Politics
- Trump banged the drum in support of his former associate Roger Stone after US prosecutors said they want to give him as much as nine years in jail.
- "This is a horrible and very unfair situation. The real crimes were on the other side, as nothing happens to them. Cannot allow this miscarriage of justice!" Trump tweeted Monday night, in one of many tweets that lasted into early Tuesday morning.
- Trump also retweeted four tweets condemning the news that Timothy Shea, US Attorney for the District of Columbia, said "87-108 months" is fair.
- Stone was found guilty of obstructing justice, making false statements to investigators, and tampering with witness testimony in relation to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's 2016 investigation into Russian interference.
- Stone has appealed to Trump for a pardon in the past. The president's evident dissatisfaction with his former associate's recommended sentence suggests this could become a reality.
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President Donald Trump is rallying behind his former associate Roger Stone after US prosecutors suggested he should got to jail for as much as nine years.
In November 2019, a jury found Stone guilty of obstructing justice, making false statements to investigators, and tampering with witness testimony in relation to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Stone is a longtime friend of Trump, for nearly 40 years, and briefly served as a communications strategist on Trump's presidential campaign from June to August 2015. Trump says he fired Stone, but Stone maintains he quit over Trump's feud with Fox News host Megyn Kelly.
"This is a horrible and very unfair situation. The real crimes were on the other side, as nothing happens to them. Cannot allow this miscarriage of justice!," Trump tweeted on Monday night.
It was one of many posts he tweeted or retweeted on Monday night into the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Timothy Shea, US Attorney for the District of Columbia, wrote in a sentencing memo released Monday that "Stone's lies to Congress and his obstructive conduct are a direct and brazen attack on the rule of law."
"The government submits that Stone's total offense level is 29 and his Criminal History Category is I, yielding a Guidelines Range of 87-108 months," he said.
Eighty-seven months amounts to seven years, and 108 months to nine years. Stone will be sentenced on February 20.
Trump also reshared at least four tweets condemning the announcement. On Tuesday morning he also retweeted a post by conservative pundit Saagar Enjeti - which called Stone's recommended sentence "an unhinged miscarriage of justice" - adding: "Disgraceful!"
Shea on Monday wrote that Stone "knew the gravity of the House Intelligence Committee's investigation when he obstructed it by giving false testimony and tampering with a witness."
Mueller had been probing whether Stone knew about the Russian hack of emails from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's campaign, and WikiLeaks' plans to release the emails. Stone was found guilty on all seven counts.
Trump has frequently placed his support firmly behind Stone.
In January, Trump said Stone's arrest was "very sad for the country," and, in November, tweeted his outrage when Stone was found guilty.
"So they now convict Roger Stone of lying and want to jail him for many years to come. Well, what about Crooked Hillary, Comey, Strzok, Page, McCabe, Brennan, Clapper, Shifty Schiff, Ohr & Nellie, Steele & all of the others, including even Mueller himself? Didn't they lie?" he said at the time.
The possibility that Trump could pardon Stone has been raised in light of the sentencing memo. Stone has reportedly asked the president to pardon him in the past.
While being tried in federal court last November, Stone purportedly launched a public appeal via far-right radio host Alex Jones, who read it out on his broadcast, Newsweek reported.
"And he said to me: 'Alex, barring a miracle, I appeal to God and I appeal to your listeners for prayer, and I appeal to the president to pardon me because to do so would be an action that would show these corrupt courts that they're not going to get away with persecuting people for their free speech or for the crime of getting the president elected,'" Jones said, according to Newsweek.
In December, Trump also didn't rule out a presidential pardon, saying he "hadn't thought about it," before launching an attack on the US prosecutors, calling them "dirty cops" and "evil people."
"I think it's very tough what they did to Roger Stone, compared to what they do to other people on their side," Trump said.
- Read more:
- Meet Roger Stone: One of Donald Trump's most loyal supporters, who was found guilty of obstructing the Russia investigation
- A new book claims that Melania Trump believes Roger Stone was behind the 2016 leaking of nude photos from her time as a model
- All the known contacts between the campaign and Russian government-linked people or entities, according to the Mueller report