The Washington Post editorial board blasted President Trump’s decision to commute Roger Stone’s sentence.
The opinion piece, which declared the commutation to be an “unforgivable betrayal” of his office, was published Friday night, hours after the White House announced Stone would not be serving any of his three-year prison sentence.
Stone, a longtime friend and associate of the president, had been convicted of charges stemming from the U.S. government’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
The Washington Post editorial board called the president’s decision “a perversion of justice,” which amounts to “one of the most nauseating instances of corrupt government favoritism the United States has ever seen.”
“The president seems to be doing his best, within the confines of the U.S. constitutional system, to emulate the gangster leadership of Russian President Vladimir Putin, a man whose ruinous reign Mr. Trump has always admired,” read the editorial. “If the country needed any more evidence, Friday confirmed that the greatest threat to the Republic is the president himself.”
Stone, 67, still keeps his criminal record because he was not pardoned. He was convicted of lying to congressional investigators, obstructing a congressional investigation, and attempting to intimidate a possible congressional witness. Stone told journalist Howard Fineman on Friday, right before he was granted clemency, that he was “under enormous pressure to turn on” Trump but refused to do so.
The White House called Stone’s sentence unjust. A statement released Friday also noted that Stone, who had raised concerns about the coronavirus, “would be put at serious medical risk” if sent to prison. He was set to begin his sentence next week. After being granted clemency, Stone said Trump “saved my life.”
Congressional Democrats and at least one Republican, Sen. Mitt Romney, criticized the commutation as an act of “corruption.”
