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20 ¦ FEBRUARY 24, 2020 NEWS

¦ From ROGER on PAGE 19 said to DOJ attorney John Crabb
And she reached the same Jr., noting that Stone’s team also
conclusion on Stone’s post-in- added a lawyer last week.
dictment conduct, including Crabb apologized to the court
his repeated violation of court- Jackson made it clear for the confusion surrounding the
imposed orders on discussing throughout the sentencing sentencing recommendation, and
his case. Jackson said Stone had hearing that Stone alone defended the trial team that sub-
“engaged in threatening and in- is responsible for both his mitted the original filing, saying
timidating behavior toward the conduct and his prosecution, it was approved by newly tapped

court,” referencing an Instagram regardless of claims made acting U.S. Attorney Timothy
post he made featuring an image by him and others to the Shea for the District of Columbia.
of her with a crosshairs in the cor- When Jackson pressed for
contrary.
ner. more details on the miscommu-
Jackson said that Stone “knew nication, Crabb said he could not
exactly what he was doing” as he discuss the internal deliberations
violated the gag orders through of the DOJ.
social media posts, and that “Roger being Roger” But he offered a robust defense of the case and how
was not an acceptable excuse. it was handled by the Justice Department, saying the
Jackson in particular highlighted Stone’s use of “prosecution was and this prosecution is righteous.”
social media in the lead-up to his trial, saying that “The Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s
“by choosing Instagram and Twitter as his platform, Office is committed to enforcing the law without
he understood he was multiplying the number of fear or favor or political interference,” Crabb said.
people who would hear his message.” Crabb said that the DOJ believed “a substantial
“He willfully increased the risk that someone else period of incarceration” was warranted, and the
with even poorer judgment would act on his behalf,” department had “full confidence” in Jackson imple-
Jackson said. menting it.
The hearing was attended by several career DOJ Ginsberg, speaking on Stone’s behalf, cited his cli-
prosecutors, including Molly Gaston who worked ent’s age and status as a first-time offender as reasons
on the Andrew McCabe case; Gregg Maisel, the he should not face prison time.
head of the D.C. attorney’s office’s national security “The process, really to some extent, has already
division; and Alessio Evangelista, the principal as- been the punishment,” Ginsberg said.
sistant U.S. attorney for D.C. Many had hoped Jackson would use the sentenc-
The judge also used the hearing to have the new ing hearing to question the en masse resignation of
DOJ prosecutorial team explain why they’re now the original prosecutorial team on Stone’s case, after
representing the government after all four line pros- Main Justice intervened and said their initial sen-
ecutors pulled out from the case last week over Main tencing recommendation of seven to nine years in
Justice’s intervention in the sentencing recommen- prison was too tough.
dation. One of the assistant U.S. attorneys, Jonathan An amended sentencing recommendation, filed
Kravis, resigned from the DOJ entirely. by different DOJ prosecutors, asked that Stone be
A second recommendation was submitted last sentenced to an unspecified amount of prison time.
week after Main Justice said the initial sentencing Stone’s defense team, headed by Fort Lauderdale-
recommendation of seven to nine years in prison based lawyers Bruce Rogow and Robert Buschel,
was too tough. That change stoked public criticism asked for probation.
that political bias had seeped into the process. A Washington, D.C., jury in November found
“I fear that you know less about the case than just Stone guilty of seven charges of lying to the House
about everybody else in the courtroom,” Jackson Intelligence Committee, impeding the committee’s

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