Trumping the law

Donald Trump insisted he didn't issue an order. But he was mighty pleased that his Justice Department chief anticipated his wants by easing up on his pal Roger Stone, the felon awaiting sentencing for lying to Congress, obstruction and witness tampering. "Congratulations to Attorney General Bill Barr for taking charge of a case that was totally out of control," the president tweeted Wednesday.

That Justice's abrupt rethinking of a sentencing recommendation of up to 9 years followed a prior Trump tweet — he called it "horrible and very unfair" — had Democrats outraged, federal law enforcement veterans fuming and some Republicans squirming — especially one who opined last week that the president had learned a lesson about inappropriate presidential conduct from his impeachment ordeal.

"My vote to acquit the President was not based on predicting his future behavior," Maine Sen. Susan Collins said Wednesday, but "the president should not have gotten involved." Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, also asked if Trump had learned a lesson, said, “There haven’t been any strong indicators this week that he has.” She added: "I don't like this chain of events … The president weighs in. All of a sudden, Justice comes back and says, 'Change the deal.' I think most people in America would look at that and say, ‘Hmm, that just doesn't look right.’ ”

Even some staunch Trump allies like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) faulted the president. "I don't think he should be commenting on cases in the system," Graham said. But he said he also believed Barr and Justice acted on their own, not in response to Trump's tweet. Sen. John Thune, the second-ranking member of the Senate GOP leadership, said, "My view is that these legal proceedings are best left to the system of justice in this country to be resolved."

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, calling for the Justice Department’s independent inspector general to probe the department’s action in the Stone case, said, “We are witnessing a crisis in the rule of law in America — unlike one we have ever seen before.”

In the face of criticism, stewing over prosecutions of his allies instead of his enemies, Trump escalated the issue. He attacked U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who will sentence Stone next week. “Is this the judge that put Paul Manafort in SOLITARY CONFINEMENT, something that not even mobster Al Capone had to endure? How did she treat Crooked Hillary Clinton? Just asking!” the president tweeted.

Speaking with reporters, Trump derided the four prosecutors who quit the Stone case after Barr overrode their sentencing recommendation. “They should go back to school,” the president said. When asked whether he was considering a pardon for Stone, Trump said, “I don’t want to say that yet.” But he offered that he has learned lessons from impeachment: "That the Democrats are crooked. They got a lot of crooked things going. That they're vicious."

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Janison: Stone hands

Trump showed anew how he can get Barr to dance to his tune, but Newsday's Dan Janison writes that it may not help Stone with the next decider of his fate: Judge Jackson.

On his fundraising website a year ago, Stone spread falsehoods about Jackson, even calling her part of a "deep state" conspiracy — and added a photo of her with a small symbol that looked like crosshairs. Unamused by Stone's extracurricular circus, she issued gag orders, lectured Stone and solicited an apology.

The original sentencing memo from the now-departed prosecutors said Stone "displayed contempt for this Court and the rule of law.” Will Jackson disregard this point just because the prosecutors' bosses at the Justice Department said "never mind?"

As much as Trump tries to bend the law to his liking, it often brings hapless results — as when he tried to get former FBI Director James Comey to kill the investigation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn or solicited aides to fabricate allegations against special counsel Robert Mueller.

Moderates' cluster aids Sanders' path

New Hampshire Democratic winner Bernie Sanders stands to benefit from the cluster of four viable moderate candidates — Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Joe Biden and Michael Bloomberg — competing in the coming primaries, including contests in March when more than 60% of pledged convention delegates will be chosen.

Axios writes that Sanders, dominating among progressive voters, has a chance to build an insurmountable delegate lead while the moderates devour one another. Though the candidates closer to the center did far better in New Hampshire than Sanders and Elizabeth Warren combined, the party's rules require a candidate to hit at least 15% in any state to qualify for a proportionate share of delegates. That could mean more for Sanders, who is unlikely to drop below that mark.

"If the more pragmatic candidates do not consolidate in the weeks ahead — especially those hanging by a thread in the single digits — Sanders has a very real chance of winning the nomination,” Ben LaBolt, Barack Obama's 2008 campaign adviser, told The Associated Press.

That prospect is alarming Democratic leaders who view Sanders and his stance for democratic socialism as wildly risky bets against Trump, The New York Times writes. But none of those remaining in the race looks prepared to stand down.

Blacks with Bloomberg's back

With Bloomberg's past support of police stop-and-frisk tactics still coming back to bite him, the former New York mayor has sought to inoculate himself against allegations of racial insensitivity or worse by lining up endorsements from prominent African American politicians.

Among the latest is 12-term Rep. Gregory Meeks, who represents a district covering parts of Queens and Nassau County, Newsday's Laura Figueroa Hernandez reports. Endorsements also came in Wednesday from two other Congressional Black Caucus members, Lucy McBath of Georgia and Stacey Plaskett of the Virgin Islands.

"As mayor, he made promises with concrete plans to see them through. As president, he will do the same,” Meeks said.

The Associated Press reports that appealing to black voters with a pitch of electability and competence is central to the billionaire moderate's strategy. He's racked up endorsements from present and former African American mayors, including Michael Nutter of Philadelphia, who said Bloomberg’s record of accomplishments outweighs the damage of flawed policing.

“Who can beat Donald Trump? That’s what people care about,” Nutter said.

Endorsements for sale

In South Carolina, where the next Democratic primary will be held Feb. 29, endorsements can be bought, and it's legal, even if some political figures in the state find it unseemly, The New York Times reported.

The payment became an issue last week when a Biden supporter intimated that a rival candidate, billionaire Tom Steyer, had traded cash for endorsements by making payments to state Rep. Jerry Govan, the head of the South Carolina Legislative Black Caucus.

Federal Election Commission records showed the Steyer campaign paid Govan more than $40,000 since September for “community building services” through an associated company.

But it's not just Steyer. One of seven black members of the State Legislature who endorsed Sanders last April owned a company that was already being paid by Sanders' campaign. Another soon would be added to the campaign's payroll as a vendor. By the end of 2019, they had received a combined total of almost $150,000 from Sanders' campaign.

Cuomo getting face time with Trump

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said he will meet with Trump Thursday to try to restore New Yorkers' eligibility in Trusted Traveler programs at airport security checkpoints, report Newsday's Michael Gormley and John Valenti.

Cuomo said he planned to offer a compromise in which the state would provide some of the driver's license records the federal government demands, but he doesn't expect Trump to accept it. Cuomo is resisting federal demands for access to a state Department of Motor Vehicles database that includes immigrants here illegally.

“I will never give access to the DMV database,” Cuomo said. “I think that’s what they really want … so ICE can have a feeding frenzy and attack undocumented people.”

So if discussions on that subject don't go anywhere, is there anything else they might talk about? Will Trump be too circumspect to beef at Cuomo about New York State investigations of him and his businesses? As the president often says, we'll see what happens.

What else is happening: