In February 2020, federal prosecutors asked a judge to sentence the longtime Trump ally to between seven and nine years in prison for obstruction, false statements, and witness tampering charges in the Mueller investigation. But after Trump tweeted angry complaints, prosecutors took the virtually unprecedented step of criticizing themselves and backtracking on what they had asked for: the earlier sentence recommendation was “excessive and unwarranted,” prosecutors said, and they would defer to the judge without making a recommendation.

The episode was seen as potentially one of the clearest instances of political interference and overreach by the Trump DOJ, with senior department leadership overruling the recommendation put forth by the line prosecutors who worked on the case. The main beneficiary of the change was Stone, a veteran Republican political operative who worked closely with Trump to help him win the 2016 presidential election.