Donald Trump had never hidden his desire to save the prison from his friend Roger Stone: the latter, sentenced in February to forty months behind bars as part of the investigation into Russian interference during the 2016 presidential campaign , saw his sentence commuted by the American president.
"President Donald J. Trump today ordered executive leniency to commute the unjust sentence of Roger Stone"said the White House on Friday (July 10th) in a statement, adding that this longtime friend of the president, a "Victim of the Russian hoax perpetuated by the left and its allies in the media", was now " a free man ".
Roger Stone's prison sentence, which was convicted in November of congressional lies and witness bribery, was scheduled to start next week. Through his lawyer, who passed on his statement to the media, he said to himself "Incredibly honored" of this "Act of leniency" presidential.
"A regular at pokes"
A " abuse of power " for Democratic parliamentarians Jerry Nadler and Carolyn Maloney. "No other president has used his leniency for such a clearly personal and self-serving reason", reacted the presidents of the judicial and supervisory commissions of the House of Representatives.
As soon as Mr. Stone was convicted, Donald Trump had explained that he wanted to pardon his 67-year-old former collaborator, a sulphurous political adviser known for his colorful style and his Richard Nixon tattoo on his back.
Roger Stone, who describes himself as "A regular at pokes", was convicted of lying to Congress about his contacts with the WikiLeaks organization about hacked Democratic emails during the 2016 campaign. Prosecutors had demonstrated that he lied and intimidated witnesses to protect Donald Trump from embarrassment.
The New York billionaire had intervened in particular during the legal proceedings by criticizing, in tweets, the initial recommendations of the prosecutors responsible for investigating this case.
Pressure on prosecutors
Accused of flouting the principle of the separation of powers and of putting pressure on these prosecutors, he had explained that his actions had nothing reprehensible, denouncing a "Very unfair situation" and an " miscarriage of justice ".
The prosecutors in charge had recused themselves and the sentence recommendation from the Ministry of Justice had gone from between seven and nine years to a sentence between three and four years, finally followed by the federal judge, who had therefore sentenced Mr. Stone to forty months in prison.
Donald Trump had praised his Minister of Justice, William Barr, for his speech, congratulating him "To have taken over a matter that was completely out of control". But the latter, embarrassed because supposedly guaranteeing the independence and impartiality of the American federal justice, had denied that these comments had an impact on the decision of his services.
The President has already been accused of obstructing justice in the so-called Russian investigation, in particular by dismissing, at the start of his mandate, FBI director James Comey, who was investigating foreign interference in the election. of 2016.
Roger Stone is among six members of his entourage, more or less close, to the New York billionaire to have been charged or sentenced in the wake of the investigation into the Russian interference.
