ATTORNEY GENERAL/JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/LEGAL/ROGER STONE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump’s post-impeachment acquittal behavior is casting a chill in Washington, with Attorney General William Barr emerging as a key ally in the president’s quest for vengeance against the law enforcement and national security establishment that initiated the Russia and Ukraine investigations. In perhaps the most tumultuous day yet for the Justice Department under Trump, four top prosecutors withdrew on Tuesday from a case involving the president’s longtime friend Roger Stone after senior department officials overrode their sentencing recommendation—a backpedaling that DOJ veterans and legal experts suspect was influenced by Trump’s own displeasure with the prosecutors’ judgment.”
–Natasha Bertrand and Daniel Lippman, “‘Really shocking’: Trump’s meddling in Stone case stuns Washington,” Politico, February 12, 2020 6:01 pm