Aaron Zelinsky, a member of Robert Mueller’s special counsel team and a prosecutor in the Roger Stone case, made headlines when he testified before the House Judiciary Committee last June — breaking news headlines, in fact. He said that there was political pressure at the highest levels of the Department of Justice to treat Stone differently because he was a friend of the president.
Zelinsky specifically testified about certain conversations with his superiors, and he even identified those who were in the room for those discussions, about Stone and the pressure to grant him special treatment. The room included J.P. Cooney, chief of the DOJ’s Fraud and Public Corruption Division, and Alessio Evangelista, an assistant U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., Zelinsky said.
Zelensky did not tell the truth. According to the Washington Post, “Three career supervisors at the U.S. attorney’s office in D.C. have disputed the sworn congressional testimony given by a former prosecutor on Robert S. Mueller III’s team, telling Justice Department officials they believe he mischaracterized communications with them about undue political pressure in the criminal case against President Trump’s longtime friend Roger Stone, according to people familiar with the matter.”
As a prosecutor, Zelinsky is an officer of the court. The Cornell Law School defines an officer of the court as any person who has “an obligation to promote justice and uphold the law.” Zelinsky breached that standard if he misled Congress about his conversations with superiors, and now he should be held accountable.
State bar associations where Zelinsky is admitted should request a more formal inquiry into his misleading comments before the House Judiciary Committee under sworn testimony. Roger Stone, who was convicted for lying to Congress about matters that were immaterial to the Robert Mueller special counsel investigation, was sentenced to 40 months in prison. Zelinsky doesn’t tell the truth to Congress and has merely gotten a few headlines in the press.
The words, “equal justice under law” are inscribed above the front of the U.S. Supreme Court building. I implore Zelinsky’s colleagues at the bar associations and our justice system to apply that.
Mark Vargas is a tech entrepreneur, political strategist, criminal justice reform advocate, and contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential Blog. From 2007-10, he served as a civilian in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Follow Mark on Twitter: @MarkAVargas.
