Former Donald Trump adviser Roger Stone has been sentenced to 40 months in prison over witness tampering and lying to congress.
It follows an extraordinary move by attorney general William Barr to back off his Justice Department’s original sentencing recommendation.
US District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson said Stone's crimes demanded a significant time behind bars, though she said the seven to nine years originally recommended by the Justice Department were excessive.
Stone's lawyers had asked for a sentence of probation, citing his age of 67 years, his health and his lack of criminal history.
He was convicted in November on all seven counts of an indictment that accused him of lying to Congress, tampering with a witness and obstructing the House investigation into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to tip the 2016 election.
The sentence came amid Mr Trump’s unrelenting defence of his longtime confidant that has led to a mini-revolt inside the Justice Department and allegations the president has interfered in the case.
Mr Trump took to Twitter to denounce as a “miscarriage of justice” the initial recommendation by Justice Department prosecutors that Stone receive at least seven years in prison.
Mr Barr then backed off that recommendation, prompting four prosecutors to quit Stone’s case.
Judge Jackson angrily denied that Stone was being punished for his politics or his allies.
“He was not prosecuted, as some have claimed, for standing up for the president. He was prosecuted for covering up for the president,” she said.
Today, Mr Trump said he would let the judicial process play out but warned: "at some point I'm going to make a determination".
On Twitter, Mr Trump reacted angrily to the sentencing and again questioned the fairness of prosecuting Stone and not others.
Stone was the sixth Trump aide or adviser to be convicted of charges brought as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
He was also handed a $20,000 fine and sentenced to four years of probation after serving out his sentence, as well as 250 hours of community service.
As she delivered her sentence, Judge Jackson said: "The truth still exists. The truth still matters.
"Roger Stone’s insistence that it doesn’t, his pride in his own lies are a threat to the very foundation of this democracy.”
