Toomey: Trump's commutation of Roger Stone's sentence a 'mistake'
Sen. Pat Toomey calls President Trump’s commutation of Roger Stone’s sentence a “mistake.”
In a statement released Saturday, Toomey, R-Lehigh Valley, said while Trump had the “legal and constitutional authority” to take the action, it should be used “judiciously and very rarely by any president.”
“While I understand the frustration with the badly flawed Russia-collusion investigation, in my view, commuting Roger Stone’s sentence is a mistake,” Toomey said.
“He was duly convicted of lying to Congress, witness tampering, and obstructing a congressional investigation conducted by a Republican-led committee. Earlier this week Attorney General Bill Barr stated he thought Mr. Stone’s prosecution was ‘righteous’ and ‘appropriate’ and the sentence he received was ‘fair.’ Any objections to Mr. Stone’s conviction and trial should be resolved through the appeals process.”
Trump commuted Stone’s prison sentence Friday, days before he was set to report.
Stone, a longtime associate of the president, had been sentenced in February to three years and four months in prison for lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstructing the House investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Zach Brendza is a Tribune-Review digital producer. You can contact Zach at 724-850-1288, zbrendza@triblive.com or via Twitter .
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