Latest in The Russia Connection
Federal prosecutors amended their prior sentencing memorandum which recommended that Roger Stone receive a sentence of seven to nine years in prison related to his actions related to the investigations into the 2016 presidential election. Stone was convicted on charges that included witness tampering and lying to Congress.
Federal prosecutors filed a sentencing memorandum recommending that Roger Stone—longtime Trump associate—deserves a sentence of seven to nine years for making false statements to Congress and witness tampering related to his efforts to obtain information from WikiLeaks about the hacked Democratic emails leading up to the 2016 presidential election. The filing notes that this recommendation is “consistent with the applicable advisory Guidelines.” Stone’s sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 20.
The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has released the third volume of its report on Russian election interference, examining the government response to Russian activities. The committee's full report can be found here and below.
In a Jan. 29 court filing, government prosecutors backed away from an earlier recommendation that former national security adviser Michael Flynn serve up to six months in prison. Instead, prosecutors agreed with the defendant that probation remained a “reasonable sentence” that they would “not oppose.”
Former national security adviser Michael Flynn filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Tuesday to withdraw his guilty plea of making false statements to the FBI regarding his contacts with Russia. The motion cites the government’s “bad faith, vindictiveness, and breach of the plea agreement” as reasons for withdrawing the plea and requests a delay of Flynn’s sentencing by 30 days, from Jan. 28 to Feb. 27. The motion is available here and below.
The FBI has filed a response to the order of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) requesting further information on FBI and Justice Department practices in filing FISA warrants before the court in the wake of the Justice Department inspector general's report identifying failures in the Carter Page FISA application. The document is available here.
On Dec. 18 at 10:00 a.m., the Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz will testify before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. Horowitz will be discussing the methodology, scope and findings of his report on four FISA applications and other aspects of the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane Investigation. A livestream of the hearing is available here courtesy of C-SPAN.
On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hear testimony from Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz about his recent report reviewing four FISA applications and other matters related to the FBI's investigation into whether members of the Trump Campaign coordinated with the Russian government to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. A livestream of that hearing is available through CBS News here and below.
Democrats should focus on the president’s effort to get White House counsel Don McGahn to falsify evidence.
Yes, the investigation had problems—some of them serious. But the problems were not political in character. There was no effort to “get” candidate Trump. There was no “insurance policy,” no coup, no treason.