Tag

#WikiLeaks

2 incidents

Updated December 23, 2020 Rule of Law
Major Abuse of Power

Roger Stone: Convicted, Then Commuted, Then Pardoned — Witness Tampering and Obstruction Rewarded

Stone was convicted of lying to Congress about his contacts with WikiLeaks, which had published emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee and John Podesta by Russian intelligence. The jury found he had also tampered with a witness — elderly former radio host Randy Credico — to prevent him from contradicting Stone's false congressional testimony. Four prosecutors resigned from the case after political appointees overrode their sentencing recommendation. A fifth prosecutor withdrew entirely. Trump commuted Stone's sentence days before Stone was to report to prison; he issued a full pardon seven months later.

Sources
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StonepardonobstructionRussiafirst-term
Updated December 23, 2020 Rule of Law
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern

Roger Stone: Convicted of Seven Felonies, Sentence Commuted, Then Pardoned

Stone was charged with lying to the House Intelligence Committee about his contacts with WikiLeaks during the 2016 campaign, when he served as an intermediary between the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks regarding the release of hacked Democratic emails. He also threatened a witness — radio personality Randy Credico, whom he called a 'rat' and threatened to harm his therapy dog — to prevent him from contradicting Stone's testimony. The jury of twelve convicted Stone on every count after deliberating for two days. Four prosecutors resigned from the case after the Justice Department overrode their sentencing recommendation of 7 to 9 years with a more lenient one, following Trump's tweet calling the original recommendation 'very unfair.' The federal judge sentenced Stone to 40 months.

Sources
4
StoneMuellerfirst-termrule-of-lawWikiLeaks