Attorney General William Barr Is Opposed To Commuting Roger Stone’s Sentence, Report Says
In a Wednesday report for Vanity Fair, Gabriel Sherman claims that Attorney General William Barr is opposed to commuting Republican operative Roger Stone’s 40-month prison sentence, which is set to begin July 14. According to Sherman’s reporting, Donald Trump has told people he wants to commute Stone’s sentence, while Barr and White House counsel Pat Cipollone are opposed to the plan.
“Barr has told Trump not to do it, and if he does there will be a mutiny at DOJ,” a source briefed on the internal government debates allegedly said.
Despite the pushback, a Republican close to the White House suggested there are fears that Trump won’t listen.
“You can’t underestimate how hard it is to get information through to him. When you talk to him, he just talks at you. He doesn’t like to read memos, so there’s not really a way to get through to him. Everyone agrees.”
According to Bloomberg, Stone texted Trump on Tuesday to beg him to commute his sentence.
“I want the president to know that I have exhausted all my legal remedies and that only an act of clemency will provide justice in my case and save my life!” the text purportedly read.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson previously denied Stone’s request for a September 3 surrender date, which pushed him to file an emergency appeal on Monday. Stone argued that he is in the vulnerable population most susceptible to coronavirus dangers and contrasted his treatment to that of Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, who was recently spotted dining at a New York restaurant — a violation of the furlough from prison he was offered amid the pandemic.
According to Bloomberg, Barr’s Department of Justice (DOJ) did not oppose Stone’s request. Nevertheless, Stone claimed that the DOJ would not likely support his appeal for a delay. He reportedly believes that action from Trump is the only path forward to prevent his prison sentence.
As The Inquisitr reported, Adam Schiff, Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, previously pushed back against the possibility of pardoning the GOP operative and said it would constitute significant corruption.
Stone was convicted of witness tampering and lying to investigators. His alleged crimes stem from his time on Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign when then-special counsel Robert Mueller was investigating its possible links to Russia. Although Barr is allegedly opposed to commuting Stone’s sentence, the United States Attorney General successfully reduced the sentence from the initial seven to nine years to the current 40 months.
