EDITORIAL: Justice Department prosecutors have managed to trigger ‘Stone-gate’

OPINION:

Hell hath no fury like a deep stater scorned. Anyone believing that losers in the campaign to take out President Trump would apologize or slink away is sadly deluded or comfortably stoned. Though the core of their strategy failed when the Senate acquitted the president of articles of impeachment, the president’s enemies battle on to wound him by grinding up his associates while protecting their own.

The targeting of long-time Trump friend Roger Stone has rejuvenated the flagging resistance. By recommending an excessive sentence of seven to nine years for his conviction of lying to Congress, obstruction and witness tampering, Justice Department prosecutors have managed to trigger “Stone-gate.” First, U.S. Attorney General William Barr stepped in to override their malicious move. Next, the predictably blunt president couldn’t resist weighing with his own tweeted opinion: “This is a horrible and very unfair situation. The real crimes were on the other side, as nothing happens to them. Cannot allow this miscarriage of justice!”

On cue, four prosecutors resigned from the case in protest, and Mr. Barr commented that the president’s tweets “make it impossible for me to do my job.” The clamor of claimed outrage peaked on Sunday when a statement surfaced, signed by more than 2,000 Justice Department “alumni,” condemning “President Trump’s and Attorney General Barr’s interference in the fair administration of justice.” The handiwork of never-Trump organization Protect Democracy, the statement calls on Mr. Barr to resign. Witnessing the fracas, the Federal Judges Association has jumped in, calling an emergency meeting to deal with concerns over the president’s needling of principals involved in high-profile cases.

In the meantime, the Stone saga has taken a new twist with the revelation that the forewoman of the jury that found the Trump associate guilty is a Democratic activist and vocal critic of the president. Shameka Hart labeled Mr. Trump with a “klanpresident” hashtag, according to The Hill, and boasted about opposing “Trump and the white supremacist racists.” Did she set aside her political bias to render an impartial verdict? Possibly, but her messaging suggests a mind stuck on political bigotry.

Presiding U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson is reportedly querying prosecutors and defense attorneys about the viability of the Stone conviction in light of the embarrassing disclosure. If she disregards her apparent failure to impanel an untainted jury and ultimately refuses to declare a mistrial, then, as Mr. Bumble declares in “Oliver Twist,” “The law is a idiot, a ass.”

If only the rolling of Roger Stone were a one-off. Former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn has been running the gauntlet of anti-Trump injustice for three years. The U.S. Army lieutenant general was accused of lying to FBI interrogators in the Russia collusion probe. With since-fired FBI Director James Comey boasting that Mr. Flynn was duped into unguarded admissions, evidence has emerged of a devious legal system intent on ruining a patriot.

With government-misconduct expert Sidney Powell now representing him, Mr. Flynn has withdrawn his plea and asked U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan to withhold sentence owing to the “government’s bad faith, vindictiveness and breach of the plea agreement.” Finally, Attorney General Barr has appointed Jeff Jensen, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, to review the department’s handling to the Flynn case. Justice delayed could mean justice preserved.

As department careerists attempt to cast Messrs. Stone and Flynn into prison, former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe has just been allowed to walk free from an inspector general finding that he lied repeatedly to investigators when he denied leaking unauthorized information to the media. Ditto Mr. Comey, who claimed, falsely, that he did not leak FBI documents to the press by using a friend as a conduit.

And then there are former CIA Director John Brennan and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, both accused of lying to Congress during televised testimony. Legal beagles hounding forlorn Trump associates have not dared to touch a hair on their balding heads.

The Justice Department is operating two systems. One is for the protected deep staters and their comrades, whose patriotism is given the benefit of the doubt. The other is for Donald Trump and his outsider allies. Given the relentless attacks on the president and persons who dare to support him, only the extremely nearsighted can’t see that Lady Justice has abandoned her blindfold.