President Trump issues several pardons and commutations, while his old associate Roger Stone receives a lengthy prison sentence and his administration announces new sanctions on a Russian oil giant. Here are some of the major stories coming from the White House this week.
Following Presidents’ Day weekend, Trump granted clemency to 11 convicted felons, including former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Blagojevich had his 14-year prison sentence commuted for trying to sell the U.S. Senate seat of Barack Obama when he was elected president in 2008. As he was awaiting trial, Blagojevich appeared on Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice as a contestant, lasting four episodes before being fired. Additionally, Trump pardoned Edward DeBartolo Jr., the former owner of the San Francisco 49ers, Bernard Kerik, the former New York City police commissioner, and financier Michael Milken.
Meanwhile, Roger Stone, the former associate of Trump, was sentenced to 40 months in prison for lying to Congress and witness tampering.
Following the chaos at the Justice Department over Stone’s sentencing recommendation, Judge Amy Berman Jackson agreed that nearly a decade in prison was too long. Yet, despite the sentence, Stone filed a request for a retrial following the revelation that one of the jurors had a social media history of anti-Trump posts.
Of course, this could be all for naught, and Trump could grant Stone clemency with a pardon and commutation of his sentence.
Finally, the Trump administration announced new sanctions against Russia’s biggest oil producer, Rosneft.
The energy giant was hit for actively helping the Venezuelan government, under the rule of dictator Nicolas Maduro, evade U.S. sanctions by hiding oil exports from the South American country. The move is part of a maximum pressure campaign designed to expedite Maduro’s exit from office. But it also sends the signal that anyone caught doing business with Rosneft can be hit with U.S. sanctions.
