Roger Stone still a convicted felon: Robert Mueller defends his inquiry

Former special counsel Robert Mueller says Roger Stone remains a felon, a day after Donald Trump commuted his prison sentence.

Roger Stone enters court with his wife Nydia last November. Picture: AFP

Former special counsel Robert Mueller has defended his investi­gation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and said Roger Stone remains a felon, a day after President Donald Trump commuted the prison sentence of his longtime friend and political adviser.

Stone was convicted in federal court in November of making false statements, witness tampering and trying to impede a congressional investigation into Russian election interference.

He was set to report to prison on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST) to begin serving a 40-month sentence, before Mr Trump moved on Friday to lessen his punishment.

“I feel compelled to respond both to broad claims that our investigation was illegitimate and our motives were improper, and to specific claims that Roger Stone was a victim of our office,” Mr Mueller wrote in an opinion article published in the Washington Post over the the weekend.

“The Russia investigation was of paramount importance. Stone was prosecuted and convicted because he committed federal crimes.”

Mr Trump tweeted on Saturday had been “targeted by an illegal Witch Hunt that should never have taken place.”

Both sides of politics accused the President of corruption for commuting Stone’s sentence. Democrat representative Adam Schiff, who led the impeachment inquiry against Mr Trump, described the move as “most offensive to the rule of law and principles of justice”.

Mitt Romney, the sole Republican exception to the Senate’s party-line vote in February to acquit the President of the impeachment charges, said on Twitter: “Unprecedented, historic corruption: an American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president.”

Robert Mueller: ‘Stone was prosecuted because he committed federal crimes.’ Picture: AFP

Under the US constitution, presidents have power to pardon and commute sentences related to federal crimes. Mr Trump’s grant of clemency to Stone marks the first time he has used his authority to help a close associate.

Stone’s conviction stemmed from Mr Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential race and whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russians. In a report upon the conclusion of his investigation last year, Mr Mueller described sweeping interference efforts by Russia but said he didn’t establish that the country colluded with the Trump campaign.

“The investigation did establish that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome,” Mr Mueller wrote in the op-ed. “It also established that the campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts.”

Mr Trump has denied any collusion with Russia by his campaign. Russia has denied interfering in US elections.

Mr Mueller wrote that Stone was a key figure in the investi­gation because of his 2016 communications with Russian intelli­gence officers and his claim of having advance knowledge of WikiLeaks’s release of emails ­stolen by those intelligence officers. “He lied about the identity of his intermediary to WikiLeaks. He lied about the existence of written communications with his intermediary,” Mr Mueller wrote.

“He lied by denying he had communicated with the Trump campaign about the timing of WikiLeaks’s releases.

“He in fact updated senior campaign officials repeatedly about WikiLeaks. And he tampered with a witness, imploring him to stonewall congress.”

Stone has denied wrongdoing.

“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,” Mr Mueller added.

Stone, a Republican operative for decades, met Mr Trump in 1979 and later registered as a lobbyist on behalf of the Trump Organisation. The two became friends around the 1990s, and Stone advised Mr Trump for years, including helping to lead Mr Trump’s aborted 2000 presidential campaign on the Reform Party ticket.

He served on the Trump 2016 campaign when it started but left the operation in the summer of 2015, although he continued to be in touch with Mr Trump.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL