"I quit."
A few hours after the announcement that Trump ally Roger Stone would likely be sentenced to 7 to 9 years in prison on seven felony counts alleging interference with Congressional investigations, the president called it "ridiculous ... horrible ... very unfair" and that "the real crimes were on the other side."
Soon after that, the Department of Justice backed off the sentence recommendation and asked the judge to reconsider. Almost immediately, four prosecutors assigned to the case quit in protest.
Typically, defense attorneys ask for leniency if they believe the proposed sentence would be too harsh. Legal observers, however, called it extremely rare for top brass to overturn their own staff sentence recommendation.
Speculation immediately sprouted that the DOJ leadership was in league with the president in calling for a lighter sentence.
This adds four more names to the list of government staffers resigning rather than follow directions from the president which they believe are out of line with tradition and law.
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