Trump's clemency for Roger Stone wipes away fine and supervised release

[July 14, 2020]  By Sarah N. Lynch and Mark Hosenball

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's executive clemency to his longtime friend and adviser Roger Stone not only commuted the veteran Republican operative's prison term but it also spared him a hefty fine and two years of supervised release.

The details of the clemency arrangement were made public by the Justice Department and Stone's lawyer on Monday after the judge who presided over the case asked the Trump administration to explain whether the commutation announced on Friday meant he would not be supervised, as many convicted felons are after being freed.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson had set a Tuesday deadline to receive a copy of Trump's clemency order along with an explanation about whether it also commuted the period Stone was meant to be supervised after leaving prison.

"I commute the entirety of the prison sentence imposed upon the said Roger Stone, Jr. to expire immediately," according to Trump's order.

"I also commute the entirety of the two-year term of supervised released with all its conditions, and finally, I remit any unpaid balance of the $20,000 fine imposed."

Congressional Democrats and other critics have accused Trump of abuse of power and an assault on the rule of law.

Roger Stone, a longtime friend and adviser of U.S. President Donald Trump, is seen after Trump commuted his federal prison sentence outside his home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S. July 10, 2020. REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File Photo

Stone, 67, was sentenced to three years and four months in prison after being convicted by a jury in Washington last year of lying under oath to lawmakers investigating Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. Stone was found guilty of all seven counts against him. The commutation did not erase Stone's conviction as a pardon would have.

Stone was due to have reported to a federal prison in Georgia on Tuesday. Trump's action marked his most assertive intervention to protect an associate in a criminal case and his latest use of executive clemency to benefit an ally.

Stone's attorney Grant Smith, who tweeted out a copy of Trump's order, said it speaks for itself in answering the judge's inquiry.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Additional reporting by Mark Hosenball; Editing by Scott Malone and Will Dunham)

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