American President, Donald Trump, on Friday night commuted the prison sentence of his close associate, Roger Stone in a move that sparked outrage and anger from Democrats and widespread jubilation from the President’s fans.
Stone, convicted of crimes over the past two years, was found guilty in February of lying to Congress and engaging in witness tampering to protect President Trump.
Trump made this announcement four days before Stone was scheduled to commence a 40-month sentence in prison.
According to a White House statement explaining Trump’s decision, “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.
“Mr. Stone would be put at serious medical risk in prison. He has appealed his conviction and is seeking a new trial. He maintains his innocence and has stated that he expects to be fully exonerated by the justice system.”
The statement explained that since Trump is not granting full pardon to Stone, he can proceed with an appeal of his conviction that could allow him to clear his name.
“Mr. Stone, like every American, deserves a fair trial and every opportunity to vindicate himself before the courts. The president does not wish to interfere with his efforts to do so,” the statement said.
It would be recalled that Stone had earlier petitioned a court to postponed the start of his sentence over concerns about Coronavirus in the prison system, but was rebuffed.
The President said Stone would have been “at serious medical risk” in prison and said he had not wanted to “interfere” but “in light of the egregious facts and circumstances surrounding his unfair prosecution, arrest and trial”, he had commuted his sentence. “Roger Stone is now a free man!” he concluded.
