Who is Roger Stone? White House declares him ‘free man’, Angry Internet calls Trump ‘most corrupt president’
As Americans continue to protest before the 2020 elections, President Donald Trump has commuted the prison sentence of his former adviser. “Roger Stone is now a free man,” the White House declared. "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," an official statement said. "There was never any collusion between the Trump Campaign, or the Trump Administration, with Russia."
Who is Roger Stone? A 67-year-old conservative political consultant, lobbyist and author, he was sentenced to 40 months in federal prison after being convicted on seven counts in connection to the Mueller Report and Special Counsel investigation. From Richard Nixon to Ronald Reagan and Bob Dole to Donald Trump, he has worked on the campaigns of Republican politicians and co-founded a lobbying firm with Paul Manafort and Charles R Black Jr. Soon, Peter G Kelly also became a part of it and the firm was renamed Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly in 1984.
A longtime friend of Trump, their close liaison grabbed many eyeballs and Stone was soon labeled as a "self-proclaimed dirty trickster", a "seasoned practitioner of hard-edged politics", a "mendacious windbag", a "veteran Republican strategist" and a political fixer. Several reports shed light on conspiracy theories triggered by Stone during the 2016 Trump presidential campaign through the political modus operandi that he has confessed as "Attack, attack, attack – never defend" and "Admit nothing, deny everything, launch counterattack."
Even though he left the Trump campaign in August 2015, his collaboration with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange during the 2016 presidential campaign to discredit Hillary Clinton came into the public eye. In April 2020, a string of contacts and dozens of fake Facebook accounts were tracked to insinuate a political influence scheme on social media. Stone was arrested at his Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on January 25, 2019, and finally convicted in November 2019.
However, the White House statement dismissed all such claims and said, "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. There was never any collusion between the Trump Campaign, or the Trump Administration, with Russia." It added, "Mr Stone was charged by the same prosecutors from the Mueller Investigation tasked with finding evidence of collusion with Russia. Because no such evidence exists, however, they could not charge him for any collusion-related crime. Instead, they charged him for his conduct during their investigation. The simple fact is that if the Special Counsel had not been pursuing an absolutely baseless investigation, Mr Stone would not be facing time in prison."
Defending him with his medical conditions, the statement further said, "Mr Stone is a 67-year-old man, with numerous medical conditions, who had never been convicted of another crime. But rather than allow him to surrender himself, they used dozens of FBI agents with automatic weapons and tactical equipment, armored vehicles, and an amphibious unit to execute a pre-dawn raid of his home, where he was with his wife of many years." It added, "Mr Stone, like every American, deserves a fair trial and every opportunity to vindicate himself before the courts."
Stone is the sixth Trump aide found guilty in a probe that alleged Russia tried to boost the Trump 2016 campaign. The news came just after Stone's request to delay the start of his prison time was denied by a federal appeals court. As expected, it didn't go too well with people on the Internet. Author Stephen King posted, "Trump has commuted Roger Stone's 40-month sentence. Every time you think the Orange Man has hit the gutter, he bounces lower."
The hacktivist group Anonymous said, "Roger Stone being commuted by Trump is clearly corruption. Angry tweeting about it isn't going to fix it. Adding pressure to the DA and its Public Corruption offices is where the public focus needs to concentrate." Elizabeth Warren posted, "Donald Trump has abandoned the rule of law and made a mockery of our democracy. He truly is the most corrupt president in history."
US Senator Amy Klobuchar said, "There are no limits. This President will do anything and everything to flaunt the law. The only way to stop this is by voting in November. Trump commutes sentence of confidant Roger Stone. He was set to go to prison July 14 for lying to Congress."
Sara Gideon, Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives, posted, "President Trump has commuted Roger Stone's sentence after he was convicted for lying to Congress, obstruction, and witness tampering. With every abuse of power, it's clear that the only "lesson" he's learned is that senators like Susan Collins will never hold him accountable."