Justice Department changes course on Roger Stone sentencing after Trump's angry tweet
It looks like President Trump got his point across.
The Justice Department has decided to back off its earlier recommendation that Trump's longtime adviser Roger Stone receive a sentencing of seven to nine years following his seven-count conviction last year for lying to Congress, witness tampering, and obstructing a House investigation into possible coordination between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia. A department official confirmed the news to The Associated Press, describing the recommendation as "extreme, excessive, and grossly disproportionate" to Stone's offenses.
Upon learning about the initial recommendation, Trump was displeased, slamming the proposed sentence. Per AP, there hasn't been any contact between the Justice Department and the White House over the decision to lessen the sentence, so there's no telling if Trump was the driver behind the move, but the official's characterization of the recommendation does echo the president's. Tim O'Donnell
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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
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