Trump says Roger Stone can ‘sleep well’ after former adviser makes public plea for presidential pardon

Donald Trump’s former adviser Roger Stone is now asking the president to either commute his prison sentence or issue him a pardon, as reported by Breitbart.

Stone, who is scheduled to surrender himself to authorities on July 14, faces 40 months behind bars for misleading investigators and lying to Congress.

His conviction stems from an investigation by former special counsel Robert Mueller’s team into allegations that Russia colluded with the Trump campaign ahead of the 2016 election. According to his most recent statements, he believes the prison sentence could kill him.

“Only a matter of time”

“I don’t think I will live to see my appeal succeed, which is why I have been very forthright about my praying that the president acts with either a — with a commutation of my sentence, so I may follow my appeal and win vindication, or of course a pardon,” Stone said.

The remarks came during Stone’s appearance on Fox Business Network’s Lou Dobbs Tonight on Friday, shortly after a judge issued the surrender date.

Referencing the prevalence of COVID-19 at the prison to which he is supposed to report next month, he said that it will be “only a matter of time before we learn the results of currently a number of outstanding tests of inmates at this very facility,” going on to predict that “this is a death sentence.”

Making his direct call for clemency from the president, Stone stressed that it is “completely within his power” to intervene in the case.

“Treated very unfairly”

Trump was asked about the possibility of a Stone pardon during an appearance Friday evening on Fox News Channel’s Hannity. While he referenced various issues he saw with the case, he declined to offer a definitive answer.

“We’re going to see,” the president said. “I don’t want to get into that. I think he was treated very unfairly.”

The following morning, however, he added to the narrative by retweeting a message declaring that it is “time to #PardonRogerStone.”

Trump added his assertion that Stone “was a victim of a corrupt and illegal witch hunt,” telling his former adviser that he “can sleep well at night!”

Whether that is an indication that a pardon is in the works or just more provocative tweeting from the president remains to be seen.