DOJ asks judge to sentence Roger Stone to 7-9 years in prison

The Department of Justice (DOJ) recommended on Monday that former Trump aide Roger Stone serve a prison sentence of between 7 and 9 years for lying to Congress and witness tampering.

In a court filing to a federal district judge in Washington ahead of Stone’s Feb. 20 sentencing, the department said the longtime Trump associate should be punished in accordance with sentencing guidelines, which recommend between 87 and 108 months.

“Roger Stone obstructed Congress’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, lied under oath, and tampered with a witness,” the DOJ court filing reads. “And when his crimes were revealed by the indictment in this case, he displayed contempt for this Court and the rule of law.”

Stone will be sentenced by D.C. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson, an Obama appointee.

Stone, a 67-year-old right-wing provocateur, was convicted in November of seven counts of obstructing and lying to Congress and witness tampering related to his efforts to provide the Trump campaign inside information about WikiLeaks in 2016.

The verdict was a win for former special counsel Robert Mueller, whose legal team alleged that Stone had concealed from Congress his efforts to serve as go-between for the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks.

The Justice Department sentencing memorandum laid out five different categories of lies that Stone told the House Intelligence Committee to conceal his communications.

“Stone’s false statements about documents had a significant impact on the Committee’s investigation,” the department wrote in its memo.

Stone had faced a possible prison sentence of up to 20 years for the witness tampering charge alone.

During his trial, prosecutors showed that Stone, using threats and often vulgar language, repeatedly pressured Randy Credico, a comedian and radio host who had interviewed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, not to cooperate with congressional investigators who were looking into Trump campaign ties with Russia. 

Credico ultimately decided to assert his Fifth Amendment rights after the panel issued him a subpoena. He said on the stand that Stone’s influence played a role in that decision. 

In its sentencing memorandum, the Justice Department noted that Credico said after the trial that “he did not seriously believe that Stone intended to do him physical harm.”

President Trump in December said that he had not thought about whether he would pardon Stone. But the president criticized the prosecution, alleging that they treated his former adviser unfairly.

“I think it’s very tough, what they did to Roger Stone compared to what they do to other people on their side,” Trump said.

–Updated at 7:04 p.m.