Lawmakers split on Stone’s clemency
WASHINGTON – After President Donald Trump commuted the sentence of his longtime confidant Roger Stone, Democrats accused Trump of abusing his power while some Republicans applauded the move.
Stone is a Republican operative convicted of lying to Congress to protect Trump’s 2016 campaign from a probe into Russian election interference. Former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation found Russia undertook a campaign to help Trump, but found no evidence Trump coordinated with the effort.
The commutation does not nullify the felony convictions but means Stone won’t go to prison.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., tweeted that “Stone lied and intimidated witnesses to hide Trump’s exploitation of the Russian hack of his opponent’s campaign.”
“With Trump there are now two systems of justice in America: One for Trump’s criminal friends and one for everyone else,” Schiff added.
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, called the commutation an “unprecedented, historic corruption.”
“An American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president,” Romney wrote in a tweet.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, tweeted that he supported Trump’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,” Jordan posted. “Each week, Americans learn more about how the Obama-Biden Administration weaponized the intelligence community and Justice Department to target the Trump campaign.”