Top Mueller prosecutor abruptly withdraws from Roger Stone case and another resigns from DOJ

The top prosecutors in the Roger Stone case have withdrawn from their roles after the Justice Department reversed course in seeking a lengthy prison sentence of the Republican operative. A brief court filing with the U.S. District Court for the District on Tuesday shows Aaron Zelinsky resigned "effective immediately" from his appointment as a special assistant U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C. working on the Stone case. Zelinsky is an assistant federal prosecutor from Maryland and was on loan in the District of Columbia with former special counsel Robert Mueller’s team investigating possible criminal conspiracy between the Trump 2016 campaign and Russia.

In another dramatic move, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Kravis, who was not part of Mueller's team, told the court in a subsequent filing that he has resigned as assistant U.S. attorney “and therefore no longer represents the government in this matter." Prosecutors on Monday filed a motion recommending that Stone, who was found guilty of witness tampering and lying to Congress, be sentenced to seven to nine years in prison. That recommendation was met with criticism from President Trump, who called the situation “horrible and very unfair” on Twitter early Tuesday morning.

Hours later, the Justice Department rebuked the career prosecutors behind the recommendation and signaled it would scale back the sentencing request. Timothy Shea, the interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia who took over as lead counsel from U.S. Attorney Jessie Liu a couple weeks ago, so far remains on the case, even after signing off on the tough sentencing recommendation for Stone on Monday. Liu was nominated by Trump to be the undersecretary for terrorism and financial crimes at the Treasury Department, where she will likely now face an unexpectedly newsworthy confirmation hearing this Thursday. She also led the the Justice Department’s prosecution of former national security adviser Mike Flynn until recently.

Stone, a 67-year-old former associate of Trump and self-styled “dirty trickster” was charged and convicted for his actions during and after the 2016 presidential election. Stone was found guilty of five separate counts of lying to the House Intelligence Committee and two charges of obstructing a congressional investigation and intimidating a witness. The trial focused on Stone's claims about his alleged communications with WikiLeaks.

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