President Donald Trump is expected to commute the sentence of Roger Stone, perhaps as early as Friday evening, July 10, according to Fox News.
As anticipated, Trump then commuted Stone’ sentence on Friday evening, calling it and “unjust sentence.” Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany released a statement saying the president granted the commutation due to the “egregious facts and circumstances surrounding his unfair prosecution, arrest, and trial.” The statement continued:
“Roger Stone is a victim of the Russia Hoax that the Left and its allies in the media perpetuated for years in an attempt to undermine the Trump Presidency. There was never any collusion between the Trump Campaign, or the Trump Administration, with Russia. Such collusion was never anything other than a fantasy of partisans unable to accept the result of the 2016 election. The collusion delusion spawned endless and farcical investigations, conducted at great taxpayer expense, looking for evidence that did not exist.”
That report comes just days before Stone is set to go to prison for more than three years. The Stone conviction has long been a thorn in Trump’s side because it derived from Robert Mueller’s investigation into the president, which Trump has decried as a witch hunt.
Fox News reported the news via anonymous sources.
Roger Stone, a former adviser to Trump and veteran political operative, was sentenced to 40 months in prison by Judge Amy Berman Jackson after being convicted on seven charges of obstruction, lying to Congress and witness tampering in 2019. The judge also gave him 24 months probation. The Justice Department had already courted controversy by moving to reduce prosecutors’ sentencing recommendation for Stone, leading some prosecutors to quit the team.
Here’s what you need to know:
Stone Told Fox News He Was ‘Praying’ Trump Would Intervene
Getty Roger Stone leaves court after being sentenced February 20, 2020 in Washington, DC.
In an interview with Fox News, Stone said he was “praying” Trump would intervene, adding of a pardon or commutation, “either one obviously would have an effect, in my opinion, of saving my life.” A commutation would mean that Stone’s conviction would stand but he wouldn’t have to serve the sentence, whereas a pardon wipes that clean.
NBC News analyst Howard Fineman tweeted, “Just had a long talk with #RogerStone. He says he doesn’t want a pardon (which implies guilt) but a commutation, and says he thinks #Trump will give it to him. ‘He knows I was under enormous pressure to turn on him. It would have eased my situation considerably. But I didn’t.'”
Just had a long talk with #RogerStone. He says he doesn’t want a pardon (which implies guilt) but a commutation, and says he thinks #Trump will give it to him. “He knows I was under enormous pressure to turn on him. It would have eased my situation considerably. But I didn’t.”
Stone told Fox News that he is worried about getting COVID-19 in prison, saying of a pardon or commutation, “I have deep concerns about going to a prison where there absolutely is COVID virus, and, therefore, either one would have an effect of saving my life.”
Trump has railed about the Mueller investigation in recent days, tweeting, “We have a totally corrupt previous Administration, including a President and Vice President who spied on my campaign, AND GOT CAUGHT…and nothing happens to them. This crime was taking place even before my election, everyone knows it, and yet all are frozen stiff with fear…POLITICAL WITCH HUNT!”
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