By Eamonn Burke
Last Friday, President Donald Trump shocked the political world by commuting the sentence of his long time friend and former consultant to the president Roger Stone.
Stone, convicted in 2019 of seven charges related to Roger Mueller’s investigation of the 2016 election, was scheduled to report to a Georgia prison today until Trump set him free. He was set to serve a 40 month term with two years probation and a $20,000 fine. Stone has requested to delay the start date earlier on Friday but was denied, a ruling which was overpowered by Trumps pardoning.
Prosecutors of Stone accused him of hiding evidence about tampering from Russia in the 2016 election and lying to Congress, but White House secretary Kayleigh McEnany insists that “Roger Stone is a victim of the Russia Hoax” and that “There was never any collusion between the Trump Campaign, or the Trump Administration, with Russia.” According to her, Trump reasons that Stone deserves fair treatment and a chance to clear his name.
This comes after months of pressure from Stone’s allies and even Stone himself to pardon his sentence. It also follows many tweets from Trump that hinted at this commutation, calling it a “Witch Hunt”. Many were outraged, however, inflicting many Democrats and some Republicans including Senator Mitt Romney, who reflected the feelings of many in a tweet:
“Unprecedented, historic corruption: an American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president.”
Meanwhile, Stone’s attorney tells Fox News that Stone is “honored” by this “act of mercy”.
