Donald Trump was accused on Tuesday of flouting the principle of the separation of powers, after an exceptional intervention by the United States Department of Justice to soften a prison sentence required against Roger Stone, one of the president's longtime friends. This interference in this file of the highest authorities of the ministry caused a wind of revolt in the four prosecutors who were investigating the case: all announced in a resounding way to withdraw.
Roger Stone was found guilty in November of lying to Congress as part of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 American election. His sentence is to be announced on February 20 by a federal judge, after advice from prosecutors. On Monday, in their sentencing recommendations, the latter suggested a sentence of 7 to 9 years in prison against Stone, a 67-year-old political consultant and loyal to the Republican president.
Read also: United States: Despite suspicions, charging Trump was impossible, says Mueller
But, on the night of Monday to Tuesday, Donald Trump reacted by denouncing in a tweet a "very unfair situation" and a "miscarriage of justice" .
Without a clear link between cause and effect, the four prosecutors who requested the initial sentences, Aaron Zelinsky, Jonathan Kravis, Adam Jed and Michael Marando, said Tuesday that they would withdraw from the Stone case in a motion sent to judge. They did not give an explanation for their decision, but one of them even resigned from his post.
Suspected of having pressured supposedly independent prosecutors, Donald Trump denied any intervention. "I did not speak to them," he reacted from the Oval Office, adding that he had "not been involved at all" . But the recommendations were "ridiculous" , "shameful" and "an insult to our country," he insisted. The Democratic opposition immediately denounced political interference in this judicial file and even spoke of a possible "abuse of power" .
Read also: Mueller report whitens Donald Trump
Confirmation of orders from above, the Minister of Justice asked on Tuesday afternoon for a "much lesser" sentence against Roger Stone, on the pretext that the initial recommendations "would not be suitable or would not serve the interests of justice " . In this document, "amended and additional recommendations from the government" , the department cites the example of a sentence between three and four years, "from 37 to 46 months" , a length according to him "more suited to sentences typically imposed in obstruction cases ” .
"The Department of Justice and Minister Bill Barr are ready to ignore the advice of career prosecutors (...) after a midnight tweet from the president attacking the proposed length of sentence , " Adam Schiff said in a statement. , the elected Democrat who led the prosecution team during the trial for the removal of President Trump from the Senate. The Department of Justice has claimed, however, that this decision was made before the tweet from Donald Trump.
The President has already been charged with obstructing justice in the Russian investigation, including dismissing FBI director James Comey, who was investigating foreign interference in the 2016 election, at the start of his term. And if after 22 months of investigation, Robert Mueller had declared to have found no evidence of a collusion between Moscow and the campaign team of Donald Trump in 2016, he had not however exonerated the billionaire republican of suspicions of obstruction of justice.
Read also: Russian case: Minister of Justice protects Trump
In this case, the president also sacked his then Minister of Justice, Jeff Sessions, accusing him of not protecting him enough. The appointment of the current minister, Bill Barr, was perceived at the time as the desire by Donald Trump to put someone who would be loyal to him at the head of justice.
Roger Stone is among the six members of the entourage, more or less close to the president, to have been charged or sentenced in the wake of the Russian investigation. "There have been so many things in recent years that have destroyed the concept of the independence of justice and the rule of law," former Barack Obama adviser David Axelrod said on Tuesday. "That said, this one is extraordinary" .