Prosecutor who resigned over Stone sentencing memo joins DC attorney general’s office

A federal prosecutor who resigned in protest after the Trump administration intervened in Roger Stone’s criminal case has joined the D.C. attorney general’s office as a “special counsel for public corruption.”

Attorney General Karl Racine announced on Tuesday that he had hired Jonathan Kravis, who left the Department of Justice in February.

“Jonathan Kravis is one of our country’s most respected prosecutors,” Racine said in a statement. “He has earned his exceptional reputation for ethically and successfully prosecuting public corruption cases.”

Kravis, who had been working out of the D.C. U.S. attorney’s office, was one of the lead prosecutors on the team that secured Stone’s conviction in November for lying to Congress and witness tampering. As the case entered its sentencing phase, the Justice Department recommended a lower sentence than the seven to nine years in prison that Kravis and his team had requested.

The intervention coincided with President Trump publicly attacking the jury that convicted Stone and claiming that he had not received a fair trial.

The original prosecutors all withdrew from the case, with Kravis resigning from his job entirely. Stone, a longtime confidant and former adviser to Trump, was ultimately sentenced to a little more than three years in prison.

In his new role, Kravis, who has clerked for Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer and D.C. Circuit Court Judge Merrick Garland, will help lead and structure Racine’s new public corruption unit.