What you need to know about the Stone case
Two lawmakers on either end of the political spectrum are among the first to weigh-in on the news that Roger Stone, a former political adviser, has had his prison sentence commuted by President Trump this evening.
Rep. Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California and the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, called Trump’s decision to commute Stone’s sentence “the most offensive to the rule of law and principles of justice.”
Schiff, who was a Democratic fixture during Trump’s impeachment proceedings, said Trump “has engaged in countless acts that are both self-serving and destructive to our democracy while in office, but commuting the sentence of Roger Stone, a crony who lied and obstructed our investigation to protect Trump himself,” according to a statement released Friday afternoon, shortly after the President’s decision.
“Stone repeatedly lied to the House Intelligence Committee under oath and threatened a witness, all to cover up an effort by President Trump and his campaign to secretly communicate with Wikileaks and exploit its release of Russian-hacked emails targeting his opponent. Stone knew that telling the truth about his interactions with senior campaign officials and Trump himself would expose the president’s eagerness to obtain foreign help. So he lied,” Schiff said.
Stone, 67, was supposed to report to a federal prison camp in Georgia on Tuesday. He had pleaded for help from the President in over the past few weeks, calling his surrender a death sentence because of coronavirus inside the federal prison system.
Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, a Republican who fought on behalf of Trump during his impeachment, supported the President’s decision.
“Like every president, President Trump has the constitutional right to commute sentences where he believes it serves the interests of fairness and justice,” he tweeted.
