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Trump commutes sentence of confidant Roger Stone. He was set to go to prison July 14 for lying to Congress and witness tampering. Trump commutes sentence of confidant Roger Stone. He was set to go to prison July 14 for lying to Congress and witness tampering.
(32 minutes later)
BREAKING NEWS: President Trump has commuted the sentence of confidant Roger Stone. He was set to go to prison July 14 for lying to Congress and witness tampering. The president labeled the prosecution a “Witch Hunt” on Twitter and has amplified Stone’s claims of juror bias during his federal trial last year in Washington. President Trump has commuted the sentence of his former aide and longtime confidant Roger Stone, who was convicted at trial last year of obstructing a congressional investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election.
Stone is challenging his conviction before a federal appeals court. Stone, 67, was the last defendant charged in former special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. He was sentenced to three years and four months. In a statement released shortly before 8 p.m., White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said, “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.”
This is a developing story and will be updated. While the statement recited a litany of Trump supporters’ complaints about Stone’s “unfair prosecution, arrest, and trial,” the commutation leaves Stone’s conviction standing. Unlike a pardon, which would have absolved the GOP operative of any wrongdoing, the White House action only lifted Stone’s punishment, a 40-month prison sentence set to begin Tuesday.
President Trump told reporters Friday that he is “looking at” pardoning Roger Stone, as he continued to build suspense over whether he will intervene on behalf of his former aide and longtime confidant before he is scheduled to report to prison next week. In so doing, the White House cited Stone’s age, saying it would put him at medical risk in prison while he continues his appeals. The White House statement said Stone “maintains his innocence and has stated that he expects to be fully exonerated by the justice system.”
As the president left the White House en route to Florida for a series of events, he was asked about the prospect of issuing a pardon to Stone, who was convicted in a trial last year of lying to Congress and witness tampering. “Mr. Stone, like every American, deserves a fair trial and every opportunity to vindicate himself before the courts,” the White House statement said. “The President does not wish to interfere with his efforts to do so.”
“Well, I’ll be looking at it,” Trump said. “I think Roger Stone was very unfairly untreated, as were many people.” I was a juror in Roger Stone’s trial. I am proud of how we came to our decision.
Trump’s latest remarks followed comments in a pair of interviews Thursday that suggested that he is leaning in the direction of a pardon. Stone’s attorney Grant Smith said in a statement that Stone and his wife “appreciate all the consideration the President gave to this matter.”
Trump strongly hints at pardon of political adviser Roger Stone, saying he should ‘sleep well at night’ “Mr. Stone is incredibly honored that President Trump used his awesome and unique power under the Constitution of the United States for this act of mercy,” Smith said.
In a radio interview, host Howie Carr told Trump that Stone had recently said he is “praying” for a pardon. The president signaled his intentions on Twitter last month, saying Stone “was a victim of a corrupt and illegal Witch Hunt” and “can sleep well at night!” President Trump then told reporters Friday that he is “looking at” pardoning Stone, as he continued to build suspense over whether he will intervene before Stone is scheduled to report to prison next week.
“If you say he’s praying, his prayer may be answered,” Trump said. “Let’s see what happens.” Trump added that he considers Stone a “good person” and that he was “treated so badly” by prosecutors. “Well, I’ll be looking at it,” Trump said Friday, before traveling to south Florida for events including a fundraiser in Fort Lauderdale where Stone is living. “I think Roger Stone was very unfairly untreated, as were many people.”
In another interview Thursday on Fox News, Trump told host Sean Hannity that he’s “always thinking” when asked if he was thinking about a pardon or commutation. Stone, 67, was sentenced to three years and four months in prison after being convicted of seven felony counts including lying about his attempts to get details from Hillary Clinton’s private emails from the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, then threatening a witness who could contradict his story.
“You’ll be watching like everyone else in this case,” Trump added. He had been ordered to report to prison by July 14. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson had given Stone a two-week delay to quarantine before traveling from south Florida to the prison Jessup, Ga. But she denied the two month reprieve that Stone had requested with prosecutors’ assent.
Stone, 67, was sentenced to three years and four months in prison for making false statements about his attempts to get details from Hillary Clinton’s private emails from the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, then intimidating a friend who could contradict his story. An appeals court Friday evening also rejected Stone’s attorneys’ renewed request for a delay in his prison reporting date, ruling they had failed to show why the reporting date was inappropriate or that he was likely to win an appeal for a new trial or reduced sentence. Stone’s defense earlier Friday, echoing Trump’s attacks against Stone’s treatment by prosecutors, argued that 20 inmates at Jesup have tested positive for the virus in the past two weeks, up from zero, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.
He has been ordered to report to prison by Tuesday. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson had given Stone a two-week delay to quarantine before traveling from South Florida to the prison in Jessup, Ga. But she denied the two-month reprieve that Stone had requested with prosecutors’ assent. Stone has argued the judge and jury in his case were biased against him. Jackson rejected that claim in April, saying Stone’s argument that the forewoman’s anti-Trump political views rendered the verdict against him invalid “is not supported by any facts or data and it is contrary to controlling legal precedent.” Stone appealed her ruling to a higher court.
Prosecutors initially cited Justice Department policy to automatically grant extensions of up to 60 days during the pandemic to defendants permitted to voluntarily surrender when agreeing with Stone’s request to report Sept. 3. But once Jackson ruled, prosecutors agreed that Stone should report next week, saying the court’s independent decision was “a reasonable exercise” of discretion, particularly given Stone’s conviction for threatening a witness. The Trump administration’s intervention in Stone’s case has roiled the Justice Department and the federal judiciary. Trump has repeatedly attacked the prosecutors, judge and jury. Trump also sent tweets suggesting that “everyone” involved in prosecuting the case could be sued.
In an appeals court filing Friday, Stone’s attorneys blasted the Justice Department for opposing a stay. The filings echoed Trump’s attacks against Stone’s treatment and said that 20 inmates at Jesup have tested positive for the virus in the past two weeks, up from zero, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. Attorney General William P. Barr on Thursday defended Stone’s prosecution and prison sentence, telling ABC News in an interview, “I think the prosecution was righteous and I think the sentence the judge ultimately gave was fair.”
“It is unconscionable for the government to argue that this Court should ignore these new material facts and instead affirm the lower court’s decision based on very different material facts, when the difference literally is a life-threatening one for someone with Mr. Stone’s serious medical conditions,” wrote Stone attorneys David I. Schoen and Seth Ginsberg. All four of the prosecutors who handled the case withdrew after Barr publicly overruled their recommendation that Stone serve seven to nine years in prison. The suggestion of a more lenient sentence came after Trump complained about the initial recommendation, raising questions about White House interference in the independence of the Justice Department.
With the date for Stone to report looming, speculation has ratcheted up about a Trump pardon and the potential political impact for him of doing so ahead of the November election. More than 2,000 former Justice Department employees subsequently signed a public letter urging Barr to resign, and the head of the Federal Judges Association called an emergency meeting to discuss the situation.
Asked about Trump’s intentions earlier Friday, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said she would not get ahead of her boss. Barr went on to intervene in the case of another former administration staffer, moving in May to drop charges against Michael Flynn. Trump’s first national security adviser had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, but has now sought to reverse his conviction after claiming prosecutors mishandled his case.
“I’ll let the president make any announcements that he has on any type of pardon or commutation of sentence for anyone,” she said. “At the time, I thought that the handling of the Stone case, with senior officials intervening to recommend a lower sentence for a longtime ally of President Trump, was a disastrous mistake that the department would not make again,” Jonathan Kravis, one of the prosecutors wrote, having left the Justice Department over the Stone decision. “I was wrong.”
As for the politics of a pardon, Conway said, “I don’t know that most voters are paying attention to that particular issue.” A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit recently ruled that Judge Emmet G. Sullivan must accept the Department of Justice’s decision. Sullivan this week asked for a review of the 2-1 decision by a full panel of the appeals court.
Spencer S. Hsu contributed to this report. Stone’s conviction was the last obtained in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. At trial last September, prosecutors asserted Stone lied to Congress to protect Trump from embarrassment, making the president and his campaign a key component in their case.
In arguments and testimony, prosecutors revealed a series of phone calls at critical times in 2016 among Stone, Trump and some of the highest-ranking officials in the Trump campaign: Stephen K. Bannon, campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his deputy Rick Gates.
Gates and Bannon testified that the campaign viewed Stone as a sort-of conduit to WikiLeaks who claimed — even before the Russian hacking was known — to have insider information. Gates testified that he overheard a phone call in which Trump seemed to discuss WikiLeaks with Stone, calling into question the president’s assertion to Mueller’s office that he did not remember talking about the organization with his longtime friend.
Prosecutors buttressed the witness testimony with call and message records, which they said helped show that Stone’s claims to the House Intelligence Committee were false.
Stone’s defense team urged jurors to treat his case as a referendum not on him but on Mueller’s entire Russia investigation.
Stone’s attorneys urged jurors to reframe the question from whether Stone lied to whether that mattered, asserting that his hectic efforts to get information from WikiLeaks never amounted to anything.
“So much of this case deals with that question that you need to ask … so what?” defense attorney Bruce Rogow said.
“There was nothing illegal about the campaign being interested in information that WikiLeaks was going to be sending out,” Rogow said.
“If that’s the state of affairs that we’re in, I’m pretty shocked,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Marando told jurors in closing arguments, saying, “Truth matters. Truth still matters.”
In Mueller’s report, the special counsel included Trump’s interactions with Stone among examples of potential obstruction. The report noted during the investigation, Trump commended Stone for having the “guts” to say that he would not testify against the President, and called his friend “very brave.” Mueller said evidence supported the inference that Trump intended to signal that he would reward witnesses who could implicate him for their silence.
Toluse Olorunnipa, Manuel Roig-Franzia and John Wagner contributed to this report.