President Trump granted clemency to Roger Stone just a few days before Stone was set to start his prison sentence. This decision was a mistake, as many of his advisers, administration officials, and fellow Republicans reportedly told him. And to understand why, it’s worth remembering why Stone was sentenced to prison in the first place.
Stone has been a longtime Trump confidant, and he advised the president’s campaign informally back in 2016. His blatant and shady attempts to undermine Trump’s rivals drew the attention of former special counsel Robert Mueller, who was looking into alleged collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia. Stone had been in direct contact with at least one relevant source, Guccifer 2.0, a Russian military intelligence persona responsible for a series of cyberattacks on the Democratic National Committee — attacks that were later leaked to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Stone denied under oath that he had had contact with Guccifer 2.0 or Assange, a blatant lie that obstructed Mueller’s investigation and Congress’s subsequent probe. He then attempted to prevent radio show host Randy Credico from telling Congress the truth about his coordination with Assange. As a result, Stone was charged with and convicted of obstructing the House’s investigation, lying to investigators under oath, and tampering with a witness who would have exposed his lies.
These are serious offenses that reek of political malpractice and corruption — two things Trump promised to fight when he vowed to “drain the swamp.” Stone’s pardon makes it clear that Trump has no intention, and perhaps he never did, of draining the swamp or its villains.
Stone’s defenders have argued that the court was stacked against him and that his trial was unfair. There’s certainly something to that. Stone’s original sentence was nine years in prison, an excessive amount of time for an elderly, nonviolent, first-time offender. But that’s why the Justice Department intervened and reduced Stone’s sentence to 40 months. The DOJ did not, however, argue against the actual charges against Stone. And why would they? He was and still is obviously guilty.
That’s why Attorney General William Barr reportedly advised Trump against pardoning Stone, as did chief of staff Mark Meadows and a handful of other Republican lawmakers. Preventing judicial malpractice is one thing, but that’s not what Trump is doing. He’s preventing justice from being served at all.
This is troubling behavior that would deserve condemnation no matter who was president. But Stone’s pardon is particularly frustrating given Trump’s pledge to be better. But alas, this is Trump’s swamp now.
