Roger Stone, the longtime Trump ally whose case set off a tidal wave of allegations of political interference by the Trump Justice Department, was sentenced Thursday to three years and four months in prison.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the District of Columbia handed down sentences on other charges to be served at the same time as the 40-month term, as well as financial penalties.

Jackson made it clear throughout the sentencing hearing that Stone alone is responsible for both his conduct and his prosecution, regardless of claims made by him and others to the contrary.

"He has not been prosecuted by his adversaries or anyone else's adversaries," Jackson said. "He was not prosecuted by anyone to gain political advantage."

"It arose because Roger Stone characteristically injected himself right in the center of one of the most significant issues of the day," she said

Jackson further reiterated the argument made by prosecutors during the trial, that Stone lied to protect President Donald Trump.

"Stone knew that some would view it as incriminating for both him and the campaign if he asserted his right to not testify and said nothing," Jackson said. "So he lied instead."

And she said that while others have described Stone's conduct as sometimes being like that of an adolescent, it wasn't appropriate for his case.

"The problem is that nothing about this case was a joke. It wasn't funny, it wasn't a stunt," Jackson said.

"He showed flagrant disregard for the institutions of government established by the Constitution including Congress and this court," she continued. "And I would venture to say that many adolescents know the difference."

She ripped Stone's attorneys defending him in closing arguments by saying "so what?": "Of all the circumstances in this case, that may be the most pernicious."

"The truth still exists. The truth still matters," Jackson said.

Stone had a tight, half-smile as he exited the courtroom Thursday. When asked for comment, Stone said, "No, I have nothing to say."

The U.S. attorney's office in Washington also declined to comment.

Jackson granted several enhancements to Stone's sentence, siding with arguments made by DOJ prosecutors that Stone's conduct both in relation to his charges and after his indictment last year merited a substantial period of incarceration.

She homed in on Stone's prevention of other potential witnesses like Randy Credico and Jerome Corsi from testifying with the House Intelligence Committee's Russia investigation as meriting an enhancement to the sentencing guidelines.

She sparred with a new lawyer hired by Stone last week, Seth Ginsberg, on whether it mattered that special counsel Robert Mueller still spoke with those same witnesses as part of that investigation.

And she reached the same conclusion on Stone's post-indictment conduct, including his repeated violation of court-imposed orders on discussing his case. Jackson said Stone had "engaged in threatening and intimidating behavior toward the court," referencing an Instagram post he made featuring an image of her with a crosshairs in the corner.

Jackson said that Stone "knew exactly what he was doing" as he violated the gag orders through social media posts, and that "Roger being Roger" was not an acceptable excuse.

Jackson in particular highlighted Stone's use of social media in the lead-up to his trial, saying that "by choosing Instagram and Twitter as his platform, he understood he was multiplying the number of people who would hear his message."

"He willfully increased the risk that someone else with even poorer judgment would act on his behalf," Jackson said.

The hearing was attended by several career DOJ prosecutors, including Molly Gaston who worked on the Andrew McCabe case; Gregg Maisel, the head of the D.C. attorney's office's national security division; and Alessio Evangelista, the principal assistant U.S. attorney for D.C.

The judge also used the hearing to have the new DOJ prosecutorial team explain why they're now representing the government after all four line prosecutors pulled out from the case last week over Main Justice's intervention in the sentencing recommendation. One of the assistant U.S. attorneys, Jonathan Kravis, resigned from the DOJ entirely.

A second recommendation was submitted last week after Main Justice said the initial sentencing recommendation of seven to nine years in prison was too tough. That change stoked public criticism that political bias had seeped into the process.

"I fear that you know less about the case than just about everybody else in the courtroom," Jackson said to DOJ attorney John Crabb Jr., noting that Stone's team also added a lawyer last week.

Crabb apologized to the court for the confusion surrounding the sentencing recommendation, and defended the trial team that submitted the original filing, saying it was approved by newly tapped acting U.S. Attorney Timothy Shea for the District of Columbia.

When Jackson pressed for more details on the miscommunication, Crabb said he could not discuss the internal deliberations of the DOJ.

But he offered a robust defense of the case and how it was handled by the Justice Department, saying the "prosecution was and this prosecution is righteous."

"The Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney's Office is committed to enforcing the law without fear or favor or political interference," Crabb said.

Crabb said that the DOJ believed "a substantial period of incarceration" was warranted, and the department had "full confidence" in Jackson implementing it.

Ginsberg, speaking on Stone's behalf, cited his client's age and status as a first-time offender as reasons he should not face prison time.

"The process, really to some extent, has already been the punishment," Ginsberg said.

Many had hoped Jackson would use the sentencing hearing to question the en masse resignation of the original prosecutorial team on Stone's case, after Main Justice intervened and said their initial sentencing recommendation of seven to nine years in prison was too tough.

An amended sentencing recommendation, filed by different DOJ prosecutors, asked that Stone be sentenced to an unspecified amount of prison time. Stone's defense team, headed by Fort Lauderdale-based lawyers Bruce Rogow and Robert Buschel, asked for probation.

A Washington, D.C., jury in November found Stone guilty of seven charges of lying to the House Intelligence Committee, impeding the committee's Russia probe and witness tampering. Prosecutors said Stone lied about the identity of who he claimed was his intermediary to WikiLeaks, telling lawmakers it was his associate Credico when messages indicated it was a different associate, Corsi.

The prosecutors told the jury that Stone's actions were all done in an effort to protect Trump.

Trump has repeatedly attacked the original line prosecutors and Jackson ahead of the sentencing. Attorney General William Barr spoke out last week against the president's tweets, saying they were making it "impossible for me to do my job," a request that Trump has ignored.

The public announcement that the DOJ would change its sentence recommendation for Stone came hours after Trump first spoke out against the initial memo.

Barr has maintained the decision to recommend a different sentence was made before Trump's tweet, but his remarks did little to quell the accusations of political interference at the DOJ under Barr and Trump's leadership.

The National Association of Assistant U.S. Attorneys spoke out in defense of the original Stone prosecutors, saying sentence recommendations like the one they filed "are, and should be, made impartially and without the political influence of elected officials."

U.S. District Chief Judge Beryl Howell of the District of Columbia issued a rare statement in support of Jackson, saying that "public criticism or pressure is not a factor." The Federal Judges Association was also set to hold an "emergency meeting" Wednesday over DOJ involvement in politically sensitive cases, but it was postponed.

Stone faced an uphill legal battle since his indictment by Mueller last year. Jackson has repeatedly ruled against Stone and his lawyers during pretrial proceedings, but did grant him a few victories, like allowing him to view redacted portions of the Mueller report that pertained to his case.

Stone also repeatedly violated a gag order that Jackson placed on his case. He posted an image of Jackson on Instagram last year that depicted a crosshair, causing her to block him from discussing his case entirely.

But after prosecutors noted that Stone had made Instagram posts about court filings in his case, Jackson further blocked him from using Instagram, Facebook and Twitter entirely.

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