Fox News Correspondent-At-Large Geraldo Rivera described longtime Republican consultant Roger Stone as a bigmouthed braggart Thursday but added that shouldn't allow him to be unfairly prosecuted.
Rivera said Thursday on "The Five" that Stone, a longtime friend of President Trump's whose GOP activism goes back to the days of Sen. Barry Goldwater, has "excellent grounds" for a retrial. He cited jury forewoman and former Memphis School Boardmember Tomeka Hart as a "very anti-Trump person" who expressed her anti-Stone sentiments after he was convicted of lying to Congress and witness intimidation.
ROGER STONE SENTENCED TO 3 YEARS
"He's always been a pain in the a--, but this is very unfair," Rivera said. "I never liked him: I think he is a bully, a braggart, a big mouth, and a not-so-merry prankster, but this is very, very unfair. This is a process crime."
Rivera compared Stone's case to that of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn -- whom Stone said was caught in a "perjury trap."
"It's disgusting what these prosecutors [and] their self-righteousness which makes me puke, how they go after these people and say they are doing God's work. It is appalling."
Rivera added that the initial seven-to-nine-year recommendation by federal prosecutors was excessive, given that violent felonies often result in much less jail time.
"People hate Trump so much that they suspend reason in a way that, to use the word 'appalling' is tiresome," said Rivera, who added that he and Trump have been longtime friends.
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Earlier Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson sentenced Stone to 40 months in prison and repeatedly made clear she holds Stone responsible for his circumstances, even as his lawyers sought leniency.
“Mr. Stone lied,” said Jackson, who also said that Stone injected himself “smack” into a political controversy and was not “persecuted.”
Fox News' Brooke Singman and Bill Mears contributed to this report.