Stone *was* obstructing an official proceeding: a Congressional investigation. So the theory works in that case, which is why he was easily convicted of it. And the lying is a slam dunk because he basically admits it in his contemporaneous texts admitted into evidence
Any fair reading of that evidence shows Roger Stone committed most of these crimes (and only the physical threat part is potentially disputable). Again, nobody made him do that. He tells the truth, nothing happens to him. He doesn’t obstruct, nothing happens to him
We don’t know if the prosecutors “lied” to DOJ about the sentence they planned to recommend. It’s possible they did, or it could have been a miscommunication or a failure of main justice to give clear instructions/guidance. Again more info is needed before making hard conclusions
THE JURY ISSUE OR THE SENTENCE AREN’T THE MAIN ISSUES
Even if the juror lied and even if that’s a mistrial or an appeal, Stone still committed the crimes and would (probably) get re-tried and reconvicted on the same evidence, because that evidence isn’t going away
Even if the juror lied and even if that’s a mistrial or an appeal, Stone still committed the crimes and would (probably) get re-tried and reconvicted on the same evidence, because that evidence isn’t going away
Even if it turns out that all of the prosecutors lied to the DOJ and had a bad faith reading of the guidelines to get to 7-9 years - Stone still gets recommended 3-4 years when that’s fixed, even with brand new prosecutors
And the Judge makes the final decision anyway
And the Judge makes the final decision anyway
Trump is RIGHT to be angry about this sentence and *even more right* about the selective prosecution of people in his orbit compared to people like Clapper/Comey
BUT I don’t think tweeting about it is the right remedy for this issue. Especially not directly going after the judge in the case. That doesn’t work and will never work
And saying Stone was convicted for “nothing” isn’t correct. He lied and obstructed. When the GOP/Nunes are back in the majority, do you want the precedent that blatant lying and obstruction of any of their Congressional investigations is okay? I don’t
What could he do instead? Call in AG Barr and ask him to get a grip of the DC shop. Ask him to re-assign all of the ex Mueller prosecutors, or investigate them if he thinks there is evidence they’ve violated regs or laws
Or pardon/commute Stone, and accept the consequences
Or pardon/commute Stone, and accept the consequences
Yes, then the Democrats would accuse Trump of interference in the justice department. So what? They’re going to do that anyway. The previous reason given for Trump being hands off was not to hit the Mueller trip wire of obstruction. Mueller’s long gone. Time to take charge.
The DOJ and the AG work for POTUS. Yes, he shouldn’t be directing individual prosecutions or declinations but he can certainly order AG Barr to make sure the law is equally & consistently applied. Or proactively take a look at the ex Mueller people based on real issues with them
Okay that’s it. And FWIW, I have a number of threads in the pipeline dunking on Mueller’s prosecutors for serious violations of DOJ policies. Coming soon
/ENDS
/ENDS
UPDATE 2: Barr: “it’s time to stop tweeting about Dept. of Justice cases”. He’s right @realDonaldTrump. Let the man work and if you don’t like it, tell him in the Oval Office nytimes.com/2020/02/13/us/…
UPDATE 3:
UPDATE 4: Justice Dept. sources tell @KimStrassel that prosecutors threatened to resign if 7-9 years not recommended, and Acting USA Shea folded like a cheap suit. If true, it means they were overzealous, but didn’t lie
wsj.com/articles/the-t…
wsj.com/articles/the-t…
UPDATE 5: This podcast includes a good discussion of the issues above
nationalreview.com/podcasts/the-m…
nationalreview.com/podcasts/the-m…
UPDATE 6:
