Romney joins Democrats' criticism of Trump's Roger Stone commutation
Republican Sen. Mitt Romney accuses the president of 'historic corruption'; former Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker reacts.
The criticism of President Trump’s decision to commute Roger Stone’s prison sentence “is unfounded” to “some extent," former Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker said on Sunday.
“What's happening, and this reaction, is folks trying to score cheap political points,” Whitaker told “Fox & Friends Weekend” on Sunday.
“But, let's remember the president has broad constitutional powers.”
Whitaker made the comments one day after Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, joined Democrats in criticizing President Trump’s decision, decrying it as an act of “historic corruption” -- just as Trump said Stone was the victim of an “illegal witch hunt.”
“Unprecedented, historic corruption: an American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president,” Romney tweeted on Saturday.
On Friday, the White House announced that Trump had signed an Executive Grant of Clemency for the political operative, who was sentenced to more than three years in prison after being convicted last year on seven counts of obstruction, witness tampering and making false statements to Congress in relation to FBI Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
“I think what happened with Roger Stone's commutation and the reaction is exactly what you would expect,” Whitaker said.
“The people that don't like President Trump are going to criticize him as they always do, and President Trump, in spite of that, is going do what he thinks is right.”
TRUMP COMMUTES ROGER STONE'S SENTENCE, DAYS BEFORE PRISON TERM SET TO BEGIN
He went on to note “that’s the type of leadership we've come to expect from this president” and what he “saw being in his Cabinet.”
Stone, who has appealed the conviction and denies wrongdoing, was due to report to prison on July 14 to serve 40 months. But the White House said the president had commuted the sentence “in light of the egregious facts and circumstances surrounding his unfair prosecution, arrest and trial."
Host Pete Hegseth noted the commutation records of President Trump and former President Barack Obama, saying President Trump has so far commuted 11 people, including Stone; Obama had a total of 1,715 commutations during his two-term presidency, the most of any president in 64 years, according to the Pew Research Center.
Whitaker noted that Trump “considered Mr. Stone's age, his health, the COVID risk that’s very prevalent currently in our prisons, together with the perceived bias of the prosecutors and jury in Mr. Stone's conviction and prosecution.”
“I think this president has used his constitutional powers sparingly,” he continued. “He has looked at cases where he feels that a fairness, a fundamental fairness, has not been done and he tries to right those wrongs.”
He went on to say that he “would expect as this president continues to serve in this role that he will grant other pardons, commutations and other executive clemency as he sees fit.”
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Whitaker then pointed out that “that’s the way the Constitution is written and really I think the criticism to some extent is unfounded.”
Fox News’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
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