'Breathtaking act of corruption': Trump warned against pardoning longtime ally Stone

John T Bennett
Updated ·2 min read

Critics of Donald Trump applauded a three-year prison sentence for his longtime pal and political adviser Roger Stone, with a top House Democrat saying a pardon would be a "breathtaking act of corruption."

A federal judge sentenced the longtime GOP political operative to 40 months behind bars on Thursday for lying to Congress and obstructing Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III's Russia election meddling probe. During a lengthy statement she read before handing down the sentence, Judge Amy Berman Jackson said bluntly that Mr Stone was convicted of "covering up for the president."

He came under investigators' scrutiny for his contacts with Russians and alleged contacts with Wikileaks, which published reams of hacked emails from Democratic servers and personal email accounts with the goal of hurting Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign.

AP
AP

Mr Trump groused about the coming sentence as Ms Berman Jackson harshly criticised Mr Stone in a Washington courtroom. The president recently called the Justice Department's initial-then former-then final recommendation of a sentence between seven and nine years a "miscarriage of justice" while also floating the notion of a pardon.

As expected, the president's critics were quick to applaud the 40-month sentence.

"Roger Stone was found guilty of lying to Congress and threatening a witness. He did it to cover up for Trump. His sentence is justified," tweeted House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, Democrats' lead impeachment manager in the trial that led to Mr Trump's acquittal on two counts.

"It should go without saying," the California Democrat added, "but to pardon Stone when his crimes were committed to protect Trump would be a breathtaking act of corruption."

Mieke Eoyang, a former senior aide to the late Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts and Democrats' staff director on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, wondered on Twitter just why the president got involved.

"At the end of the day, Trump's interference with the sentencing, leading to the withdrawal/resignation of career prosecutors, and doubt casting on DOJ's independence, was totally unnecessary," she wrote. "A whole lot of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

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Trump friend and ally Roger Stone sentenced to 40 months in prison