He's Roger dodger By VINCENT BARONE and CARL CAMPANILE
Get outta jail free with Don commute
President Trump has commuted the sentence of Roger Stone, calling the longtime advisor a victim of the “Russian hoax” and saying he would have been put at serious medical risk in prison.
Trump on Friday signed an executive grant of clemency just days before Stone was due to report to prison Tuesday to serve a 40-month sentence after he was found guilty on seven counts of obstruction, witness tampering and lying to Congress.
Stone had appealed and maintains his innocence.
“Roger Stone has already suffered greatly,” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Friday night in a White House statement announcing the reprieve.
“I’m obviously very pleased,” Stone said shortly after Trump personally delivered the good news by phone.
“I told him I was grateful,” a relieved-sounding Stone told The Post by phone. “He protected my health.”
During their call, Trump, in turn, cited their long friendship and his belief that Stone is not a criminal.
“He said we’ve known each other for 40 years,” Stone said. “In his opinion, he did not believe I committed a crime.”
Stone, 67, said he can now appeal his case from the safety of his south Florida home, without the danger of catching the coronavirus while in prison.
“With the risk of catching COVID, I might not live long enough to see my opinion” in an appeal, he said.
Stone said he would spend Friday night celebrating with friends — all of them wearing “Free Roger Stone” face masks.
Then, “starting now, I’m working to help Major [General Michael] Flynn,” he said of his future efforts to lobby for former national security adviser and fellow Trump adviser, who is awaiting sentence for admittedly lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian officials.
Though issued in the name of his top press aide, the White House statement announcing the commutation — filled with the president’s characteristic attacks on the Mueller investigation and superlatives for Stone — was pure Trump.
“Roger Stone is a victim of the Russia Hoax that the Left and its allies in the media perpetuated for years in an attempt to undermine the Trump Presidency,” the statement said.
“He was treated very unfairly, as were many others in this case. Roger Stone is now a free man!”
The commutation immediately drew strong condemnation from presidential rival Joe Biden.
“President Trump has once again abused his power . . . as he lays waste to the norms and the values that make our country a shining beacon to the rest of the world,” Biden campaign spokesman Bill Russo said in a statement.