President Donald Trump on Friday commuted the sentence of longtime confidant Roger Stone.
Trump confirmed the news Friday evening via Twitter, posting a tweet from Fox News’ Shannon Bream showing a White House statement reading, “Roger Stone has already suffered greatly. He was treated very unfairly, as were many others in this case. Roger Stone is now a free man!”
BREAKING: POTUS commutes Roger Stone's sentence.
From WH: "Roger Stone has already suffered greatly. He was treated very unfairly, as were many others in this case. Roger Stone is now a free man!"— Shannon Bream (@ShannonBream) July 10, 2020
Stone was set to head to prison on Tuesday.
Stone, 67, had been asking the president for a pardon, or at least a commutation of his three-year sentence to buy additional time to fight for his innocence in court.
Watch: Exclusive comments from Alex Jones on Trump commuting Stone’s sentence:
EXCLUSIVE: Alex Jones breaks down Trump commuting Roger Stone’s Sentence… https://t.co/OLbUWVJnIr
— Rex Jones (@rexjonesnews) July 11, 2020
The Associated Press reports: “A commutation does not erase Stone’s felony convictions in the same way a pardon would, but it would protect him from serving prison time as a result.”
Stone was reportedly celebrating the news with friends when the AP reached out to him:
Stone told The Associated Press that Trump had called him earlier Friday to inform him of the commutation. Stone was celebrating in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with conservative friends and said he had to change rooms because there were “too many people opening bottles of Champagne here.”
Earlier in the day, media outlets were abuzz with rumors Trump would commute Stone’s sentence, which stemmed from the FBI’s witch hunt investigation into collusion between the president’s 2016 campaign and Russia.
“Sources told Fox News Friday that the president could announce a commutation of Stone’s sentence as early as Friday evening,” reported Fox News.
President Trump on Friday also hinted he could come to the aid of his longtime adviser, telling reporters, “I’ll be looking at it. I think Roger Stone was very unfairly treated, as were many people, and in the meantime Comey and all these guys are walking around, including Biden and Obama, because we caught them spying on my campaign. Who would have believed that one?”
The Republican operative recently stepped up efforts to have his sentence commuted after he was due to be locked up at the Federal Correctional Facility in Jesup, Georgia, where a number of COVID-19 cases among inmates have recently been reported.
On Thursday, the Justice Department denied a request by Stone to wait two months before reporting to prison on account of the coronavirus pandemic.
The incarceration in federal prison during a pandemic, in addition to the fact he is in a high-risk age group and suffers from respiratory problems, would effectively be a death sentence, Stone has said.
He has also expressed concerns he could be “Epstein-ed” behind bars, referring to the mysterious demise of billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein whose death was ruled a suicide after he was found hanging in his jail cell.
This is a developing story…
See Alex Jones’ Thursday, July 9 interview with Roger Stone:
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