You didn’t really think that the Democrats would stand down after failing to Impeach the President, did you? Two of their manufactured grandiose schemes have crashed and burned: Russia collusion and Ukraine quid pro quo. They have moved on to yet another false narrative that they hope will succeed under the rubric of a “cover-up,” retaliation, and political corruption of the DoJ. A set-up associated with the latter item is well underway.

Trump associate Roger Stone was convicted of three non-violent crimes: obstruction, making false statements, and witness tampering in a high-profile trial run by prosecutors from the Mueller team whose real target was, of course, President Trump. Those prosecutors vindictively sought a maximum sentencing of 7-9 years for those offenses, which recommendation was filed on Monday. In a dramatic reversal, the acting chief of the criminal division in the DC US Attorney’s Office issued a new memo recommending reduced sentencing more in line with DoJ guidelines.

BREAKING: DOJ has filed its updated sentencing memo on the Roger Stone case New attorney has appeared and is on the brief: John Crabb Crabb argues that the initial recommendation of 87-108 months was excessive, and defers to the court as to the proper sentence pic.twitter.com/2E98YfWvfB — Will Chamberlain 🇺🇸 (@willchamberlain) February 11, 2020

As a result, the four federal prosecutors who ran the Stone persecution/prosecution resigned in protest: Jonathan Kravis, Adam Jed, Michael Marando, and Aaron Zelinsky. All of them have deep Democrat ties and were part of the Mueller witch hunt. For example, Zelinsky was a former HuffPo columnist specifically brought on by Weissmann for the Stone prosecution/persecution. And the usual suspects are “outraged” at what they describe as political meddling at DoJ in response to a POTUS tweet about the harshness of the recommended sentence. Let’s look at some of their caterwauling.

First up is a tweet from Obama’s censured attorney general, Eric Holder, who came out in support of the “Stone Four”:

Jonathan Kravis, Aaron Zelinsky, Adam Jed and Michael Marando — Department of Justice heroes. I support them and all of the men and women of goodwill at DOJ. Be tough. Do not compromise your values; there can be no compromise with those who act corruptly. — Eric Holder (@EricHolder) February 12, 2020

Next, CNN hack Marshall Cohen’s praise for Zelinsky was slapped down by John Cardillo here:

He’s actually a far left former HuffPo columnist who was hand selected by Rosenstein and Weissmann to persecute Roger Stone with the most draconian tactics he could conjure up. He mission was to have Roger die in prison. This guy was an executioner. Now he’s unemployed. https://t.co/UkpyeMZUoE — John Cardillo (@johncardillo) February 11, 2020

The leftwing echo chamber continued propagating the set-up in this tweet cited by Chuck Ross that includes their virulently anti-Trump ally Matthew Miller (formerly Obama DoJ and now at MSNBC):

These two frauds think an example of "moral courage" is refusing to back down after recommending a 9-year prison term for non-violent crimes. pic.twitter.com/rPEE7TJRHO — Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) February 12, 2020

And, of course, the reliable swamp rat, Asha Rangappa (a Mueller protégé now spewing anti-Trump diatribes at CNN), expresses “sadness and grief” at the resignations of the Stone Four:

I have really tried to have, and encourage others to have, faith in the resiliency of our institutions. But today I just feel so much sadness — grief, really — over what is happening. There is a cancer in the White House, and it has spread to the Justice Department. — Asha Rangappa (@AshaRangappa_) February 11, 2020

Then for a bit of irony, McCabe’s leftwing attorney piles on (“they showed the way”):

Memo to all career DOJ employees This is not what you signed up for. The four prosecutors who bailed on the Stone case have shown the way. Report all instances of improper political influence and other misdeeds to the DOJ IG, who is required to protect your identity. — Michael R. Bromwich (@mrbromwich) February 12, 2020

And right on cue, elected Democrats like Eric Swalwell jumped on the “political corruption bandwagon.”

By recommending a reduction in Roger Stone’s sentence, President Trump is corrupting the Department of Justice to benefit himself and his friends. Prosecutorial independence is a pillar of a rule of law society. Congress must now do all it can to ensure that pillar still stands. — Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) February 11, 2020

And, of course, here’s all the proof we need that this is yet another coordinated hit-job with San Fran Nan weighing in:

By tweet @realDonaldTrump engaged in political interference in the sentencing of Roger Stone. It is outrageous that DOJ has deeply damaged the rule of law by withdrawing its recommendation. Stepping down of prosecutors should be commended & actions of DOJ should be investigated. — Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) February 12, 2020

The above are just a few of the bleats that magically materialized almost concurrently. This is a textbook case of how the Left operates: manufacture a crisis and use legacy media allies in the echo chamber to attempt to create something out of nothing while trying to insulate the perpetrators themselves from future liability and retaliation.

This is the newest front in the Democrats’ never-ending attempts to “get” the President. However, the official DoJ spokesman stated that decision to challenge the original sentencing recommendation was made almost immediately after it was filed and that no one in the White House was consulted:

DOJ official spox says decision to challenge sentencing recommendation was made soon after it was filed, wasnt in reaction of the POTUS tweet, and wasn’t discussed with anyone at the White House. P.S. Conspiracy theories are supposed to be bad https://t.co/Y74T06ZzDb — Undercover Huber (@JohnWHuber) February 11, 2020

And as this article from The Federalist reports, it is entirely possible that the Stone Four may have lied about their sentencing recommendation, too.

Sources told The Federalist that Timothy Shea, who was recently appointed to take over as the top federal prosecutor in D.C. earlier this month, was bullied into agreeing to the sentence recommendation by Adam Jed and Aaron Zelinsky, who were originally tapped by Mueller to investigate whether Donald Trump treasonously colluded with the Russian government to steal the 2016 election from Hillary Clinton.

Furthermore, let’s compare Stone’s 7 to 9-year recommended sentence to that dished out to swamp rat James Wolfe. Remember him? He was the Senate Intel Committee staffer who lied about his Russia collusion hoax-related leaks to the media and received a mere two months for his “non-violent crime.” All things considered, this seems like a political set-up to me.

Zelinsky and his allies above, as well as at Lawfare and elsewhere throughout leftwing jurisprudence and the legacy media, are involved in yet another manufacture nothing-burger: file an overly harsh sentencing recommendation, wait for the right moment (a combination of a POTUS tweet and the inevitable refiling of a proper sentencing recommendation consistent with DoJ guidelines), and then resign en masse to make it look like corruption. Furthermore, this gives the four a little insulation (in their minds) from exposure as the entire Mueller investigation is unraveled (the illegal FISA warrants will likely end up invalidating some of the cases brought by Mueller’s henchmen). The Stone Four are trying to discredit all future attempts to hold them accountable for their actions in weaponizing DoJ against President Trump and his associates during the Russia collusion hoax.

This set-up won’t end the way they think it will end, as the rotten Mueller onion is being unpeeled layer by layer, as reported here.

The end.

Stu Cvrk served 30 years in the US Navy in a variety of active and reserve capacities, with considerable operational experience in the Middle East and the Western Pacific. An oceanographer and systems analyst through education and experience, Stu is a graduate of the US Naval Academy where he received a classical liberal education which serves as the key foundation for his political commentary. He threads daily on Twitter on a wide range of political, military, foreign policy, government, economics, and world affairs topics. Read more by Stu Cvrk