hint: we are not talking about the judicial branch - we are talking about the legislative branch and the fact that the AG "derives its authority" from the President - for whom it serves. No wonder Holder was claiming to be "Obama's wing man"
Even Barr had already agreed that the sentence in Stone's case "was extreme" in a meeting held the day before "a tweet was seen" by fake news outlets
Barr said this on video regarding the timeline - and of course -- I would hope no one is spying on the AG to surveil those meetings ... so we have his word at this point.
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from:
AG Barr says DOJ went behind his back on Stone sentencing – here’s his claim
Barr indicated he supported Stone’s conviction, but told prosecutors to “defer to the discretion of the judge” for sentencing. He said the prosecutors instead disobeyed that directive and filed a sentencing memo seeking the sentence of up to nine years.
“At the end of the day we deferred to [the judge], and that was what the approach was I thought we were going to take,” Barr said.
When news reports first appeared last week indicating prosecutors would seek a sentence of up to nine years, Barr said he thought it was just spin by the news media.
“When I first saw the news reports, I said ‘gee, the news is spinning this. This is not what we were going to do,'” Barr said. “I was very surprised.”
Barr said once he was able to confirm the media reports of a nine-year sentencing recommendation as accurate, he immediately told his staff to prepare to amend the sentencing request by the following morning.
The Attorney General said his efforts to correct the sentencing guidelines, which he felt were excessive for the Stone’s crimes, were complicated by a critical tweet from President Trump.
“This is a horrible and very unfair situation,” Trump said, before calling the sentencing a “miscarriage of justice.”
This is a horrible and very unfair situation. The real crimes were on the other side, as nothing happens to them. Cannot allow this miscarriage of justice!
Chuck Ross on Twitter
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
February 11, 2020
Barr said he was already working to revise the sentencing recommendation when he became aware of Trump’s tweet.
“I don’t look at tweets. I don’t read tweets, unless they are brought to my attention,” Barr said.
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from -
McCarthy: DOJ Made Decision to Override Roger Stone Sentencing Before Trump’s Tweet
"(CNSNews.com) - The Department of Justice had already made the decision to override the sentencing recommendation for Trump associate Roger Stone long before President Donald Trump tweeted about it"
Keven McCarthy: "“ the president’s not interfering, because if you listen to the Department of Justice, they made the decision before the tweet ever went out. Attorney General Barr is coming before the committee as well, but there’s no issue here,”
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from
Roger Stone & Trump -- Barr Denies President Told Him to Intervene | National Review
"Barr also confirmed that he had already made the decision to change the sentencing recommendation before Trump
tweeted early Tuesday morning that the lengthy prison recommendation was a miscarriage of justice "
