We aren't a banana republic (yet). The special counsel's investigation doesn't exist in a vacuum . It operates within the rule of law, which includes the sentencing guidelines, the irregular application of which are interesting regarding where the investigation is headed. And *pinochle.
Yes it is rather odd. Reading between the lines, it may be that he has agreed to cooperate to do something in the future, despite his lack of cooperation to date. There’s definitely something going on because the government does not give out slaps on the wrist for lying to the FBI.
Who didn’t see that coming? The administration’s knee jerk reaction to blame Cuba made no sense because Cuba clearly had nothing to gain by the attacks.
Yes, when the gov't only asks for 6 months, you can get a sentence like that, but it's very rare for the gov't to recommend a sentence that low unless there's an expectation for cooperation later on down the line. Georgie is far from your typical defendant in federal court.
And the guidelines aren't mandatory. I had a bank fraud case where the judge made it clear he thought the case was bullshit. He wouldn't grant me a new trial after the jury convicted but at sentencing gave my guy probation when the guidelines called for 8 years or so after departures.
No, that's a huge downward departure from the sentencing guidelines that makes the sentence outside of guidelines bigly. The guidelines provide for 5 years for violating 18 USC 1001. Even after knocking off time for no criminal history and accepting responsibility, this is way outside the guidelines.
Too late to edit, but it sure is funny that before the cavalry was called in last week, Cruz wasn’t getting nearly this much traction on Twitter with his bullshit.