They do know that commuting a sentence doesn’t expunge the criminal record, don’t they? Roger Stone is still guilty of his crimes.
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Again. As expected. It was a foregone conclusion he was going to pardon Stone.
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That’s the whole point: if Trump had pardoned Stone, Stone wouldn’t have been able to claim the 5th in any subsequent congressional inquiries. By commuting the sentence, Stone gets no jail time, and he still can’t be forced into testifying against Trump the way he could have if pardoned.
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An absolutely shocking turn of events to exactly everybody and nobody at the same time.
Our descent into absurdity is now 75% complete. All we need is for Trump to say it was OK for Russia to invade Alaska because there are “good people on both sides” and the racist fascist takeover will be complete.
If you need me I’ll be in my bunker trying to accept that wearing camouflage to the grocery store without a mask is the new normal.
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So now its time for the House to subpoena him. He can’t plead the 5th Amendment on anything he was convicted for. He will be back in prison on perjury charges in no time at all.
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Commuting a sentence is the functional equivalent of a pardon under these circumstances. Stone is still boned if he is brought before another inquiry or investigation.
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Chelsea would still be in jail were it not for a judges ruling. Remember she was sent BACK to prison after Obama pardoned her.
I’m not so sure I disagree with the OP based on a single case. Of course I am no expert. At face value I don’t see why we can’t have a house committee handle or at least approve pardons and commutations.
DT broke the presidency and now we have to move forward with “cutting off presidential powers at the knees” knowing that any future president could do the same. The integrity that held the office together no longer exists and it would be foolish for US citizens to expect any president to “do the right thing” based simply on a honor system. There is no honor in the White House any longer and I would argue it’s been on a steady decline since the 70’s.
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He’ll have to get a new tattoo …
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Why wouldn’t he be at Arkham Asylum instead?
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I don’t want to discount the horrible injustices she’s had to face and I’m glad she is out of jail, but this was a different president and different set of charges.
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MOTHERF*#KER!
&##%*#$%!!!
This man lied to Congress, AND intimidated witnesses! Openly! Fuck’s sake!
Justice now really is fucking dead. Lie to Congress, intimidate witnesses, do whatever you want!
PASS SOME DAMN LAWS to prevent this even happening again!
You crooked f*cking orange shitstain of a lump of a coward!
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ITMFAA
Not just joking around or being aspirational here. Deadly serious
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This!!!
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Ostensibly Trump did it this way so that Stone can appeal, whereas the pardon bestows guilt.
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Meh, presidential powers were getting OP as it was. It’s a good thing to dial them back, regardless of who is sitting on the throne sitting at the Resolute desk.
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That needs to be a goddamn billboard on every highway leading to DC and every conservative capital in the US.
I know my response above was a bit over the top angry, but damnnit, someone has to be, we can’t all be like “yeah, I knew he was going to do that”.
Goddamnit, get angry- and stay angry through November, because resignation never changed a damn thing. People angry in the streets for weeks, months now since Floyd’s death- that anger got something to change for once.
Don’t let this orange shitstain get away with even one more bullshit thing like this- hold his ass to the fire, and kick his ass out in November, and make his life a living hell politically and privately any damn way you can
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Of course they’re all innocent. And I’m Wilma Flintstone.
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Either way he’s guilty. A commutation reduces the punishment while a pardon forgives the crimes. Neither confers innocence - you’re still convicted. You can’t be re-charged under double jeopardy, but you also can’t invoke the Fifth Amendment.
ETA since his sentence was commuted he can try to get his conviction overturned, but that’s really, really hard to do. You have to prove that the judge made a mistake, the jury made a mistake, or lawyers failed to provide adequate council. Any of these things is a very tall order to prove and this is rarely successful. If somehow he managed to get his conviction set aside if he’s not also acquitted as a result, double jeopardy may not apply and he could just get re-charged with the same crimes.
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Different presidency, no doubt. I’m sure you agree that we need to make some changes regarding oversight and the effective capaability of said oversight.
BTW in response to @Gyrofrog you said you can’t plead the fifth. Is that both in the case of both a commutation and a pardon? At first glance I didn’t see much info on that detail.
Also can someone explain how a commutation can happen before the sentence has even started? Because again, going back to Chelsea Manning. Her original sentence was commuted and there was no pardon, but she had served 7(?) years of her sentence. I thought a commuted sentence offers a lesser penalty, not no penalty. Is that something I just assumed about a commuted sentence because that’s just how it normally plays out? Is this just another norm audaciously smashed to bits by the man-baby in charge?
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