Trump Strongly Suggests Pardon for Longtime Friend Roger Stone Is Imminent: ‘His Prayer May Be Answered’
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President Donald Trump strongly suggested that Roger Stone may be pardoned in an radio interview with Howie Carr on Thursday. Stone was prosecuted and then found guilty of witness tampering and lying to Congress in February.
Carr asked about Stone’s fate at the end of his 17-minute interview with Trump and called the three-year prison sentence for the president’s confidante a “witch hunt.”
“He was framed, he was treated horribly, he was treated so badly,” Trump claimed. “He had a foreman or foreperson who was, should have not been there — how that trial wasn’t re-done is incredible.”
“He was treated very badly,” Trump continued. “Well, if you say he’s praying, his prayer may be answered. Let’s find out what happens.”
Carr chuckled at Trump’s not-so-subtle tease.
“He’s a character, a really good person,” Trump added.
Stone, a former political adviser to Trump, was convicted in connection with the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election against Hillary Clinton. Prosecutors advised for a seven- to nine-year sentence, but Stone was ultimately sentenced to just three years. The judge who presided on the case called Stone an “insecure person” who “craves attention.”
Rumors have swirled about Stone being granted a pardon from Trump, who has long defended Stone. In February, ABC Chief Legal Analyst and Mediaite Founder Dan Abrams said Stone should not be pardoned by Trump because it would be a “rebuke of his own Justice Department.”
A top prosecutor in the Stone case recently testified about the DOJ intervening over the sentence Stone initially received. On Wednesday, Attorney General Bill Barr was asked about the potential of a pardon, where he ultimately said it is Trump’s decision. “I felt it was an appropriate prosecution,” Barr noted.
Listen the interview below, the relevant portion begins at the 15:25 mark.
Audio courtesy of the The Howie Carr Show.
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