Barely hours after all four federal prosecutors resigned from the Roger Stone case President Donald Trump has killed the nomination of the U.S. Attorney in charge of overseeing the prosecution of the president’s confidant, ally, and former campaign advisor, as Axios reports.
Trump had nominated Jessie Liu, the powerful U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, to become Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes at the Department of the Treasury.
Liu was slated to testify at her Senate confirmation hearing Thursday. In a curious occurrence Attorney General Bill Barr convinced Liu to leave office effective January 31. Barr then immediately replaced her with his hand-picked choice of Timothy Shea, a close adviser. Shea’s appointment, or at least his temporary appointment – he will need to be Senate confirmed – raised eyebrows because it skipped the candidate next in line.
The U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia leads “the largest U.S. attorney’s office in the country, overseeing a number of politically charged prosecutions that included the case against Trump associates Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort and other spinoffs from the Mueller investigation.”
Now Liu appears to be out of a job and the question is, “Why?”
Is this retaliation for the sentencing recommendation of 7 to 9 years in prison for Stone? Was the White House concerned Liun would be asked about the Stone sentencing reduction?
“This was ‘the president’s call,’ according to a former administration official familiar with the situation,” Axios reports. “The decision, which was made today, has administration officials questioning the circumstances that led to Trump changing his mind — with the developments in the Roger Stone case today being the only new information they are aware of.”