In case there was still someone in America who hadn’t noticed that Donald Trump has nothing but contempt for the idea that everyone is equal under the law, Trump underlined that scorn, then run over it with a big yellow highlighter, by commuting the sentence of Roger Stone. Stone was convicted on seven felony counts, and faced a sentence of 40 months in federal prison. What’s more, Stone’s conviction was directly due to actions he took as a campaign adviser to Trump.
Trump has never hesitated to demonstrate that he’s willing to pardon people that he knows personally. That includes racist sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was handed a pass on contempt of court; Republican fairy tale author Dinesh D'Souza, who was relieved of doing community service (horrors) after making illegal campaign contributions; conservative talk show host Conrad Black, whose convictions on mail fraud and obstruction of justice had been appealed all the way to the Supreme Court (he lost); junk bond king Michael Milken, convicted on a near infinite list of tax fraud, mail fraud, obstruction, and conspiracy; and Rudy Giuliani’s old pal Bernard Kerik, for the familiar mix of tax fraud, bank fraud, and obstruction. Trump has never made any effort to pretend that justice applies to people he knows.
That Trump pardons people who commit fraud, conspiracy, and obstruction is only fitting — since Donald Trump has already paid a $2 million fine for fraudulent use of his charity, and a $25 million settlement over his fraudulent university. Trump has been sued at least five times for breach of contract, and hundreds of times for nonpayment. Fraud … is just what he does for a living.
So naturally Trump has waved his magic wand over pals of his who merely tried to steal from the nation, lied to investigators, and slip illegal cash to political friends. All of that fits within Trump’s definition of normal business.
But the Stone case … is special. Trump didn’t just give Stone a get out of jail free card, he put out a lengthy statement that was filled with Trump’s Twitter greatest hits—from “Russia hoax” to “Witch hunt!” to “no collusion.” Even for the most casual observer, the statement makes clear that Stone isn’t being given a pass because he didn’t commit what Trump calls “process-based crimes,” or even because Stone and Trump have known each other for decades.
Roger Stone’s sentence was commuted directly and openly as a finger in the eye to those who even attempted to investigate Trump, which the statement calls “out-of-control Mueller prosecutors.” The statement makes it astoundingly clear that Trump regards lying to investigators and obstructing justice as just part of the game. After all, if Mueller hadn’t been trying to find something on Stone, Stone wouldn’t have needed to lie. And yes, it says that.
Trump doesn’t stop with sneering at the “over zealous prosecutors.” He also takes a smack at the officers who arrested Stone, repeating an inflated version of that event that turns an ordinary arrest into a massive assault involving “dozens of FBI agents with automatic weapons and tactical equipment, armored vehicles, and an amphibious unit.” And Trump even makes a dig at the jury members—ignoring the fact that the jurors were not challenged by Stone’s own counsel.
Throughout the statement, Trump repeats statements that did not hold up in court, or were simply rejected by the court, or are just outright lies. Stone’s charges did not include contempt, but the statement from Trump is utterly dripping with contempt for the whole judicial process. Does someone not know that Trump and all his allies are above all that legal crap? They should certainly get it now.
