Aaron Zelinsky's opening statement to the House Judiciary Committee

[DonaldsRump]

for the hearing tomorrow:

https://judiciary.house.gov/uploadedfiles/zelinsky_opening_statement_hjc.pdf?utm_campaign=4024-519

[fleur-de-lisa]

1. Zelinsky: "I was explicitly told that the motivation for changing the sentencing memo was political"

Kyle Griffin ✔ @kylegriffin1 (MSNBC)

Career prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky will tell the House Judiciary Committee that Justice Department leadership intervened in the sentencing of Roger Stone for political purposes, according to his opening statement

Zelinsky: "I was explicitly told that the motivation for changing the sentencing memo was political, and because the U.S. Attorney was 'afraid of the President."

2:10 PM - Jun 23, 2020

Link to tweet

[soothsayer]

2. Looking good

[Mike 03]

3. From the preferatory remarks:

What I heard – repeatedly – was that Roger Stone was being treated
differently from any other defendant because of his relationship to the President.
I was told that the Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Timothy Shea,
was receiving heavy pressure from the highest levels of the Department of Justice
to cut Stone a break, and that the U.S. Attorney’s sentencing instructions to us were
based on political considerations. I was also told that the acting U.S. Attorney was
giving Stone such unprecedentedly favorable treatment because he was “afraid of
the President.”

That explanation was deeply unsettling. Together with my fellow line
Assistant United States Attorneys, I immediately and repeatedly raised concerns,
in writing and orally, that such political favoritism was wrong and contrary to legal
ethics and Department policy.

Our objections were not heeded.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

5. Love the "in writing". That will survive.

[Mike 03]

6. Ha! Indeed, it did survive.

[Mike 03]

4. Pp 9 - 10

When we pushed back against incorrectly calculating the Guidelines, office
leadership asked us instead to agree to recommend an open-ended downward
variance from the Guidelines –to say that whatever the Guidelines recommended,
Stone should get less. We repeatedly argued that failing to seek all relevant
enhancements, or recommending a below-Guidelines sentence without support
for doing so, would be inappropriate under DOJ policy and the practice of the D.C.
U.S. Attorney’s Office, and that given the nature of Stone’s criminal activity and his
wrongful conduct throughout the case, it was not warranted.

In response, we were told by a supervisor that the U.S. Attorney had political
reasons for his instructions, which our supervisor agreed was unethical and wrong.
However, we were instructed that we should go along with the U.S. Attorney’s
instructions, because this case was “not the hill worth dying on” and that we could
“lose our jobs” if we did not toe the line.

We responded that cutting a defendant a break because of his relationship
to the President undermined the fundamental principles of the Department of
Justice, and that we felt that was an important principle to defend.

[Nevilledog]

7. Well worth the read.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. Holy crap!

[Leghorn21]

9. Hot damn, and this is just Zelinsky!! - wonder what John W. Elias will have to say??!

John W. Elias



Aaron S.J. Zelinsky






BRING IT ON HOME, GENTLEMEN!!!

THANK YOU

[DonaldsRump]

12. Here's Elias' opening statement

Last edited Tue Jun 23, 2020, 05:19 PM - Edit history (1)

https://judiciary.house.gov/uploadedfiles/elias_written_testimony_hjc.pdf?utm_campaign=4024-519

[Mr. Ected]

10. When Trump is out of office and Congress attempts to get back into its groove

Can we please this time not avoid going after every single one of these haters of justice?

This time, it's not more important that we look forward and try to work together with the opposition. We gave them that and this is how they returned the favor.

This time, I don't care if there are 4 years of hearings, we need all of this subterfuge out in the open, and guilty parties held accountable. Otherwise, they'll do it again....and our justice system becomes a mockery.

[Volaris]

14. I agree, but we need to prepare ourselves for the banshee screams from the other side...

about how terrible we are to them. How unfair. How, in this unprecedented time in american history, everyday voters are ohhhhsoooooo tired of the partisanship and how both parties really just need to look toward the future, and get back to work solving americas problems.

We need to remember that what that ACTUALLY MEANS is this:

'Go ahead and forget all that bad and illegal shit we did to try to destroy the country for the sake of our rich corporate paymasters, and help us wreck social security and medicare so we can then get back to blaming YOU for our voters suffering, so we can get back into power and do this all over again.'

They WILL ATTEMPT THIS. We must be prepared.

This time, 'A line must be drawn. THIS far. NO FARTHER.'

[Mr. Ected]

15. We don't scream like banshees when we get caught with our hand in the cookie jar

Honestly, Democrats aren't perfect, but a Democratic transgressor, once discovered, normally yields to justice and accepts his or her punishment. In a way, we're self-policing because we behave like grown-ups.

Contrast with the tactics of Republicans as the malfeasor. They will say or do anything to avoid justice and to place a political spin on every piece of evidence or testimony. It's ratfuckery, that's all they have, but apparently that's all they need. It works.

It'll take the patience of Job and every ounce of courage and righteousness we can muster to follow through. After 4 years of this shit, I think they're more than ready to mute the banshee screams and drive the blade home.

[Volaris]

16. I think so as well. That having been said, our ONLY RESPONSE should be:

I'm not prepared to take republican advice on what's good for america for at least the next 25 years, and for everything else you can respond to the subpoena.

This needs to be an official answer from the Party Establishment, every time, for at least the next 4 years.

[EleanorR]

11. K and R!

Barr should resign. I know he won't as he's already demonstrated a total lack of integrity.

[Pachamama]

13. Oh my...