Roger Stone judge ignores Trump's taunts, leaves sentencing scheduled for Thursday

Roger Stone will be sentenced on Thursday and President Trump can do nothing about it.

That’s the message U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who’s overseeing the criminal case against Trump’s longtime adviser, sent Tuesday when she confirmed the date of Stone’s sentencing hearing. Despite receiving threats from Trump to delay the sentencing for a second time, that «would not be a prudent thing to do under all the circumstances,» Jackson said.

Uproar surrounding Stone’s upcoming sentencing arose last week when prosecutors in the case recommended a 7–9 year prison term for Stone’s crimes of lying to Congress and witness tampering. Trump tweeted to complain about the suggestion, and Attorney General William Barr intervened, with the DOJ eventually recommending a lighter sentence for Stone. Trump then repeatedly attacked Jackson’s handling of the case, including in Twitter threads Tuesday morning where he cited Fox & Friends to call for her to delay Stone’s sentencing.

…..existence of these tweets in which you were so harshly negative about the President & the people who support him. Don’t you think we wanted to know that before we put you on this jury.’ Pretty obvious he should (get a new trial). I think almost any judge in the Country…..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 18, 2020

Despite the presidential controversy, «I’m willing to make sure there are no consequences that flow from the announcement of the sentence at the sentencing hearing,» Jackson said in a Tuesday scheduling call.