CNN and Washington Post Debunk Every One of the ‘Lies and Falsehoods’ in Trump Admin’s Roger Stone Statement
Mark Wilson/Getty Images
CNN and The Washington Post have published detailed debunkings of at least 12 “lies and falsehoods” contained in the White House’s official statement on President Donald Trump’s commutation of Roger Stone’s prison sentence.
On Friday, the White House announced Trump had commuted Stone’s 40-month sentence for witness tampering, lying to Congress, and obstruction in a strident statement that was shot through with false and misleading claims.
According to CNN’s Marshall Cohen, there were 12 such claims, which Cohen refuted line-by-line. They included the invocation of “the Russia Hoax” (“The Russia investigation was not a hoax, and it did not originate from Democrats or the media.”), the assertion that there was “never any collusion” (“Mueller’s final report did not conclude that there ‘was never any collusion.’ Collusion is not a legal term.”), calling Stone’s misdeeds “alleged crimes” (“These crimes are not merely ‘alleged.’ Stone was convicted by a jury on seven counts.”), and many others.
The Washington Post‘s Phil Bump used that paper’s familiar annotations to analyze the statement word-for-word, and provided 25 separate notes on the claims contained in the statement. They included this note on the White House’s assertion that Stone “is now a free man!”:
Roger Stone was always a free man. He had not yet begun serving his sentence.
Interestingly, that means that his commutation violates standard practice under Department of Justice guidelines.
“A request for a commutation of a prison sentence generally is not accepted unless and until a person has begun serving that sentence,” the guidelines read. “In addition, a commutation request generally is not accepted from a person who is currently challenging his or her conviction or sentence through appeal or other court proceeding.”
Trump’s longtime friend and ally managed to secure an exception.
