WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Saturday that Roger Stone was entangled in “an illegal Witch Hunt,” offering his first comment since the White House announced Friday night that Trump commuted the prison sentence of his former campaign aide, sparing his longtime adviser from having to report to prison next week.
“Roger Stone was targeted by an illegal Witch Hunt that never should have taken place. It is the other side that are criminals, including Biden and Obama, who spied on my campaign – AND GOT CAUGHT!,” Trump tweeted Saturday morning.
Trump continued to tweet about other players involved in the Russia investigation, including his former attorney general Jeff Sessions and the former British spy Christopher Steele.
“This man should be extradited, tried, and thrown into jail,” Trump wrote of Steele. “A sick lier who was paid by Crooked Hillary & the DNC!”
Trump shared multiple articles about Steele, who was ordered by a British court earlier this week to pay damages over “inaccurate” claims in the dossier that he became known for during the 2016 campaign.
Trump also lashed out at Sessions, who is locked in a competitive runoff against former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville for the Republican Party nomination to challenge Sen. Doug Jones, a Democrat, in Alabama this fall.
“Big Senate Race in Alabama on Tuesday. Vote for @TTuberville, he is a winner who will never let you down,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “Jeff Sessions is a disaster who has let us all down. We don’t want him back in Washington!”
Sessions was forced out of the White House after he recused himself from the Russia investigation, an act Trump never forgave him for.
Stone was found guilty in November of witness tampering and making false statements. He was the sixth Trump aide or adviser to be convicted of charges brought as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe.
Stone was sentenced in February to serve 40 months in prison for lying to Congress during the investigation of Russian election meddling. After the coronavirus pandemic swept the nation, the Bureau of Prisons gave him an extension on reporting to prison. He had been in home confinement in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
