Republicans accused of lobbying President Trump not to commute his former adviser Roger Stone’s prison sentence responded Friday by saying they support his decision to do so.
Stone, who was supposed to start a 40-month prison term on Tuesday but was ultimately spared by the president, claimed during interviews this week that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California and Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York unsuccessfully pushed Mr. Trump not to intervene in the case before he eventually did by commuting his friend’s sentence.
Mr. McCarthy said Friday he supports Mr. Trump’s commutation of Stone’s sentence, according to a CNN reporter who relayed his reaction on Twitter afterward.
Ms. Stefanik disputed Stone’s claim she pushed the president against getting involved, meanwhile.
“I have not advocated for any pardoning issues with the president. I believe, constitutionally, any issues of pardoning are the president’s decision to make and I support the president’s choice,” Ms. Stefanik said during an appearance on Fox News.
Stone asserted otherwise days earlier and claimed the lawmakers wanted him to suffer.
“I know that Kevin McCarthy and Elise Stefanik were lobbying the president against any act of clemency,” Stone, 67, said Wednesday on Fox News Radio. “They, I guess, wanted me to die in a fetid, squalid hellhole in Georgia of coronavirus.”
Asked to comment about the lawmakers stating otherwise, Stone told The Washington Times he would take their word for it and said he strongly supports each of them being reelected.
A jury convicted Stone last year of counts related to obstructing a congressional investigation launched to consider allegations of Russian interference in Mr. Trump’s election. He was found guilty of charges related to lying to Congress, intimidating a witness and obstruction, and is currently appealing those convictions in federal court in Washington, D.C.
Stone was found guilty of misleading investigators about his connection to WikiLeaks, the website that released stolen material during the 2016 presidential race damaging to Mr. Trump’s rival, and tried to pressure an acquaintance to do the same, according to the jury that convicted him. He and Mr. Trump both allege his prosecution was unfair, but Attorney General William P. Barr said in an interview that he thought the prosecution was appropriate and the judge’s sentence fair.
Democrats have roundly condemned Mr. Trump’s decision to nix Stone’s prison sentence, while Republicans have mostly been quiet about the commutation with only a couple exceptions.
Sen. Mitt Romney, Utah Republican, said the president’s commutation amounted to “historic corruption,” while Sen. Pat Toomey, Pennsylvania Republican, said it was a “mistake.”
Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Sen Lindsey Graham of South Carolina are among members of the GOP who have said publicly they support Mr. Trump commuting Stone’s sentence, meanwhile.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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