dChan - Q Origins Project Archive

Jim Jordan asks former US attorney to counter Mueller prosecutor's 'double-hearsay statements'

The top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee is seeking a "firsthand recollection" from the former acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia about the sentencing of longtime Trump associate Roger Stone. Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio sent a four-page letter, obtained by the Washington Examiner, to Timothy Shea, who is now the acting administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration. The letter was sent following claims from Democrats and Aaron Zelinsky, a prosecutor in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation who is an assistant U.S. attorney in Maryland, that the decision-making process, in walking back the sentencing recommendation, was motivated by politics. “The Chairman’s personal animus seems to have clouded his view and prevents him from realizing the inherently unreliable nature of Mr. Zelinsky’s double-hearsay statements,” Jordan wrote on Monday. “Because Mr. Zelinsky’s remote appearance and the double-hearsay nature of his statements prevented a careful examination of the facts, we write to request your firsthand recollection of events surrounding Mr. Stone’s sentencing … because you were the senior official within the U.S. Attorney’s Office at the relevant time.” Jordan asked for Shea’s response by July 20.

Stone was swept up in Mueller’s investigation and was arrested in January 2019. He was found guilty in November on five separate counts of lying to the House Intelligence Committee during its investigation into Russian interference about his alleged outreach to WikiLeaks, in addition to one count that he “corruptly influenced, obstructed, and impeded” the congressional investigation and another of corruptly persuading the congressional testimony of radio show host Randy Credico. In February, after the Justice Department recommended a prison sentence of up to nine years for Stone, Trump tweeted that he “cannot allow this miscarriage of justice!” The DOJ then reversed itself, and the four line prosecutors, including Zelinsky, withdrew. The department said its decision to reverse course was made before Attorney General William Barr was aware of Trump’s position, and the president denied placing any pressure on the agency. The DOJ walked back the “unduly high” sentence recommendation, suggesting three to four years instead. “Mr. Zelinsky’s remote appearance before the Committee is just another part of Chairman Nadler’s oddly personal campaign against Attorney General William Barr,” Jordan wrote, adding, “Potential politicization occurs when a displaced prosecutor like Mr. Zelinsky brings unreliable and narrow allegations to a partisan Committee hearing called by House Democrats.”

During the June hearing, Chairman Jerry Nadler said: “Mr. Barr’s actions make clear that in his Department of Justice, the president’s allies get special treatment, and the president’s enemies — real and imagined — are targeted for extra scrutiny.” Barr has agreed to testify on July 28. Jordan said Nadler “ignores” a host of relevant issues when he makes his claims about politicization, including issues surrounding Mueller's investigation into Russian election interference. Zelinsky testified last month that what he “repeatedly” heard was that Stone “was being treated differently from any other defendant because of his relationship to the president.” Zelinsky said Shea was “receiving heavy pressure from the highest levels of the Department of Justice to cut Stone a break.” DOJ spokeswoman Kerri Kupec countered those claims. “The attorney general determined the high sentence proposed by the line prosecutors in the Roger Stone case was excessive and inconsistent with similar cases," she said.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/jim-jordan-asks-former-us-attorney-to-counter-mueller-prosecutors-double-hearsay-statements

https://www.scribd.com/document/468210710/Jordan-Letter-to-Shea-on-Zelinsky-Barr-Stone#fullscreen&from_embed