Trump blasts sentencing recommendation for Roger Stone

"This is a horrible and very unfair situation," Trump tweeted around 2 a.m. He added, "Cannot allow this miscarriage of justice! "

He did not say whether that meant he would pardon Stone, something Trump had previously indicated he would not rule out.

Stone was found guilty in November of lying to Congress about his efforts to learn of hacked Democratic emails during the 2016 election and of threatening a witness in the case. He was convicted and indicted as part of former special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.

Returning from a campaign rally in New Hampshire and a trip to Delaware to honor two U.S. soldiers recently killed in Afghanistan, the president rattled off his tweets and retweets in support of Stone and criticizing Monday's sentencing recommendation.

"Disgraceful!" he tweeted.

Trump's backing of the Republican operative continued into the early-morning hours, interspersed with more articles and videos related to his acquittal in the Senate on impeachment charges last week.

"The real crimes were on the other side, as nothing happens to them," Trump wrote.

As The Washington Post reported late Monday, prosecutors in the case wrote in their 22-page filing that Stone's proposed recommended sentencing, ranging between 87 to 108 months, is "consistent with the applicable advisory Guidelines would accurately reflect the seriousness of his crimes and promote respect for the law."

Stone's attorneys are pushing for probation, and have pointed to his age, 67, and lack of criminal history as reason the longer sentence is excessive.

But in their filing, prosecutors wrote that a seven- to nine-year prison sentence for Stone "will send the message that tampering with a witness, obstructing justice, and lying in the context of a congressional investigation on matters of critical national importance are not crimes to be taken lightly." 

"Roger Stone obstructed Congress's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, lied under oath, and tampered with a witness," the prosecutors added. "And when his crimes were revealed by the indictment in this case, he displayed contempt for this Court and the rule of law." 

The early-morning tweets add more intrigue into whether Trump would eventually give a presidential pardon to Stone. As The Post noted Monday, prosecutors detailed how Stone appealed for a pardon through Alex Jones, the right-wing conspiracy theorist and founder of Infowars, during his trial.

In December, Trump indicated he would not rule out pardoning his confidant, describing the federal prosecutors involved in the case as "dirty cops" and "evil people." 

"I think it's very tough what they did to Roger Stone, compared to what they do to other people on their side," Trump said at the time.