Tucker Carlson argues longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone is only facing prison time because he is a Trump supporter. The FOX News host said Stone’s trial was a “pure political hit” and it is left up to a “Democratic partisan” judge to sentence him.
So-called criminal justice reform is fashionable in Washington right now. An awful lot sex offenders and drug dealers and other predators have been released early from prison lately. It’s compassionate, they’re telling us. Yet somehow nobody in DC believes that compassion ought to extend to Roger Stone, who’s guilty of nonviolent, essentially- political offenses. Just the opposite. The usual moralizers seem gleeful at the thought that Stone will die in a cell.
CNN has been especially ghoulish on the subject. You’ll remember that prosecutors tipped off Jeff Zucker’s network last year, so they could have cameras in place when dozens of federal agents with automatic weapons dragged Stone from his home at dawn. Talk about state TV. For the last two days, the hyenas on CNN have been driven to hysteria by the thought that the Justice Department might reduce Stone’s sentence, by even a day:
FMR. GOV. JENNIFER GRANHOLM, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: It is clearly, utterly offensive to the rule of law. This is what a Banana Republic does, this is what a dictator does. (edit) It is outrageous! I hope people are infuriated by this!
FMR SEN CLAIRE MCCASKILL, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: The reason they are doing this is slimy, sleazy, dirty.
JOHN DEAN, FORMER NIXON WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL: Roger Stone is someone I hold in minimum high esteem… So I want not unhappy in seeing him get 7-9.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHGOR: You didn’t think that was too aggressive?
JOHN DEAN, FORMER NIXON WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL: I thought it WAS aggressive.
Was that really John Dean? So CNN’s moral arbiter on questions of law and order is literally a convicted felon? It’s enough to make your head spin. But at least it’s clear what’s going on. This is pure political hit. Roger Stone is facing life in prison because he’s a high-profile Trump supporter. It’s that simple. Want proof? Here it is: John Brennan and James Clapper will sleep at home tonight. Both have been caught lying under oath about matters of national significance. Neither’ s in jail. Neither’ s been indicated, or ever will be.
The Stone case, by contrast, was transparently political from the first day. The lead prosecutor, Andrew Weissman, is literally now an MSNBC contributor. The judge, Amy Berman Jackson, is an out of control Democratic partisan, who, purely out of spite, stripped Stone of his first amendment rights and stopped him from making a living. Stone and his wife, who’s 71 and deaf, lost their home and are now utterly broke. The whole thing is shocking, and disgusting. It’s a farce that discredits the entire Amercian justice system.
The president seems to understand that. “Cannot allow this miscarriage of justice,” he tweeted recently. He’s right, on a couple of levels. What’s happening to Roger Stone is totally wrong. It’s immoral and we shouldn’t allow it. But politically it’s significant too. Stone’s prosecution was designed in part to confirm the fantasies Democrats have constructed to explain the last election. His conviction helps make their case. In other words, if the Russia collusion story was a hoax — and it most certainly was — then why is why Roger Stone is going to prison for his role in it? If Stone serves even a single day, the Russia lie will be validated as true. Stone’s imprisonment will used as evidence.
At this point, there’s only one solution: The president must pardon Stone, or commute his sentence. Democrats will howl. They’re howling anyway. Chuck Schumer is now yelping about yet another investigation into the whole thing: RussiaGate Two. In one entirely-constitutional act, the president could save Roger Stone’s life, vindicate himself and end this nonsense forever. Let’s hope he does it very soon. We’ll be watching.
