Trump hints at pardon for longtime adviser Roger Stone
President Trump on Friday hinted that he’s considering a presidential pardon for his longtime adviser Roger Stone, who is due to report to a federal prison on Tuesday to serve a 40-month sentence.
“I’ll be looking at it. I think Roger Stone was very unfairly treated, as were many people, and in the meantime Comey and all these guys are walking around, including Biden and Obama, because we caught them spying on my campaign. Who would have believed that one?” the president said as he departed DC for events in Florida, repeating his claim that the former administration was out to get him.
He was referring to former FBI Director James Comey, former Vice President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama.
Stone said a day earlier he was “praying” that Trump would grant him clemency or a pardon.
Stone told Fox News he had not had any formal contact with the White House on a potential presidential pardon or commutation of his sentence.
“I think I’ll be the last person to know. He hates leaks, and he hates to be told what to do. I have instructed my lawyers not to contact the lawyers at the White House,” he told Fox.
“The president, who I’ve known for 40 years, has an incredible sense of fairness. He is aware that the people trying to destroy Michael Flynn, now trying to destroy me, are the people trying to destroy him.”
When asked whether he hoped the president would offer him clemency, he said, “I’m praying he does” so that he could avoid prison.
Stone was sentenced in February by DC federal Judge Amy Berman Jackson to more than three years in prison after being convicted in November 2019 on seven counts of obstruction, witness tampering and making false statements to Congress.
He appealed his conviction and continued to deny that he had done anything wrong.
Stone, who fears he will die in prison, and his lawyers filed motions to delay his date to report to a federal prison until Sept. 30, and also filed a motion for home confinement.
Earlier this week, Twitter and Instagram suspended his accounts for a post in which he appeared to facetiously threaten Jackson.