40 months in prison for Roger Stone - Trump does not plan a pardon for the time being

Roger Stone, ex-adviser to Donald Trump, is sentenced to 40 months in prison. The US president does not rule out a later pardon.

• Former Trump advisor Roger Stone is sentenced to 40 months in prison
• President tweets about criminal case against Roger Stone , Justice Minister Barr criticizes Trump
• Trump described the procedure as "terrible and unfair"

Update, Friday, February 21, 2020, 7:15 a.m .: A few hours after the verdict against Roger Stone, Donald Trump also spoke up . He indicated that he did not want to pardon Stone at least for the time being. However, he expressly does not rule this out in the future. "I'm not going to do anything about the great powers of a President of the United States," Trump said on Thursday at an appearance in Las Vegas. He initially wanted to observe the further development in the case.

"This is the best because I would like to see Roger relieved," said Trump. Stone has a good chance of being cleared of the allegations if the case is renegotiated. Stone's trial was not fair. "What happened to him is incredible." At the same time, Trump emphasized that he would closely monitor the further procedure and "someday" make a decision.

President Stone defended again. "He is a smart guy. He's a little bit different, ”said Trump. "But he's a good person."

Former Trump advisor Roger Stone sentenced to 40 months in prison

Update, Thursday, February 20, 2020, 6.40 p.m .: Roger Stone, ex-adviser to US President Donald Trump , was found guilty in November of hindering parliamentary investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election campaign. Now the judge in the capital Washington has announced the sentence: Roger Stone has to go to prison for 40 months for false testimony and interference with witnesses. Donald Trump had recently made several public appearances for Stone and thus attracted harsh criticism.

"The truth still exists," judge Amy Berman Jackson said Thursday in her verdict. "Roger Stone's insistence that this is not the case, his thirst for argument and pride in his own lies are a threat to our most basic institutions, to the foundation of our democracy."

Trial against Roger Stone: Donald Trump in criticism

Update, Friday, February 14th, 2020, 5.20pm: Donald Trump reacted as usual to the criticism of his U.S. Attorney General William Barr - via Twitter . In a posting he posted on Friday morning (local time) on the short message service, he initially quoted Barr's statement: Trump had never asked him to intervene in an ongoing proceeding. But, Trump continues in his usual tone: That doesn't mean that as president, he doesn't have the right to do that. But it is true that he has not yet decided to do this.

He was indirectly referring to the Roger Stone case. The Democrats see Trump's actions in the Stone case as an alleged violation of the separation of powers between the government and the judiciary. The chairman of the House Secret Service Committee, Adam Schiff, said on Thursday (February 13, 2020) that if Trump did intervene to reverse the punishment, it would be a "blatant abuse of power".

What was unusual about Trump's counterattack, however, was that his replica was unusually bridled. Barr's accusation that the constant Twitter firework display made it impossible for him to do his job ignored Donald Trump.

Donald Trump: US President is unaffected by Twitter criticism

Update, Friday, February 14th, 2020, 10:40 am: Donald Trump is something of a Twitter president. For the 73-year-old, the short message service is an enormously important tool for making politics, setting topics, attacking his opponents - and expressing his opinion on various judicial processes. But now US Attorney General William Barr has asked the president to stop interfering in ongoing proceedings via Twitter.

The constant comments from the site made it "impossible to do my job," Barr told ABC News. However, the president never directly asked him to intervene in criminal proceedings, he said. He said he would not be intimidated - either by Congress, newspapers or the President - and would continue to work for the integrity of the judiciary, said Barr. It was time to stop tweeting about Justice Department criminal proceedings. Of course, he was aware that this statement might displease the president, he added.

Barr's comments received much attention in Washington. Public criticism from the cabinet has become extremely rare under Trump, especially since the head of state Deviator likes to show off with biting tweets.

Republican Senate Mighty Leader Mitch McConnell backed Barr. The president "should listen to his advice," he told Fox News . "If the Minister of Justice says it is hindering his work, then the President should perhaps listen to the Minister of Justice."

Barr's comments were apparently triggered by the case of long-time Trump confidant Roger Stone, who has been causing outrage for several days.

Update, Thursday, February 13, 2020, 9:50 am: By interfering in the criminal proceedings against his former advisor Roger Stone, US President Donald Trump has again accused himself of abuse of office. The opposition Democrats spoke of an attack on the independence of the judiciary by the Trump administration.

The Democrats see Trump's actions in the Stone case as an alleged violation of the separation of powers between the government and the judiciary. The chairman of the House Secret Service Committee, Adam Schiff, said that if Trump actually intervened to reverse the punishment, it would be a "blatant abuse of power". It would send the "unmistakable" message that the President would protect those who lie to Congress to cover up his "wrongdoing" - "and that his Justice Minister supports him in this endeavor," added Schiff.

Minister of Justice Bill Barr will also take a position on his office in the House of Representatives on March 31. The Democrats, who dominate the House of Representatives, accuse the minister of serving as the country's top criminal prosecutor to President Donald Trump, as he does again in dealing with the Roger Stone case.

Of course, all of this hardly affects Donald Trump. The US election 2020 is certainly more important to him. He is currently enjoying the pre-election campaign of the US Democrats, who are currently arguing over a candidate instead of building up an opponent against the US president. So Donald Trump doesn't have to worry *.

According to Trump's statement for confidant Stone: investigators withdraw

Update, Wednesday, February 12, 2020, 6:50 a.m .: US President Donald Trump caused outrage with a statement in favor of his ex-adviser Roger Stone, who was convicted in the Russia affair. The four prosecutors in charge of the case announced their withdrawal from the trial on Tuesday after Trump's statements. The opposition Democrats sharply criticized the fact that the Ministry of Justice now wants to mitigate the punitive claim against the 67-year-old.

Although the Department of Justice does not usually oppose prosecutors 'recommendations, the agency said a few hours later that the prosecutors' proposal was "excessive and unjustified". The ministry recommended the court a “significantly lower” sentence. The court originally wanted to set the sentence later this month.

First message from Tuesday, February 11, 2020, 9:30 a.m .: Washington - A long-time confidant of US President Donald Trump, Roger Stone, is to be given a long prison sentence for his role in the Russia affair. A Washington court wanted to sentence this month. The prosecutor advocated that Stone be sentenced to seven to nine years in prison.

Donald Trump: Roger Stone - false statements and hindrance to investigations

The 67-year-old political advisor was found guilty in November 2019. Donald Trump's longtime confidant is charged with, among other things, contacts with the Wikileaks disclosure platform , false statements, hindrance to investigations and influencing witnesses. Stone himself had rejected the allegations. US President Donald Trump * also comments on the impending sentence on Twitter. He describes the situation as "terrible and very unfair".

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! https://t.co/rHPfYX6Vbv

Special investigator Robert Mueller investigated whether there were collusions between the Trump camp and Russia during the 2016 presidential election. Roger Stone worked for Donald Trump in 2015 and was still in contact with him. He was arrested at his Florida home a year ago but released on bail of $ 250,000.

Donald Trump: longtime confidant Roger Stone is supposed to go to prison

The allegations against Stone were made in the wake of a hacker attack on Democrats' email accounts during the 2016 election campaign, for which US intelligence agencies blamed Russia. E-mails from the environment of the democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton had been stolen. Special investigator Mueller accused Stone of providing false information to the US Congress.

Marvin Ziegele with dpa

A photo of Donald Trump causes a lot of laughs on Twitter. The President of the USA rumbles on Twitter: "Fake News!"

Donald Trump is a disaster for the United States, but it's not the biggest problem. An analysis*.

* fr.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editors network.

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