 WASHINGTON -- The House Judiciary Committee heard testimony Wednesday from a federal prosecutor and another witness who have accused Attorney General William Barr and his top deputies of acting based on political considerations and a desire to appease President Donald Trump. Aaron Zelinsky, an assistant U.S. attorney in Maryland formerly detailed to special prosecutor Robert Muellers Russia investigation, told the panel that prosecutors involved in the criminal trial of Trumps friend Roger Stone experienced heavy pressure from the highest levels of the Department of Justice to give Stone a break by requesting a lighter sentence. Zelinsky testified about how he was pressured to offer a more lenient sentencing recommendation for Trump associate Roger Stone, and the reason was political. I was told that the acting U.S. attorney was giving Stone a break because he was afraid of the president of the United States, Zelinsky testified. Zelinsky testified that he and his fellow career prosecutors resisted efforts to reduce their sentencing recommendation and were told we could be fired if we didnt go along. He said he was not given a good legal reason for offering a lighter recommendation. What I heard repeatedly was that this leniency was happening because of Stones relationship to the president, that the acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia was receiving heavy pressure from the highest levels of the Department of Justice and that his instructions to us were based on political considerations, Zelinsky said. Zelinsky conceded he did not have firsthand knowledge of discussions among political leadership. He said he and his colleagues were initially allowed to file the recommendation they wanted, only to have the Justice Department later reverse course after Trump tweeted his anger over the... 