Stone's Sentencing Will Proceed, but There's a Catch

Roger Stone will learn his fate as scheduled on Thursday. The federal judge in his case on Tuesday refused to delay sentencing on his conviction for lying to Congress and witness tampering, reports NBC News. However, Judge Amy Berman Jackson said the longtime Trump ally would not have to start serving time until she considers his request for a new trial and that matter is resolved, notes Politico. "I think that delaying the sentencing would not be a prudent thing to do under all the circumstances unless I'm required to do so,” said Jackson.

Stone's case has set off a political brouhaha in the Justice Department. After federal prosecutors recommended 7 to 9 years, Attorney General William Barr overruled them and recommended a lesser sentence. All the original prosecutors resigned from the case, and Barr has come under fire for what critics see as improper intervention. Trump, too, has weighed in with criticism of the judge. And on Tuesday, he tweeted a quote from Andrew Napolitano of Fox News who asserted that Stone deserves a new trial because the jury forewoman was biased. (An association of federal judges planned an emergency meeting to discuss the Barr controversy.)