Roger Stone Says He‘ll Die in Jail Without Pardon, Trump Calls Situation ’Disgraceful’

Roger Stone, former adviser to President Donald Trump, leaves the Federal Court after a sentencing hearing in Washington on Feb. 20, 2020. Samira Bouaou/Epoch Times

Roger Stone on Friday night said he believes he will die in jail unless he’s pardoned by President Donald Trump.

Stone, a longtime friend and former adviser to Trump, was sentenced on Feb. 20 to three years and four months in prison.

Stone was convicted on charges including lying to a congressional committee that was investigating Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election.

Stone in recent weeks moved for a new trial, pointing out anti-Trump social media posts made by the jury forewoman, and tried getting the presiding judge to recuse herself after she praised the “integrity“ of the jurors.

Both attempts failed. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the District of Columbia this week said Stone would not get a new trial after she refused to recuse herself. Stone, 67, was under a gag order throughout the ordeal. That order was lifted Friday, prompting an appearance on Fox News.

Roger Stone, former adviser to President Donald Trump, leaves the Federal Court after a sentencing hearing in Washington on Feb. 20, 2020. Samira Bouaou/Epoch Times

“I was very hopeful that the motion for a mistrial in my case—based on flagrant and blatant, even egregious juror misconduct—would’ve won me a new trial. The U.S. Supreme Court has been very clear that all defendants are entitled to a jury that is impartial and indifferent. But in this case, it is indisputable that the jury forewoman attacked both me and President Trump in 2019 social media postings, lied about that during jury selection, and then later deleted her Facebook page to cover her trails,” Stone said on the network’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”

Host Tucker Carlson said he was confused about Stone not being pardoned by Trump, prompting the president’s former adviser to say a sentence would likely leave him dead.

Stone noted his age and said he has some underlying health problems, including asthma.

“I believe with the coronavirus, it is essentially a death sentence,” he said.

The CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, a novel coronavirus that emerged from mainland China last year, has spread across the nation. Many states and cities have been releasing low-level inmates and prisoners who were soon up for release because of crowded conditions in jails that some experts say are ripe for an explosion of virus cases.

The CCP virus causes COVID-19, a disease that kills a small percentage of patients, primarily among the elderly and those with underlying health conditions.

Transmission electron micrograph of the CCP virus, commonly known as novel coronavirus or SARS-CoV-2, isolated from a patient. Photo published March 10, 2020. NIAID

Stone was ordered to surrender in two weeks.

Trump later Friday took to Twitter to share a post by Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, who noted that the judge was appointed by former President Barack Obama and made a number of claims, including ones about “a stacked, partisan jury” and “a rigged, unfair sentencing process.”

“RT for a FULL PARDON of Roger Stone!” Kirk wrote.

Trump quote tweeted the post, writing, “This is a disgraceful situation!”

The president said in February that Stone wouldn’t be pardoned, though he appeared to leave open the possibility for later.

“I’m not going to do anything in terms of the great powers bestowed upon a president of the United States, I want the process play out, I think that’s the best thing to do,” Trump said in Las Vegas. “Because I’d love to see Roger exonerated and I’d love to see it happen because I personally think he was treated very unfairly.”

Jack Phillips and Janita Kan contributed to this report.