Roger Stone claimed House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and New York GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik wanted him to die in prison after they urged President Trump not to commute his sentence or issue a pardon before the November election.
Stone, whose three-year sentence was commuted by Trump days before he was supposed to report to prison, claimed during a podcast hosted by Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk on Wednesday that these Republican lawmakers were concerned about how it would play out for Republicans.
“Congressman Matt Gaetz from my home state of Florida, who I know was out there when Kevin McCarthy and Elise Stefanik were arguing against any clemency for Roger Stone because it might cost the Republicans seats,” Stone said. “I know that Matt Gaetz was standing tall, both privately and in public, on my behalf.”
Stone, 67, reiterated the accusation on a different podcast, Fox Across America with Jimmy Failla, that same day.
“I know that Kevin McCarthy and Elise Stefanik were lobbying the president against any act of clemency. They, I guess, wanted me to die in a fetid, squalid hellhole in Georgia of coronavirus,” he said.
McCarthy and Stefanik advised Trump to consider waiting to grant Stone clemency during a May trip on Air Force One to Florida, a source told Politico. Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, who was also on the flight and has been praised by Stone, urged the president not to wait.
Stone, a target of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, was convicted of lying to congressional investigators about his attempted outreach to WikiLeaks, obstructing a congressional investigation, and attempting to intimidate a possible congressional witness.
