The Justice Department’s sentencing instructions for Roger Stone “were based on political considerations,” according to a member of special counsel Robert Mueller’s team who led the successful prosecution of the longtime Trump associate.
Aaron Zelinsky, who was a special assistant U.S. attorney in Washington, withdrew from the case in February along with three other prosecutors following the Justice Department’s decision to walk back its sentencing recommendation of seven to nine years in prison. Zelinsky, who now works for the U.S. attorney’s office in Maryland, will testify before the Democratic-led House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.
“At the time of the events in question — February 2020, I was a career Assistant United States Attorney. I was not privy to discussions with political leadership at the Department of Justice. My understanding of what happened in United States v. Stone is based on two things,” Zelinsky’s prepared opening statement reads. “The first is what I saw with my own eyes: the unusual and unprecedented way that Roger Stone’s sentencing was handled by the Department of Justice. The second is what was told to me at the time by my supervisors in the U.S. Attorney’s Office: why the Department was treating Roger Stone differently from everyone else.”
Zelinsky will testify that he saw the Justice Department “exerting significant pressure on the line prosecutors in the case to obscure the correct Sentencing Guidelines calculation to which Roger Stone was subject — and to water down and in some cases outright distort the events that transpired in his trial and the criminal conduct that gave rise to his conviction.”
The DOJ official will also state that what he “repeatedly” heard was that Stone “was being treated differently from any other defendant because of his relationship to the President.” Zelinsky will say that the now-former acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Timothy Shea, was “receiving heavy pressure from the highest levels of the Department of Justice to cut Stone a break, and that the U.S. Attorney’s sentencing instructions to us were based on political considerations.”
Zelinsky will say he was told Shea was giving Stone “such unprecedentedly favorable treatment” because the U.S. attorney was “afraid of the President.” Zelinsky will say he and his fellow line attorneys “immediately and repeatedly raised concerns, in writing and orally, that such political favoritism was wrong and contrary to legal ethics and Department policy.”
DOJ spokesperson Kerri Kupec issued a long statement in response to Zelinsky’s prepared remarks:
“The Attorney General determined the high sentence proposed by the line prosecutors in the Roger Stone case was excessive and inconsistent with similar cases. In the interest of ensuring the imposition of a fair sentence, the Attorney General directed Tim Shea, who was then U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, to leave the sentencing to the discretion of the judge. The judge ultimately sentenced Mr. Stone to half the time that the line prosecutors had originally proposed. As he has previously stated, the Attorney General did not discuss the sentencing of Roger Stone with the President or anyone else at the White House and had made the decision to correct the filing before the President tweeted about the case. Notably, Mr. Zelinsky, a line prosecutor, did not have any discussion with the Attorney General, the U.S. Attorney, or any member of political leadership at the Department about the sentencing; instead, Mr. Zelinsky’s allegations concerning the U.S. Attorney’s motivation are based on his own interpretation of events and hearsay (at best), not first-hand knowledge. The Attorney General stated during his confirmation hearing that it is his job to ensure that the administration of justice and the enforcement of the law is above and away from politics. He has and will continue to approach all cases at the Department of Justice with that commitment to the rule of law and the fair and impartial administration of justice.”
Attorney General William Barr publicly griped about President Trump’s commentary on the case after the president congratulated his top law enforcement official for “taking charge” of a case the president described as being out of control.
“I have a problem with some of the tweets,” the attorney general said, noting that Trump’s posts about DOJ business made it “impossible” to do his job.
“The Stone case was prosecuted while I was attorney general — and I supported it,” Barr said. “I thought that was a righteous prosecution. And I was happy that he was convicted.”
“I think it’s time to stop the tweeting about Department of Justice criminal cases,” Barr said. “I’m not going to be bullied or influenced by anybody … whether it’s Congress, a newspaper editorial board, or the president.”
In February, after the Justice Department recommended a prison sentence of up to nine years for Stone, Trump tweeted that he “cannot allow this miscarriage of justice!” The Justice Department then reversed itself, and the four line prosecutors withdrew. The department said its decision to reverse course was made before Barr was aware of Trump’s position, and the president denied placing any pressure on the agency. The Justice Department walked back the “unduly high” sentence recommendation, suggesting three to four years instead but ultimately leaving it up to the judge.
Stone, a self-described “dirty trickster” and longtime confidant to Trump, was swept up in Mueller’s investigation and was arrested in January 2019. He was found guilty in November on five separate counts of lying to the House Intelligence Committee during its investigation into Russian interference about his alleged outreach to WikiLeaks, in addition to one count that he “corruptly influenced, obstructed, and impeded” the congressional investigation, and another for attempting to “corruptly persuade” the congressional testimony of radio show host Randy Credico.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson sentenced Stone in February to 40 months for obstruction of justice and 12 months for the other five counts, to be served concurrently. Stone is scheduled to report to prison by the end of June.
