WASHINGTON – Today, Restore Public Trust called for a congressional investigation and an investigation by the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General to find out if political interference played a role in the Department of Justice abruptly reducing sentencing guidelines for longtime Trump ally Roger Stone.

“President Trump’s interference into the Department of Justice for political reasons is a betrayal to our democracy,” said Lizzy Price, director of Restore Public Trust. “The American people deserve to know that their Justice Department is following the letter of the law for everyone — including those close to the president. Congress and the inspector general must begin investigating immediately.”

The group also sent a Freedom of Information Act request to the Department of Justice (DOJ) requesting all correspondence related to Roger Stone in the 48 hours between the DOJ’s initial sentencing recommendation and its reversal. See the request here.

Following the Justice Department’s recommendation of a seven-to-nine year prison sentence for Stone yesterday, President Trump expressed his disapproval early Tuesday morning in a tweet that called the recommendation a “miscarriage of justice.” 

Today, a senior DOJ official walked back the department’s initial recommendation in a statement, claiming it was “extreme and excessive and disproportionate to Stone’s offenses” and announcing the department’s intention to release a revised recommendation later today. The official claimed the decision to change the proposed sentence preceded Trump’s tweet.

###