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File photo taken in November 2012 showsU.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney waving to his supporters during his election night rally in Boston, the United States. (Xinhua/Shen Hong)
"With this commutation, Trump makes clear that there are two systems of justice in America: one for his criminal friends, and one for everyone else," saysAdam Schiff, Democrat of California andchairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
WASHINGTON, July 11 (Xinhua) -- Mitt Romney, Republican senator and a vocal critic of U.S. President Donald Trump, on Saturday blasted the president's decision to commute the sentence of his longtime political confidant Roger Stone.
"Unprecedented, historic corruption: an American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president," tweeted Romney, one of the first GOP members on the Capitol Hill to comment on the issue.
Stone, also Trump's campaign adviser in the 2016 U.S. election and a target of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into possible Russian interference into the election, was convicted in November of all the seven felony counts he was charged with, including lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstructing an official proceeding.
File photo taken on Oct. 10, 2019 showsU.S. President Donald Trump speaking to reporters before leaving the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)
Trump commuted Stone's 40-month prison sentence on Friday, four days before Stone was due to report to prison on July 14. Stone has maintained his innocence and tried to appeal his conviction, most recently pursuing a pardon or a commutation, citing the risk of contracting the coronavirus while in jail.
Claiming that Stone was "a victim of the Russia Hoax," Trump said in the lengthy statement granting his longtime ally clemency that Stone should not be pursued because prosecutors found no evidence proving that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia.
"The simple fact is that if the Special Counsel had not been pursuing an absolutely baseless investigation, Mr. Stone would not be facing time in prison," Trump said, referring to the Mueller investigation, which, however, did find that the Trump team welcomed Moscow's meddling efforts.
Recent photo of Roger Stone, alongtime political confidantof U.S. President Donald Trump.(Photo credit: Business Insider)
While Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, a Republican, tweeted Friday before the commutation that Trump's intervention "would be justified," Democrats railed against the presidential action, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer saying "equal justice under the law is once again being undermined by a lawless president who regards the Justice Department as his personal plaything."
Adam Schiff, Democrat of California who, as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, led Trump's impeachment investigation last year, said that "with this commutation, Trump makes clear that there are two systems of justice in America: one for his criminal friends, and one for everyone else." ■
