Democrats demand probe of Trump role in Stone case; Republicans unmoved

[webfact]

Democrats demand probe of Trump role in Stone case; Republicans unmoved

By David Morgan and Susan Heavey

 

U.S. President Donald Trump reacts to a question from a reporter following a signing ceremony for the Supporting Veterans in STEM Careers Act inside the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, U.S., February 11, 2020. REUTERS/Tom Brenner

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in Congress on Wednesday brushed aside calls to investigate possible political interference at the U.S. Justice Department after the agency asked for a lighter prison term for President Donald Trump's longtime adviser Roger Stone.

 

The Justice Department's decision to back off its sentencing recommendation of seven to nine years for the Republican operative sent shock waves through Washington and prompted all four prosecutors to quit the case and one to quit the agency.

 

"There should be an investigation," said House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in Congress. Other Democrats accused Trump of purging the U.S. government of perceived enemies following his acquittal on impeachment charges last week.

 

They said they would question Attorney General William Barr about the matter when he testifies before Congress on March 31.

 

"You have taken steps that raise grave questions about your leadership of the Department of Justice," Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee wrote to Barr in a letter.

 

Republican lawmakers, who nearly all voted to acquit Trump of impeachment charges, offered muted criticism of the president but shrugged off suggestions they should investigate whether his political concerns were influencing law enforcement.

 

"I doubt that would do much," said Mitt Romney, the only Republican senator to vote to remove Trump from office in the impeachment trial.

 

After the Justice Department decision, Trump on Wednesday praised Barr, his appointee to the law enforcement job, for "taking charge of a case that was totally out of control and perhaps should not have even been brought."

 

Speaking to reporters later at the White House, Trump thanked Justice Department officials for retracting the prison term recommendation. He declined to say whether he would pardon Stone. "They treated Roger Stone very badly," he said.

 

Lindsey Graham, the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he would not call Barr to testify about the revised sentencing decision.

 

Stone, a self-proclaimed "dirty trickster," was found guilty last year of lying to Congress, obstruction and witness tampering.

 

After Trump criticized prosecutors who recommended the seven-to-nine-year prison term, the Justice Department asked Judge Amy Berman Jackson to ignore that filing and impose whatever sentence she thought appropriate.

 

Justice Department officials and the White House said Trump did not influence that decision.

 

"While he has the right to have a conversation with the attorney general, he did not," White House spokesman Hogan Gidley told reporters.

 

TRUMP TARGETS JUDGE, PROSECUTORS

Trump targeted the judge and the outgoing prosecutors in other tweets, and retweeted a post that urged a full pardon for Stone as well as Michael Flynn, another former Trump adviser.

 

Stone is due to be sentenced on Feb. 20 after being found guilty in November on seven counts of lying to Congress, obstruction and witness tampering stemming from a government investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

 

Stone and his lawyers have not spoken with Trump about the latest developments in his case, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

 

The White House also on Tuesday dropped a top prosecutor who oversaw the Stone case, withdrawing the nomination for Jessie Liu to serve in the Treasury Department. Liu had been scheduled to appear publicly before the Senate on Thursday.

 

The White House declined to comment on Liu's nomination or to say whether Trump would pardon Stone or Flynn.

 

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer asked the Justice Department's internal watchdog to investigate, and Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democratic presidential candidate, said Barr should resign or face impeachment.

 

"Trump is going around getting even with people. Senate Republicans told us he was going to get better, and he didn't," Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown told reporters.

 

Several Republicans said Trump should not have shared his opinion about the Stone case.

 

"The president should not have gotten involved," said Republican Senator Susan Collins, who said last week that she thought Trump would moderate his behavior after impeachment.

 

Others said they saw nothing wrong.

 

"I’m not disturbed about it at all,” Republican Senator Tim Scott told reporters.

 

(Additional reporting by Mark Hosenball, Susan Cornwell, Alex Alper, Steve Holland and Tim Ahmann; Editing by Andy Sullivan, Alistair Bell and Howard Goller)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-02-13

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[Tug]

Imo it’s republicans frozen in terror over what they have enabled 

[Cryingdick]

1 hour ago, Tug said:

Imo it’s republicans frozen in terror over what they have enabled 

 

Yeah the last impeachment thing just went so well for the dems. 

[nev]

Just let the man do his job he was elected to do.

The Dems dont really understand the democratic proccess and will go to any lengths to try to dicredit Trump.

I will just add i am not American just an outsiders view.

[Jingthing]

3 minutes ago, nev said:

Just let the man do his job he was elected to do.

The Dems dont really understand the democratic proccess and will go to any lengths to try to dicredit Trump.

I will just add i am not American just an outsiders view.

No American president is elected to be an autocratic dictator. No American president is elected to be above all laws. No American president is elected to corrupt the justice system. He's a rogue and he's permanently damaging American democracy as well as the USA's role in the world. Decent Americans will never stand silent for that!

[Chomper Higgot]

1 hour ago, Cryingdick said:

 

Yeah the last impeachment thing just went so well for the dems. 

It tied the GOP Senate to the charges Trump was impeached for and his continuing post ‘equital’ crimes.

 

Edited February 13, 2020 by Chomper Higgot

[JHolmesJr]

When you compare Roger stone's transgressions to the whole bunch of crooked fbi

investigators lying 17 times regarding a FISA application, it really doesnt  pass

the smell test. Why should they get a pass and stone get steamrolled.

[Tug]

1 hour ago, Cryingdick said:

 

Yeah the last impeachment thing just went so well for the dems. 

Hey thanks.....for making my point!imo to celebrate this interference in the judicial sys is deeply saddening un American and dangerous to our democracy 

[Sujo]

1 hour ago, Cryingdick said:

 

Yeah the last impeachment thing just went so well for the dems. 

The last impeachment thing got him impeached.

[Sujo]

37 minutes ago, JHolmesJr said:

When you compare Roger stone's transgressions to the whole bunch of crooked fbi

investigators lying 17 times regarding a FISA application, it really doesnt  pass

the smell test. Why should they get a pass and stone get steamrolled.

But but but...Ask trump, he can tell the doj to act on it. Why doesnt he. So really you should be angry at him.

 

which has nothing to with stone. Lying, obstruction, witness tampering. A jury found him guilty of 7 counts, funny enough they heard actual evidence before deciding.

[JHolmesJr]

3 minutes ago, Sujo said:

The last impeachment thing got him impeached.

In a partisan fashion.

 

He also got forever acquitted...despite one bitter political rival/loser/complete mormon voting against him

[JHolmesJr]

Just now, Sujo said:

But but but...Ask trump, he can tell the doj to act on it. Why doesnt he. So really you should be angry at him.

 

which has nothing to with stone. Lying, obstruction, witness tampering. A jury found him guilty of 7 counts, funny enough they heard actual evidence before deciding.

 

the case is in good hands, your opinion is no longer needed.

[Sujo]

1 minute ago, JHolmesJr said:

In a partisan fashion.

 

He also got forever acquitted...despite one bitter political rival/loser/complete mormon voting against him

Which doesnt refute what i said. President impeached.

[Sujo]

1 minute ago, JHolmesJr said:

 

the case is in good hands, your opinion is no longer needed.

Yes its in the judges hands. Your opinion is not required.

 

the doj signed off on the sentence range. Next day they reverse. Now there is no sentence range. That is only a guide for the judge who does not have to sentence according to their guide.

 

trump can just pardon him, seems he doesnt have the balls to do that.

[JHolmesJr]

27 minutes ago, Sujo said:

Which doesnt refute what i said. President impeached.

 

Im sure it will cripple him in the next election ????

Impeach this (again):

 

Gallup: 60% of Americans say they are better off now than when Trump took office compared to just 36% who say they are not. That is higher than during the reelection campaigns of Obama, W, Clinton, or HW Bush. 60% of independents say they're better off than three years ago.

Edited February 13, 2020 by JHolmesJr

[Chomper Higgot]

54 minutes ago, JHolmesJr said:

When you compare Roger stone's transgressions to the whole bunch of crooked fbi

investigators lying 17 times regarding a FISA application, it really doesnt  pass

the smell test. Why should they get a pass and stone get steamrolled.

You’ve got a problem with your accusations, the DoJ’s investigation found the FBI to have acted legally within the law.

[Chomper Higgot]

15 minutes ago, JHolmesJr said:

 

the case is in good hands, your opinion is no longer needed.

You are in a run of ill informed arguments this morning.

 

You seem to have missed the fact that this is a discussion forum where we get to share our opinions.

[Chomper Higgot]

3 hours ago, Tug said:

Imo it’s republicans frozen in terror over what they have enabled 

That and the fear of their own part in his crimes being exposed.

[OneMoreFarang]

The part that troubles me is how the GOP politicians and voters are willing to ignore their own constitution, the laws, and even basic common sense to support that guy.

They can't be possibly so blind not to see what Trump is doing.

 

This is not about politics. If Americans want a far right leader they can and should elect him. And if they want to change their laws to give the president all the power and make him king then they should do that.

 

But in the moment the USA is still supported to be a democracy based on laws. And everybody has to follow those laws. And the laws are the same for everybody. Is that really so difficult to understand?

 

How would GOP politicians and supporters have reacted if any DEM president would have behaved like Trump? That's a no-brainer. And they would have been right. But with Trump? Everybody closes their eyes as much as they can. No, we don't want to see the truth. Somehow we think it will get better, somehow.

 

Here is a hint: It won't get better until someone stops that maniac. It will get worse. How long do you want to wait until you stop him? What does he have to do before you say enough is enough? Thinks about it. And then act. Now!

[Sujo]

53 minutes ago, JHolmesJr said:

 

Im sure it will cripple him in the next election ????

Impeach this (again):

 

Gallup: 60% of Americans say they are better off now than when Trump took office compared to just 36% who say they are not. That is higher than during the reelection campaigns of Obama, W, Clinton, or HW Bush. 60% of independents say they're better off than three years ago.

Which has nothing to do with what i said. He was impeached.

 

Since when do trump supporters rely on polls.

[JHolmesJr]

3 minutes ago, Sujo said:

Since when do trump supporters rely on polls.

 

I dont but I know your kind do....esp the biased ones....so hope you enjoyed this

one that will get trump re-elected by a landslide 

[OneMoreFarang]

8 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

I think he will commit something so grave that congress just can’t ignore.

What could that possibly be?

And congress is obviously not the problem here...

[Nyezhov]

I think my questions is whether the AUSAs handling the matter submitted their proposed Sentencing Guidelines calculations to their superiors in the DOJ prior to Court submission and release, which I know is perhaps a requirement in the DOJ US Attorneys Manual of Procedure (or used to be yuk yuk).

 

[rayluttman]

2 hours ago, Cryingdick said:

 

Yeah the last impeachment thing just went so well for the dems. 

If this is democracy in action we had better start kissing Putin's <deleted>, democracy is dead in the US.

 

[Eric Loh]

5 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

What could that possibly be?

And congress is obviously not the problem here...

Most likely military in nature without congress approval. 

[OneMoreFarang]

I think the worst thing about all this is not really Trump. There are idiots in every country.

But how it is possible that people still support that guy? And lots of those people want that he will be reelected to do more damage in the following 4 years.

 

What kind of people would want to have a leader like that?

 

And this is not about politics. The GOP could easily have a healthy and competent candidate for the presidential election this year. People could have the choice between presidential candidates from different parties who all follow the law and who don't behave like crazy. GOP politicians could change this, right now. If they don't do anything and let the orange one continue like this then Trump is not really to blame. The masses who support him are the problem.

[metisdead]

Off topic posts and the replies have been removed. 

[Chiphigh]

Meanwhile, anti trump govt officials get away with lying to congress and even get paid by the democratic party media to keep lying. 

 

No double standards here at all..... 

 

If you are triggered enough to think stone deserves more time than a rapist or a robber, you might be a leftist hack. 

[Chomper Higgot]

39 minutes ago, Nyezhov said:

I think my questions is whether the AUSAs handling the matter submitted their proposed Sentencing Guidelines calculations to their superiors in the DOJ prior to Court submission and release, which I know is perhaps a requirement in the DOJ US Attorneys Manual of Procedure (or used to be yuk yuk).

 

Right, so the US AG routinely reviews and approves prosecutor sentencing recommendations in individual cases?!

 

Of course he does not.

 

He responded to Trump’s tweet like the good lapdog he is.

[candide]

17 minutes ago, Chiphigh said:

Meanwhile, anti trump govt officials get away with lying to congress and even get paid by the democratic party media to keep lying. 

 

No double standards here at all..... 

 

If you are triggered enough to think stone deserves more time than a rapist or a robber, you might be a leftist hack. 

In case you were right, that's the job of the DOJ to indict them. Do you mean the DOJ under Trump has anti-Trump double standards? ????

Edited February 13, 2020 by candide