Editors of the National Review, a conservative magazine, condemned President Donald Trump’s decision to commute Roger Stone’s sentence in an article published Sunday.
Trump commuted Stone’s sentence Friday, mere days before he was supposed to begin a 40-month prison sentence. Stone was convicted on Nov. 15 on numerous counts relating to the special counsel’s investigation. National Review editors ripped Trump’s decision, calling it “indefensible” and trashing Stone, a longtime GOP operative, as “a fatuous figure and ridiculous braggart.”
“But Trump’s handling of the matter is indefensible,” the editors said. “It is another indication of his perverse, highly personalized view of the criminal-justice system — and another reminder of the loathsome characters he’s surrounded himself with his entire adult life.”
The National Review’s editorial board calls Trump’s commutation of Roger Stone’s sentence “indefensible.” https://t.co/EHQ7cPpckO
— Anthony L. Fisher (@anthonyLfisher) July 13, 2020
National Review editors pointed out that “the indictment of Stone and subsequent trial definitively established that Stone had no inside knowledge of Russian hacking or WikiLeaks’s role in disseminating stolen DNC emails.” Stone did, however, try “to parlay media gossip and what he heard from an intermediary into a sense that he knew more than he did,” according to the editors.
“There is no doubt, though, that Stone was guilty of perjury and a laughably ham-handed attempt at witness tampering,” the article reads. “He was justly convicted of these charges and deserved to go to jail; in our system of justice, self-parody is no defense.”
The article also added “that Stone repeatedly argued that he was owed it for his loyalty to the president.” This made Trump’s decision to commute Stone’s sentence “worse,” the editors wrote. (RELATED: ‘Historic Corruption’: Mitt Romney Rips Trump’s Decision To Commute Roger Stone’s Sentence)
“Even if Stone’s talk of omerta is a pose, it is grotesque and alone makes him unworthy of clemency,” according to the article. “(At least Trump didn’t pardon him, which means that his convictions still stand.)”