Trump triggers outrage with opinion for convicted ex-adviser

Updated February 12, 2020, 7:59 a.m.

Trump’s confidant Roger Stone faces imprisonment for his role in the Russia affair. The President doesn’t like that. Is the US government trying to influence the judiciary? Trump has now caused outrage with a statement. Four accusers resigned in protest.

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US President Donald Trump has caused outrage with a statement in favor of his ex-adviser Roger Stone, who was convicted in the Russian affair. The four prosecutors in charge of the case announced their withdrawal from the trial on Tuesday after Trump’s statements.

The opposition Democrats sharply criticized the fact that the Ministry of Justice now wants to mitigate the punitive claim against the 67-year-old.

Trump sharply criticizes prosecutors: “judicial error”

The public prosecutor’s office on Monday demanded seven to nine years in prison for Stone, who was found guilty of false testimony and interference with witnesses in November.

Trump shortly thereafter criticized this claim. “This is a terrible and very unfair situation,” wrote the president in the short message service Twitter. He could not allow such a “mistake in justice”.

A senior Justice Department official who did not want to be quoted by name then criticized the punishment as “extreme, exaggerated and disproportionate” a few hours after Trump’s tweet. In a document later submitted to the court, investigators proposed Stone’s sentence of only 37 to 46 months.

However, Trump denied having intervened directly with the Justice Department over Stone: he hadn’t spoken to the Ministry about the case, the president said on Tuesday. At the same time, however, he affirmed that he considered the first criminal complaint “ridiculous”.

The four prosecutors gave no reason for their move in their declaration of withdrawal.

Democrats see possible violation of separation of powers

The Democrats see Trump’s actions in the Stone case as an alleged violation of the separation of powers between the government and the judiciary.

The chairman of the House Secret Service Committee, Adam Schiff, said that if Trump did intervene to reverse the punishment, it would be a “blatant abuse of power”. It would send the message that the President was protecting those who lie to Congress to cover up his “wrongdoing”.

Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal called for an investigation into Trump’s actions. “Dictatorships, not democracies, give the president’s friends and lackeys a preferential legal treatment,” tweeted Blumenthal.

Stone is said to have acted as liaison officer for Wikileaks

Stone was found guilty by a jury in November for interfering with the U.S. Congress’s investigation into the alleged Russian intervention in favor of Trump in the 2016 election campaign.

On Monday, the prosecutor said the political advisor had to be punished for lying under oath and influencing witnesses.

Stone is suspected to have acted as the link between the Trump campaign and the Wikileaks disclosure platform. Wikileaks published tens of thousands of internal e-mails from the camp of Trump’s rival Hillary Clinton during the election campaign, some of which were explosive. According to US intelligence, the emails had been stolen by Russian hackers.

In his nearly two-year investigation, special investigator Robert Mueller found no sufficient evidence of illegal agreements between the Trump team and Moscow. However, Mueller expressly did not exonerate the President from the allegation of legal disability.

Stone had advised Trump for decades and also served him in the 2016 election campaign. He was temporarily arrested for the Russia affair a year ago, but was released on bail. His sentence is expected to be imposed next week. (Jwo / afp / dpa)
© dpa

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