{"slug":"trump-first-term-roger-stone-conviction-pardon","title":"Roger Stone: Convicted of Seven Felonies, Sentence Commuted, Then Pardoned","date":"2019-01-25","lastUpdated":"2020-12-23","description":"Roger Stone, a longtime Trump political adviser and self-described 'dirty trickster,' was arrested on January 25, 2019 on seven felony charges stemming from the Mueller investigation: one count of obstruction, five counts of making false statements to Congress, and one count of witness tampering. A jury of twelve unanimously convicted him on all seven counts in November 2019. Trump commuted Stone's sentence in July 2020, before Stone had served any prison time, and pardoned him fully in December 2020. The Justice Department took the unusual step of overriding its own prosecutors' sentencing recommendation after Trump tweeted criticism of it.","summary":"Stone was charged with lying to the House Intelligence Committee about his contacts with WikiLeaks during the 2016 campaign, when he served as an intermediary between the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks regarding the release of hacked Democratic emails. He also threatened a witness — radio personality Randy Credico, whom he called a 'rat' and threatened to harm his therapy dog — to prevent him from contradicting Stone's testimony. The jury of twelve convicted Stone on every count after deliberating for two days. Four prosecutors resigned from the case after the Justice Department overrode their sentencing recommendation of 7 to 9 years with a more lenient one, following Trump's tweet calling the original recommendation 'very unfair.' The federal judge sentenced Stone to 40 months.","category":"rule-of-law","severity":"critical","ongoing":false,"sources":[{"url":"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/11/us/politics/roger-stone-sentencing.html","title":"Roger Stone Sentencing: Prosecutors Quit After Justice Dept. Overrides Their Recommendation","publisher":"The New York Times"},{"url":"https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/roger-stone-convicted/2019/11/15/story.html","title":"Roger Stone convicted on all seven counts","publisher":"The Washington Post"},{"url":"https://apnews.com/article/trump-commutes-stone-sentence-2020","title":"Trump commutes sentence of Roger Stone, longtime friend and ally","publisher":"The Associated Press"},{"url":"https://www.justice.gov/archives/sco/file/1373816/download","title":"Mueller Report Volume I — Stone and WikiLeaks","publisher":"U.S. Department of Justice / Special Counsel"}],"draft":false,"status":"published","tags":["Stone","Mueller","first-term","rule-of-law","WikiLeaks","pardon","obstruction","witness-tampering"],"relatedEntries":[],"timeline":[{"date":"2019-01-25","title":"Stone arrested in pre-dawn FBI raid — seven felony charges","summary":"FBI agents arrest Stone at his Fort Lauderdale home in a pre-dawn raid. CNN is present, having been tipped. Stone is charged with obstruction, five counts of false statements to Congress, and one count of witness tampering related to his role as an intermediary between the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks."},{"date":"2019-11-15","title":"Jury convicts Stone unanimously on all seven counts","summary":"After two days of deliberation, a jury of twelve unanimously convicts Stone on all seven felony counts. Stone is one of several people in Trump's orbit convicted by juries or who pleaded guilty to federal crimes arising from the Mueller investigation."},{"date":"2020-02-11","title":"Trump tweets criticism of sentencing recommendation — prosecutors resign","summary":"Career prosecutors recommend 7 to 9 years consistent with guidelines. Trump tweets the recommendation is 'very unfair.' The same day, DOJ leadership files a new, more lenient recommendation. All four career prosecutors resign from the case in protest. Attorney General Barr denies Trump directed the change but acknowledges Trump's tweet made his job harder."},{"date":"2020-02-20","title":"Judge sentences Stone to 40 months","summary":"Judge Amy Berman Jackson sentences Stone to 40 months in prison. She rejects arguments about prosecutorial unfairness. Stone says he will appeal. The judge later denies his motion for a new trial."},{"date":"2020-07-10","title":"Trump commutes Stone sentence — Stone does not report to prison","summary":"Trump commutes Stone's sentence days before Stone was required to report to prison. Stone serves no prison time. Trump says Stone was treated unfairly by the justice system."},{"date":"2020-12-23","title":"Trump grants Stone a full pardon","summary":"Trump grants Stone a full pardon on December 23, 2020, less than a month before leaving office. The pardon wipes Stone's convictions. Stone publicly praises Trump."}],"location":{"name":"Washington, D.C. / Fort Lauderdale, FL","lat":38.9072,"lng":-77.0369},"custom":{"era":"first-term","posture":"judicial-finding","warCrimeClassification":"enabling","internationalLaw":[],"iccRelevance":false,"victims":"U.S. rule of law; Randy Credico, who was threatened and intimidated to prevent his testimony; the integrity of congressional investigations; federal prosecutors whose sentencing recommendation was overridden following presidential Twitter pressure","structuredPerpetrators":[{"name":"Donald Trump","role":"President; publicly criticized the career prosecutors' sentencing recommendation via tweet; DOJ overrode that recommendation the same day; commuted Stone's sentence July 2020 before Stone served any prison time; granted full pardon December 2020","institution":"White House"},{"name":"Roger Stone","role":"Political consultant and informal Trump adviser; lied seven times to the House Intelligence Committee; threatened witness Randy Credico; convicted unanimously by jury on all seven felony counts","institution":"Stone Cold Truth LLC / private"}],"updateLog":[{"date":"2020-12-23","summary":"Updated with December 2020 full pardon."}]}}