President Trump formally withdrew the nomination of Jessie Liu, the former U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., to serve as an undersecretary at the Treasury Department, the White House announced Wednesday.
The White House did not offer a reason and the move had been hinted at since Tuesday, when four prosecutors who worked on the criminal prosecution against former Trump associate Roger Stone resigned from the case — with one quitting the Justice Department altogether.
The resignations came after Attorney General William Barr and other top Justice Department officials intervened to reverse a stiff sentencing recommendation for Stone.
Prosecutors had sought between seven to nine years for Stone, but the Justice Department later said he should receive “far less.” That announcement came after President Trump tweeted he thought the initial recommendation was “unfair.”
Stone had been convicted in November of lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstruction for his efforts to thwart lawmakers’ probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
Ms. Liu had supervised the case against Stone, but left before the sentencing recommendation was made
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.