Trump says he's 'looking at' Roger Stone pardon with prison deadline looming
President Donald Trump on Friday confirmed he is considering a pardon for Roger Stone just days before his longtime informal political adviser is scheduled to report to prison.
“I’ll be looking at it. I think Roger Stone was very unfairly treated, as were many people,” Trump told reporters outside the White House as he departed for Florida.
“And in the meantime, [former FBI Director James] Comey and all these guys are walking around, including Biden and Obama, because we caught them spying on my campaign,” he continued. “Who would have believed that one?”
The president’s latest remarks on Stone’s case come after he pledged last month that the provocative Republican consultant would serve no time behind bars, tweeting: “He can sleep well at night!”
Stone was convicted on all charges last November for impeding congressional and FBI investigations into connections between the Russian government and Trump’s 2016 campaign. Federal prosecutors argued in February he should be sent to prison for roughly seven to nine years.
But after Trump criticized the prosecutors’ sentencing recommendation in a tweet, the Justice Department submitted a revised filing that offered no specific term for Stone’s sentence but stated that the prosecutors’ initial proposal “could be considered excessive and unwarranted.”
The four government attorneys who had shepherded Stone’s prosecution then withdrew from the case in protest, and Trump congratulated Attorney General William Barr for “taking charge” of the matter.
A federal judge ultimately sentenced Stone to 40 months in prison, although Stone’s attorneys on Monday sought to delay his sentence by claiming he had an undisclosed medical condition that put him at greater risk of death if he catches the coronavirus in prison.
Stone’s allies in Congress and conservative media have pushed the president to issue him a pardon ahead of his commitment date Tuesday, but White House and campaign aides have urged Trump not to interfere.
Both camps agree, however, that Trump will likely commute Stone’s sentence, POLITICO reported Thursday, keeping Stone from serving prison time without wiping his record clean.
“I am always thinking. I am always thinking,” Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Thursday, when asked whether he was weighing a commutation or pardon for Stone. “So you’ll be watching, like everybody else in this case. You’ll be watching.”
In a separate interview Thursday with Boston-based conservative radio host Howie Carr, Trump responded to Stone’s recent statement on Fox News that he is “praying for” an act of clemency. “His prayer may be answered. Let’s find out what happens,” Trump said.
