The Department of Justice will decrease the sentencing recommendation federal prosecutors made for Roger Stone, it announced on Tuesday, a few hours after President Donald Trump criticized the recommendation in a tweet.
“The Department was shocked to see the sentencing recommendation in the filing in the Stone case last night,” an unnamed senior Justice official told Fox News. “The sentencing recommendation was not what had been briefed to the Department.”
Federal prosecutors recommended that Stone should be sentenced to between 87 and 108 months in prison following his conviction on seven counts, including obstruction, witness tampering and giving false statements to Congress.
“Roger Stone obstructed Congress’ investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, lied under oath, and tampered with a witness,” they wrote in their court filing, according to Talking Points Memo. “And when his crimes were revealed by the indictment in this case, he displayed contempt for this Court and the rule of law.”
The source added that “The Department finds seven to nine years extreme, excessive and grossly disproportionate to Mr. Stone’s offenses.”
Trump tweeted about the sentencing recommendation early Tuesday morning, saying, “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!”