Roger Stone gets jail time; President charges unequal justice

FPI / February 20, 2020

Roger Stone on Thursday was sentenced to more than three years in prison.

U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson said the up to nine years originally sought by federal prosecutors was excessive.

Still, the judge’s sentence was far more than the probation sought by Stone’s defense and, analysts say, certainly tough enough to keep speculation alive about a possible pardon from President Donald Trump.

“Mr. Stone lied,” the judge said, adding that the former Trump adviser had injected himself “smack” into a political controversy and was not “persecuted.”

Trump on Thursday tweeted: “’They say Roger Stone lied to Congress.’ @CNN. OH, I see, but so did Comey (and he also leaked classified information, for which almost everyone, other than Crooked Hillary Clinton, goes to jail for a long time), and so did Andy McCabe, who also lied to the FBI! FAIRNESS?”

Judge Jackson indicated she would sentence Stone as planned on Thursday but could delay the implementation of the sentence until after she decides whether to grant the defense's motion for a new trial over claims of juror bias, Fox News reported. Stone remained free on bond after Thursday's appearance.

He was also fined $20,000 and given restrictions on travel. A gag order remains in place pending the outcome of a motion for a new trial.

Investigative journalist Sara Carter, in a Tuesday interview with Fox Business host Lou Dobbs, said that Stone is being “punished severely” while former CIA Director John Brennan, former FBI Director James Comey, and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, “who all lied to Congress and the American people,” haven not been prosecuted.

“The entire prosecutions of Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, and everybody else they were looking at, or surrounding in Trump’s circumference was based on a false narrative, a lie, we all know that now. Michael Horowitz’s report blew that out of the water, we also know it because of the evidence that the American people can see for themselves,” Carter said.

Carter continued: “So basically they weaponized the Department of Justice, they weaponized the FBI, they weaponized the intelligence community to target the president and his administration. This is where all of these cases emanate from, and if you’re looking at Roger Stone, they talk about, you know, the lie to Congress, that he lied to Congress… well look at John Brennan and his lies to Congress, James Comey and his lies to Congress, James Clapper when he lied to all of America, I believe it was back in 2013 when he said there was no warrantless spying on Americans and we found out that was not the case. None of these people have been prosecuted, but Roger Stone is being prosecuted…and punished severely.”

Free Press International