President Donald Trump commuted Roger Stone’s 40-month prison sentence on Friday evening, just four days before he was to report to a COVID-infested federal prison, also commuting his probation and waiving any unpaid fines.  Trump’s commutation did not erase Stone’s conviction but merely spared him of prison, during a time when literally thousands of convicted criminals are being released to lessen the chances of prisoners getting COVID-19 disease and dying while in detention. Despite this, the left-leaning mainstream media has howled at this act of compassion by the President as the virtual end times for Democracy.

After commuting his sentence, the man who authorized the prosecution of Stone, Robert Mueller, purportedly wrote an op-ed in the rabidly anti-Trump publication, the Washington Post.

Some people in the know claim Mueller is suffering from early-onset dementia and that the op-ed was likely ghostwritten. The op-ed published under Mueller’s name said in part: “Stone became a central figure in our investigation for two key reasons: He communicated in 2016 with individuals known to us to be Russian intelligence officers, [Guccifer 2.0] and he claimed advance knowledge of WikiLeaks’ release of emails stolen by those Russian intelligence officers…

We … identified numerous links between the Russian government and Trump campaign personnel — Stone among them. We did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired with the Russian government in its activities. [Ed. Note: This is extremely important. The op-ed states, to repeat: We did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired with the Russian government in its activities. That includes Stone. There was no evidence that Stone conspired with the Russians, yet this is what the entire case centered on].

… Congress also investigated and sought information from Stone. A jury later determined he lied repeatedly to members of Congress. He lied about the identity of his intermediary to WikiLeaks. He lied about the existence of written communications with his intermediary. He lied by denying he had communicated with the Trump campaign about the timing of WikiLeaks’ releases. He in fact updated senior campaign officials repeatedly about WikiLeaks. And he tampered with a witness, imploring him to stonewall Congress.

The jury ultimately convicted Stone of obstruction of a congressional investigation, five counts of making false statements to Congress, and tampering with a witness. Because his sentence has been commuted, he will not go to prison. But his conviction stands…

We made every decision in Stone’s case, as in all our cases, based solely on the facts and the law and in accordance with the rule of law. The women and men who conducted these investigations and prosecutions acted with the highest integrity. Claims to the contrary are false.

Here is Stone’s rebuttal:

Where’s the Russian Collusion?

By Roger Stone

I am pleased and gratified to accept the grant of clemency in the form of the full commutation of my sentence by President Donald Trump. As I have said for some weeks, I have been praying to God for this result and if anyone doubts the power of prayer or that God will always defend and protect His people, President Trump’s actions should remove any doubt.

Above all, I want to thank not only the President but the over 600,000 Americans who signed petitions to the President urging Clemency and the 65,000 people who contributed to my legal defense fund as well as the millions of Americans who are praying for me.

The reaction to the President’s act of clemency by bitter Democrats and the Dirtiest of Dirty Cops was predictable. They recycle the same old debunked lies.

Now mentally feeble and thoroughly discredited former Special Counsel Robert Mueller attempts to recycle the same old falsehood.

His claim that my innocent and innocuous exchange with the persona of Guccifer 2.0 on Twitter Direct Messages, which I released publicly, was proof of collusion between the Russian GRU and the Trump campaign. This is disproved by the timing and content of the exchange, which took place after the release of DNC documents by Wikileaks.

The exchange itself proves no collaboration or collusion.

Mueller’s assertion that I claimed advance knowledge of the Wikileaks release of data is meaningless. Julian Assange had already announced that he had more material on Hillary Clinton and would release it.

In fact, Mueller justified my case being tried before Judge Amy Berman Jackson because he said evidence from the Russian hacking case would be introduced at my trial. No such evidence was introduced. Using forensic evidence and expert testimony I could have proved that there was no online hack of the DNC servers by the Russians or anybody else, but Judge Amy Berman Jackson prohibited this crucial evidence, that was central to my case, being admitted.

Nor can Mueller prove that Guccifer 2.0 is a Russian Intelligence asset. Just because former CIA head, John Brennan says something does not make it true. If Mueller had any evidence that I was involved in working with the Russians to steal data and disseminate it (I wasn’t), why wasn’t I charged with it?

I must address the other faux line of attack of the Democrats, and their handmaidens in the corporate media. Those like Speaker Pelosi, who make the baseless claim that my refusal to testify against the President means I covered up some act of wrongdoing by the President in return for commutation. They are purposely twisting what I have said, repeatedly, on the record: I refused to bear false witness against the President. I refused to let prosecutors compose false testimony regarding the content of multiple phone conversations with candidate Trump in 2016. I refused to lie despite intense legal and financial pressure to do so.

Because of a ruling by Judge Jackson that I be incarcerated in a correctional facility with documented cases of COVID-19, contrary to all current legal precedents, the current policy of the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Prisons, and despite my age and medical condition (strangely upheld by the DC Circuit of Appeals), the President’s action is certainly defensible on humanitarian grounds as an act of mercy, as well as basing it on the lynching I received in a DC Courtroom which features a biased judge, a corrupted jury, and politically motivated and corrupt prosecutors.

I was targeted for political prosecution in an investigation that we now know had no legal or legitimate reason to be opened.

In fact, the investigation into my activities was not authorized until October 26, 2017, three months after Robert Mueller had established that there was no collusion between the Russian state and the Trump Campaign.

Because I did not receive a fair trial, I have filed an appeal of my conviction on numerous constitutional grounds as well as appealing the decision by Judge Amy Berman Jackson for a new trial based on juror misconduct that is so egregious, blatant, and illegal that only Judge Jackson could not see it. This commutation of sentence will allow those appeals to go forward. I still maintain my innocence.

It’s amazing how many ‘journalists” omit this information from their coverage.

I will also file formal complaints of misconduct with the Office of Professional Conduct at the Department of Justice against at least three of the prosecutors in my case. I was unconstitutionally prohibited from raising this misconduct at trial.

With this decision by the President, I am fully aware that “many” of the reporters in the mainstream media are on “suicide watch”. The lies and distortion which did – and still do – dominate the coverage of my indictment, case, and trial continues to misinform the American people and propagate a false narrative that was discredited long ago.

Hypocritical Democrats ranting about the rule of law should address the biggest abuse of power in which President Obama and Vice President Biden used the authority of the United States Government and the capability of our intelligence agencies to use fabricated evidence to defraud the FISA Court to spy on the Republican candidate for President and launch an illegitimate attempt to remove the President from office. When they finish with that they can address the effort by the FBI and the DOJ to fix Hillary Clinton’s illegal email server and the missing email case.

Beyond working on my personal appeal, I intend to expose the injustice perpetrated on General Michael Flynn and to work overtime to inform the American people why it is crucial to reelect President Donald J. Trump in November 2020.