Former advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump, Roger Stone, leaves the E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse after being found guilty of obstructing a congressional investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election on November 15, 2019 in Washington, DC.
Win McNamee | Getty Images
Federal prosecutors told a judge Monday that Roger Stone, an ally of President Donald Trump and longtime Republican political operative, deserves a criminal sentence in the range of 7-1/4 to 9 years in prison, according to a new court filing.
Stone, 67, was convicted in November of charges related to claims by special counsel Robert Mueller that he misled Congress about his contacts with the document disclosure group WikiLeaks during the 2016 presidential election, and to his efforts to get an associate, comedian Randy Credico, to back up his lies.
“Stone’s lies to Congress and his obstructive conduct are a direct and brazen attack on the rule of law,” prosecutors said in their sentencing memorandum.
Federal sentencing guidelines recommended a range of 87 to 108 months in prison for Stone, according to the filing in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
Prosecutors said that would be a fitting punishment.
Stone, who remains free on bond, is due to be sentenced Feb. 20 by Judge Amy Berman Jackson. His defense team’s own sentencing recommendation is due Monday.
Prosecutors noted in their filing that “the House Intelligence Committee investigation that Stone obstructed was examining allegations that ‘the Russian government, at the direction of President Vladimir Putin, sought to sow discord in American society and undermine our faith in the democratic process.’ “
In particular, that committee was eyeing claims that Russia was involved in the decision by WikiLeaks to publish documents related to the 2016 presidential electoin, which included emails stolen by Russian agents from the campaign chief for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and from the Democratic National Committee
“Stone knew the gravity of the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation when he obstructed it by giving false testimony and tampering with a witness,” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo.
“Indeed, Stone acknowledged as much in his opening statement before the Committee. Stone chose — consciously, repeatedly, and flagrantly – to obstruct and interfere with the search for the truth on an issue of vital importance to all Americans,” the memo said.
“This Court should impose a sentence that accurately reflects the value the judicial system places on the need to allow witnesses to testify truthfully without threat or interference, and the importance of testifying truthfully under oath.”
Stone’s sentence also needs to reflect the seriousness of his offense and the fact that he was fully aware of the crimes being committed, prosecutors argued.
“Stone’s criminal conduct was not an act of desperation,” the memo said. “Rather, his conduct was undertaken purposefully, by someone who knew exactly what he was doing.”
“Stone was not compelled to testify falsely before Congress,” prosecutors wrote. “He could have told the truth, or he could have declined the invitation to testify altogether.”
“Instead, Stone chose another option: he lied to Congress and then he tampered with a witness who could expose those lies,” the memo said. “Stone’sgoal, at the outset, was to obstruct the Committee’s search for the truth.
Last month, Credico said in a letter to the judge that Stone does not deserve to go to prison despite having engaged in “lowbrow character attacks,” spun “conspiracy tales” and threatened to steal the comedian’s dog.
“I am writing to respectfully yet fervently implore you not to sentence Roger Stone to prison,” wrote Credico in his letter to Jackson.
“It is not justice” to send Stone to prison, Credico wrote. “It is cruelty.”
Credico had testified how Stone tried to get him to back up Stone’s lies to Congress about his contacts with WikiLeaks.
Credico also detailed how Stone threatened to kill Credico’s beloved dog Bianca if the funnyman did not endorse Stone’s false claim to lawmakers that Credico was his source for information about emails that WikiLeak had, which were hacked by Russian agents from computers belonging to the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign chief.
“You are a rat. A stoolie. You backstab your friends,” Stone wrote Credico in April 2018.
“I am so ready. Let’s get it on. Prepare to die.”
In his letter to Jackson, Credico wrote, “Roger Stone certain rubs a lot of people the wrong way, particularly those on the receiving end of his wee hour lowbrow character attacks.”
“Stone enjoys playing adolescent mind games and pulling off juvenile stunts, gags and pranks. He shamelessly invents and promotes outlandish and invidious conspiracy tales.”
“But the bottom line is Mr. Stone, at his core, is an insecure person who craves and recklessly pursues attention,” Credico wrote. “Like Billy Wilder’s tragic fictional character Norma Desmond, Stone is always at the ready for that ‘close-up.’ “
“Prison is no remedy.”
Another witness at Stone’s trial was Rick Gates, a former top Trump campaign official Rick Gates who described being with Trump in July 2016 while the then-presidential candidate had a phone call with Stone.
Gates testified that right after completing the call, Trump indicated that “more information would be coming” from Wikileaks.
Trump had told Mueller in November 2018 that he had no recollection of speaking to Stone about WikiLeaks.
But Trump also said, “I was aware that WikiLeaks was the subject of media reporting and campaign-related discussion at the time.”
The president’s written responses to Mueller were requested by the special counsel in 2018 as part of his probe of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, and the question of whether Trump’s campaign had coordinated with Russians.
Gates himself was sentenced by Jackson in December to 45 days in jail and three years’ probation for conspiracy and making a false statement to federal investigators.
