Roger Stone lied to Congress, threatened a witness to cover his tracks, and will now serve 40 months in prison. President Trump has hinted he might pardon his longtime associate, but doing so would be a mistake.
Stone represents the corruption Trump promised to root out of Washington, D.C. He openly bragged about speaking with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to spread smears about Hillary Clinton, then lied about the Trump campaign’s knowledge of these encounters. Stone then tried to prevent a witness from accurately testifying.
There’s an argument to be made that Stone’s crimes did not warrant a massively armed FBI raid, nor did they deserve the nine-year prison sentence prosecutors had recommended. But allowing them to go unpunished entirely, which is essentially what a presidential pardon would do, would send the wrong message.
Stone lied to Congress to protect Trump, according to Stone’s lawyers. Pardoning him now would make it seem like Trump is willing to give white-collar crime a free pass as long as it’s done in service to his administration. This is not a good look for a president recently accused of obstruction of justice and abuse of power by partisan Democrats.
Yes, the Democrats will disagree with Trump no matter what he does. But this is a reelection year, which means Trump must be prudent and keep his distance from unnecessary controversy.
Trump seems to find solidarity with individuals he believes have been “wronged” in the same way he believes he’s been mistreated. There were certainly questionable elements of Stone’s case that must be addressed. Indeed, Stone has already received a lesser sentence due to concerns raised by Attorney General William Barr.
There are a few things, however, that haven’t changed: Stone’s crimes. He is still a criminal, and he should face the necessary repercussions.
