Donald Trump

Donald Trump is receiving swift backlash for claiming without evidence that “rogue prosecutors” were possibly responsible for handing his longtime associate Roger Stone a lengthy prison sentence, as Bernie Sanders' celebrates victory in New Hampshire.

The president's comments were described as a "vile smear job" by a key witness as former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said in a tweet: "Justice must be blind." Mr Trump's incendiary tweets came shortly after prosecutors said Stone should be sentenced to seven-to-nine years for lying to Congress during an investigation into Russian interference in the 2020 election.

Meanwhile, results from New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary continued to be dissected throughout the day, as Mr Sanders' strong showing appeared to place him on a clearer path to securing the Democratic nomination than ever before. Pete Buttiegieg and Amy Klobuchar, who trailed the Vermont senator respectively, have also since thanked supporters for their solid performances on Tuesday night.

The attorneys then resigned from the case after the Justice Department overruled them and said it would take the extraordinary step of lowering the amount of prison time it would seek for Stone.

The departures on Tuesday raised immediate questions over whether Mr Trump, who earlier in the day had blasted the original sentencing recommendation as “very horrible and unfair,” had at least indirectly exerted his will on a Justice Department that he often views as an arm of the White House.

All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Show all 6 1 /6 All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Alan Dershowitz Dershowitz is a controversial American lawyer best known for the high-profile clients he has successfully defended. Those clients have included OJ Simpson, Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein. One longtime Harvard Law associated told the New Yorker Dershowitz "revels in taking positions that ultimately are not just controversial but pretty close to indefensible." Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Ken Starr Starr became a household name in the 1990s as the independent counsel who led the investigation that led to Bill Clinton's impeachment. That investigation began as a look into a real estate scandal known as Whitewater, and eventually led to impeachment after Mr Clinton lied under oath about having an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. AP All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Jay Sekulow Sekulow is the president's longtime personal attorney, and, now, personal lawyer in the White House. He has been accused by former Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas of being "in the loop" during the Ukraine scandal. Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Pam Bondi Bondi is the former attorney general in Florida, and a longtime backer of the president's. She made a name for herself in Florida for taking hyper partisan stances on issues, and her penchant for publicity. She is likely to be a prominent public-facing figure during the trial. AFP/Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Pat Cipollone Cipollone is the White House counsel, and leading the president's defence team. Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Rudy Giuliani While not officially named as one of the president's impeachment lawyers, it is hard to ignore Giuliani's outsized role in this process. The former mayor of New York has been making headlines for months as he defends his client, and for his apparent role in the effort to compel Ukraine to launch the investigation into Joe Biden. We'll see how he figures in the actual trial, which he has said he would like to be a part of. Reuters

The department insisted the decision to undo the sentencing recommendation was made Monday night — before Mr Trump’s tweet — and prosecutors had not spoken to the White House about it.

Even so, the departures of the entire trial team broke open a simmering dispute over the punishment of a Trump ally whose case has long captured the Republican president’s attention.

The episode was the latest to entangle the Justice Department, meant to operate free from White House sway in criminal investigations and prosecutions, in presidential politics.

The four attorneys, including two who were early members of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia team, comprised the entire Justice Department trial team that won convictions against Stone last fall.