Democrats and Republicans criticize Trump for commuting Roger Stone's prison sentence

House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., became the latest lawmaker to criticize President Trump for commuting the prison sentence of his longtime political confidant Roger Stone on Friday.

Schiff, whose contentious relationship with the president has played out on Capitol Hill and on Twitter, called Trump’s commutation of Stone’s sentence “offensive” and argued that the president’s allies can do whatever they want and get off “scot-free.”

“I think anyone who cares about the rule of law in this country is nauseated by the fact that the president has commuted the sentence of someone who willfully lied to Congress, covered up for the president, intimidated witnesses, obstructed the investigation,” Schiff said in an interview on ABC’s “This Week.” “It shouldn't matter whether you're Democrat or Republican. This should be offensive to you if you care about the rule of law.”

He added: “The president, through this commutation, is basically saying, ‘if you lie for me, if you cover up for me, if you have my back, then I will make sure that you get a get out of jail free card.’ …They get off scot-free.”

Trump’s move to commute Stone’s sentence came Friday, just days before Stone was to begin serving a 40-month prison sentence for lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstructing the House investigation into whether Trump's campaign colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election.

The action, which Trump had foreshadowed in recent days, underscores the president’s lingering rage over Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation and is part of a continuing effort by the president and his administration to criticize the probe that has shadowed the White House from the outset.

In a lengthy statement released late Friday, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the president had made the decision to commute Stone's sentence "in light of the egregious facts and circumstances surrounding his unfair prosecution, arrest, and trial."

“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,” McEnany said in a statement Friday night. “There was never any collusion between the Trum... (Read more)

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