Juan Williams: Trump defense of Roger Stone shows hypocrisy of uproar over Clinton-Lynch tarmac meeting
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"The Five" co-host Juan Williams said Wednesday that President Trump's defense of Republican political consultant Roger Stone and his agreement that the Justice Department should revise its sentencing recommendation against Stone exposes his hypocrisy because he criticized former President Bill Clinton for potentially interfering with the Hillary Clinton email investigation during a 2016 meeting with then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
"You know what struck me today?" Williams asked. "I remember when this president got upset because Bill Clinton met with Loretta Lynch on a tarmac and he said, 'Oh, my God, he was influencing the attorney general to do his bidding with regard to Hillary and the emails'.
"Now, here comes President Trump, and he is clearly expressing his views in a way that will influence the attorney general, Bill Barr, to come out and say, oh, yeah, you know these prosecutors of mine, they have overdone it.' But, Jesse [Watters], that is corruption. This is unbelievable."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Trump had publicly questioned the meeting at Phoenix's Sky Harbor Airport, after which Clinton and Lynch claimed the conversation centered around their grandchildren. "Does anybody really believe that Bill Clinton and the U.S.A.G. talked only about "grandkids" and golf for 37 minutes in plane on tarmac?" Trump asked via Twitter at the time.
Stone, a longtime friend of Trump whose political activism goes back to the Nixon era, has been convicted of witness tampering and lying to Congress in connection with the Mueller probe.
TRUSTY: TRUMP CRITICS OVERREACTING TO STONE SENTENCING RECOMMENDATION REDUCTION
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Williams said on "The Five" that it is legitimate to question whether Trump himself interfered with his Justice Department after he criticized their initial sentencing recommendation of 87 to 108 months. Around the same time, Barr announced he disagreed with the sentencing guideline, and all four prosecutors handling the case withdrew.
During a White House meeting with Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno, Trump called the situation unfair and thanked the Justice Department before slamming former FBI Director James Comey and other figures in the Russia investigation.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Watters pushed back on Williams' comments, suggesting that a nine-year prison term would be a "death sentence" for the 67-year-old Stone, who is a first-time offender.