>>> GOOD DAY, EVERYONE. WE ARE COMING ON THE AIR WITH
BREAKING NEWS.
BREAKING NEWS. ROGER STONE, THE LONGTIME FRIEND
AND POLITICAL OPERATIVE OF
DONALD TRUMP HAS JUST BEEN
SENTENCED IN FEDERAL COURT TO 40
MONTHS IN PRISON.
STONE WAS FOUND GUILTY LAST
NOVEMBER ON SEVEN FELONY COUNTS
INCLUDING LYING TO CONGRESS,
WITNESS TAMPERING AND
OBSTRUCTING INVESTIGATIONS BY
THE HOUSE AND THE FBI INTO
RUSSIA’S INTERFERENCE IN THE
2016 ELECTION.
2016 ELECTION. THE STONE CASE HAS COME UNDER
INTENSE SCRUTINY IN RECENT DAYS
AFTER PRESIDENT TRUMP VERY
PUBLICLY TOOK UP STONE’S CAUSE
AND ATTORNEY GENERAL WILLIAM
BARR OVERRULED THE SENTENCING
RECOMMENDATION OF THE JUSTICE
DEPARTMENT’S OWN PROSECUTORS
PROMPTING THEIR RESIGNATION FROM
THE CASE AND TRIGGERING A
FIRESTORM OF CONTROVERSY.
JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT PETE
WILLIAMS HAS BEEN FOLLOWING ALL
THIS VERY CLOSELY, WAS IN THE
WASHINGTON COURTROOM WHEN THE
SENTENCE WAS JUST READ MOMENTS
AGO.
AGO. PETE, GOOD MORNING.
>> Reporter: GOOD MORNING,
HARRY.
HARRY. ROGER STONE DID NOT ADDRESS THE
COURT TODAY.
COURT TODAY. HIS DEFENSE LAWYERS SAID THAT
THE JUDGE HAD TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT
HIS AGE AND HIS DETERIORATING
HEALTH AND THE FACT THAT -- THAT
HE WAS BASICALLY NOT -- NEVER
DID ANYTHING WRONG TO INTERFERE
IN THE ELECTION.
THEY RECOMMENDED NO PRISON TIME.
INTERESTINGLY ENOUGH, EVEN
THOUGH THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
LAST WEEK SENT A REVISED MEMO
DOWN HERE URGING A LOWER
SENTENCE, TODAY THE PROSECUTORS
IN THE COURTROOM SAID THE JUDGE
SHOULD STILL CONSIDER EVERYTHING
THAT WAS IN THAT EARLIER
RECOMMENDED SENTENCE.
RECOMMENDED SENTENCE. ALL OF THE OFFENSE LEVELS THAT
WERE INITIALLY LISTED AND THE
JUDGE TOOK ALL OF THAT INTO
ACCOUNT TODAY AND REALLY GAVE AN
EXTRAORDINARILY LONG TONGUE
LASHING TO ROGER STONE HERE FOR
AT LEAST THE LAST 30 OR 40
MINUTES.
MINUTES. SHE SAID THE IMPORTANT POINTS
ABOUT THIS CASE IS THAT HE WAS
NOT PERSECUTED BY ANY POLITICAL
ENEMIES, THAT IN FACT, IT WAS
THE REPUBLICAN-CONTROLLED HOUSE
INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE THAT
FIRST SUGGESTED THAT HIS
TESTIMONY SHOULD BE
INVESTIGATED, THAT HE INJECTED
HIMSELF SMACK INTO THE 2016
CAMPAIGN, SHE SAID, BY FALSELY
CLAIMING HE KNEW WHAT WIKILEAKS
WAS PLANNING TO DO WITH EMAILS
THAT WERE HACKED BY HILLARY
CLINTON AND THE DEMOCRATS.
SHE SAID HE MAY HAVE CULTIVATED
THE IMAGE OF A BARE-KNUCKLED,
DIRTY TRICKSTER POLITICAL
ADVOCATE, BUT SHE WASN’T PASSING
JUDGMENT TODAY ON ROGER STONE,
THE MAN, OR ANY OF THOSE PAST
EPISODES IN HIS LIFE, THAT IT
WAS SIMPLY HIS LYING TO
CONGRESS, FALSELY TELLING THEM
THAT HE WAS IN TOUCH WITH
WIKILEAKS, THAT HE HAD CONTACTS
THAT WERE IN TOUCH WITH
WIKILEAKS AND THAT IT WAS HIS
FLAGRANT DISRESPECT FOR
GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS THAT SHE
SAID HE LIED ABOUT A MATTER OF
GREAT NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL
SIGNIFICANCE.
SIGNIFICANCE. NOW, THE JUDGE, AMY BERMAN
JACKSON TODAY DID NOT MENTION
DONALD TRUMP BY NAME, HARRY, BUT
SHE DID SAY THAT THIS JUDGMENT,
IN A CRIMINAL CASE LIKE THIS,
SHOULD BE MADE BY SOMEBODY WHO
IS NEUTRAL, WHO IS DISINTERESTED
NOT SOMEONE WHO BENEFITED BY
ROGER STONE’S ACTIONS
POLITICALLY, AND SHE SAID THE
COMMENTS BY THAT PERSON, NOT
MENTIONING PRESIDENT TRUMP, WERE
ENTIRELY INAPPROPRIATE, BUT I
DON’T THINK ANYONE IN THE
COURTROOM THOUGHT SHE WAS
REFERRING TO ANYBODY, BUT DONALD
TRUMP.
TRUMP. SHE SAID HIS DEFENSE DURING THE
TRIAL WAS BASICALLY SO WHAT?
SO HE LIED TO CONGRESS, SO WHAT?
HE NEVER DID ANYTHING WRONG IN
THE FIRST PLACE AND SHE SAID
THAT HE DID GREAT DAMAGE TO
AMERICAN DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS
AND THAT’S WHY SHE HANDED DOWN
THE SENTENCE.
THE SENTENCE. NOW, ONE OTHER NOTE, UNDER THE
SENTENCING GUIDELINES SHE COULD
HAVE PASSED DOWN A SENTENCE OF
UP TO EIGHT YEARS, BUT TODAY IT