President Trump on Tuesday night blasted the federal judge set to sentence his longtime confidant Roger Stone before questioning whether there was “prosecutorial misconduct” in the case and appearing to hint that he will consider a pardon. In response to a tweet from a supporter calling for a “full pardon” for both Stone and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, Trump offered a short response: “prosecutorial misconduct?”
That comment came shortly after he sent out a tweet gloating that the Justice Department had intervened to push for a lighter sentencing recommendation for Stone, before going on to blast the judge presiding over the case, Judge Amy Berman Jackson. “Is this the Judge that put Paul Manafort in SOLITARY CONFINEMENT, something that not even mobster Al Capone had to endure?” Trump wrote. “How did she treat Crooked Hillary Clinton? Just asking!”
According to CNN, Jackson said Manafort was placed in “a room of his own” at a Virginia jail after his lawyers requested the move. He was later said to be placed in a “protective confinement” set-up with the comforts of a window, newspapers, a view of a TV, and a few hours of social time. In 2017, Jackson dismissed a lawsuit alleging that Hillary Clinton's lack of security around the use of her emails led to the deaths of two Americans at a diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya. Jackson is slated to preside over Stone’s sentencing on Feb. 20. While prosecutors initially recommended he get seven to nine years, the Justice Department on Tuesday announced that they would override that recommendation to seek a shorter sentence. The move sparked concerns of political interference, as the decision came shortly after Trump took to Twitter to denounce the original sentencing recommendation as a “horrible and very unfair situation.”
