Punishing the self-described “dirty trickster” with seven to nine years in prison was “extreme and excessive,” as well as wholly disproportionate to Stone’s actual crimes, an unnamed Justice Department official told the AP on Tuesday. Prosecutors will issue a revised sentencing recommendation later that day, he added.

As the report emerged, news broke that lead attorney for the government, Aaron Zelinsky, had withdrawn from the case. What’s more, a footnote on the filing revealed Zelinsky had not only resigned from the Stone case, but also entirely from his post as Special Assistant US Attorney for the District of Columbia. Another Justice Department source told Fox News that “the sentencing recommendation was not what had been briefed to the Department” – their claim suggesting the prosecutor might have misrepresented the sentence he planned to recommend.

Prosecutors had declared in a Monday filing that Stone “displayed contempt for this Court and the rule of law” when his ‘crimes’ – lying under oath, witness tampering, and obstructing Congress’ investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election – came to light. The Republican operative’s harsh sentence should serve as “general deterrence” for the “deadly adversary” represented by “foreign election interference,” the memo advised, insisting he serve as a reminder that “our democratic processes can function only if those called to testify tell the truth, and…serious consequences lie in store for those who do not.”

Stone’s defense argued that 15 to 21 months was more typical given the offenses, observing that the campaign adviser had played no role in obtaining the emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee or Hillary Clinton campaign manager John Podesta and provided to WikiLeaks, nor had the probe yielded evidence of the promised “collusion” between the Trump campaign and Russia. Stone himself filed a request with the court to avoid prison altogether, and even the witness he supposedly intimidated – comedian Randy Credico – asked that he only be sentenced to probation, admitting he did not actually feel physically threatened by Stone’s “threats.”

But it was Trump’s Twitter plea, calling out the “horrible and very unfair situation” in which his former campaign ally had found himself, that got Stone’s plight trending among the #MAGA contingent.