Senate Democrats plan to examine the Justice Department’s decision to reduce the recommended prison sentence for Roger Stone, a former associate of President Trump who was convicted of obstruction, witness tampering, and lying to Congress.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said Stone should serve all of the seven- to nine-year prison sentence originally recommended by prosecutors.
Justice Department sources tell news outlets that Justice Department officials will scale back the sentence, which they said was excessive.
Schumer said he disagreed with the move.
“Roger Stone should get the full amount of time prosecutors recommended,” Schumer told reporters Tuesday.
He said the Senate would investigate the reversal, which Justice Department officials said was unrelated to Trump’s tweet Monday night criticizing the sentence.
“We are going to do some oversight of that,” Schumer said.
Schumer said the Justice Department had been diverted “to Donald Trump’s personal desires and needs” and told “to prosecute his enemies and help his friends.”
Trump, on Monday night, called the sentence “a horrible and very unfair situation.”
Stone served briefly as an adviser to Trump’s 2016 campaign. He was convicted in connection with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.
