It is a strong gesture for the independence of the judiciary. On Tuesday, three federal prosecutors who had asked for a heavy sentence against Roger Stone, a relative of Donald Trump, withdrew from the case after the intervention of the American president, who complained of the severity of the sentence initially required.
On Monday, in their sentencing recommendations to a federal judge, prosecutors asked for between 7 and 9 years in prison against this 67-year-old political consultant, loyal to the Republican president, convicted of lying to Congress in the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. But overnight, the latter reacted by denouncing in a tweet a "very unfair situation" and a "miscarriage of justice".
In the process, the Department of Justice published a notice denouncing an "excessive" indictment, stating in particular that the collusion between Roger Stone and WikiLeaks during the publication of emails from the Clinton campaign had not been proven.
Trump claims not to have intervened
In a motion sent to the judge on Tuesday, prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky, one of the members of the special prosecutor's team Robert Mueller, who investigated the Russian investigation, announced his withdrawal from the case, without specifying the reason. Right after, another prosecutor, Jonathan Kravis also informed the magistrate "that he no longer represented the government in this case" and a third followed.
The Justice Department said the decision was made before Donald Trump's tweet and without consulting the White House. On Tuesday, the American president assured that he had "not intervened" but considered the sentence requested "ridiculous".
The Democratic opposition reacted by denouncing a possible “abuse of power”. "If the information is correct, the Department of Justice and Minister Bill Barr are ready to override the advice of career prosecutors (…) after a midnight tweet from the president attacking the proposed sentence period," said in a press release Adam Schiff, the elected Democrat in charge of the prosecution during the trial for the removal of President Trump from the Senate.
Roger Stone is among the six members of the entourage, more or less close, of Donald Trump to have been charged or sentenced in the wake of the Russian investigation, which poisoned the first half of the mandate of the republican billionaire. He will know his sentence on February 20.
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