Former President Donald Trump did not improperly pressure attorneys prosecuting his ally Roger Stone who was found to have illegally threatened a contact's pet dog, the Justice Department has determined.
The Justice Department Inspector General has released findings of its investigation into the then-president's influence on Stone's prosecutors as they considered their sentencing recommendation, Politico's Kyle Cheney was among the first to report Wednesday.
"The [Inspector General's office] did not find evidence that the actions and decisions of DOJ leadership or [U.S. Attorney's office in Washington D.C.] officials in the preparation and filing of the first and second sentencing memoranda in the Roger Stone case were affected by improper political considerations or influence," the report states.
The investigation centered on accusations that Trump interfered in Stone's sentencing in 2020, following his criminal conviction in 2019.
Stone was found guilty of obstruction and witness tampering during the U.S. Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, according to the report.
Specifically, the powerful Trump ally was found to have hidden documents, lied about their existence, then threatened a source to confirm his false testimony, according to the report.
“I'm going to take that dog away from you,” Stone told Randy Credico. "Prepare to die, c---sucker.”
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The guilty verdict triggered a weeks-long process for the U.S. Attorney's office in D.C. to determine a sentencing recommendation, with a period of up to nine years in prison first suggested, the report notes.
Trump found this determination unsatisfactory and said so publicly.
"Disgraceful!" Trump wrote on X, then called Twitter. "This is a horrible and very unfair situation. The real crimes were on the other side, as nothing happens to them. Cannot allow this miscarriage of justice!"
A second sentencing recommendation was later submitted and Stone was sentenced to four years and four months in prison, the report notes. Stone later received a full and unconditional presidential pardon from Trump.
Four years later, the Inspector General determined the sentencing recommendation change was not the result of pressure from Trump but shoddy work from interim U.S. Attorney Timothy Shea.
"We concluded that the sequence of events that resulted in the Department’s extraordinary step of filing a second sentencing memorandum was largely due to Shea’s ineffectual leadership," the report concludes. "We found no evidence that DOJ leadership, Shea, or DC USAO supervisors engaged in misconduct or violated Department policy in connection with the Stone sentencing."
