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It is bad enough for Trump to misuse his clemency power to protect Stone--and himself. But this blast at Mueller and prosecutors--"These charges were the product of recklessness borne of frustration and malice"--is beyond even the Trumpian pale. (Or not.)
More WH: "the out-of-control Mueller prosecutors, desperate for splashy headlines to compensate for a failed investigation, set their sights on Mr. Stone." An insult to all career DOJ prosecutors.
"The Special Counsel’s Office resorted to process-based charges leveled at high-profile people in an attempt to manufacture the false impression of criminality lurking below the surface." Stone lied, he obstructed congress, he threatened a witness. Process crimes!
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson on Stone, at his sentencing: "He was not prosecuted, as some have complained, for standing up for the president. He was prosecuted for covering up for the president."
More Judge Jackson: The truth still exists. The truth still matters. Roger Stone's insistence that it doesn't, his belligerence, his pride in his own lies are a threat to our most fundamental institutions, to the very foundation of our democracy."
"And if it goes unpunished...Everyone loses because everyone depends on the representatives they elect to make the right decisions on a myriad of issues -- many of which are politically charged but many of which aren't -- based on the facts.
And also, Trump's OWN JUSTICE DEPARTMENT thought Stone should be sent to prison. From the revised sentencing memo: Stone “committed serious offenses and deserves a sentence of incarceration that is sufficient, but not greater than necessary."
Everything, everything about this is wrong and sickening. And unsurprising. But even this far into this administration, we have to summon the outrage.
