US President Donald Trump has commuted the prison sentence of his longtime ally and former adviser Roger Stone.
The move – sparing Stone from jail but not a pardon – came just after a court denied Stone’s request to delay the start date of his 40-month prison term.
He was convicted of lying to Congress, obstruction and witness tampering.
Stone was the sixth Trump aide found guilty on charges linked to a justice department probe that alleged Russia tried to boost the Trump 2016 campaign.
The 67-year-old had been due to report to a federal prison in Jesup, Georgia, next Tuesday.
What did the president say?
The White House said in a statement: “Roger Stone is a victim of the Russia Hoax that the Left and its allies in the media perpetuated for years in an attempt to undermine the Trump Presidency.”
It said that Department of Justice prosecutors under special counsel Robert Mueller only charged Stone out of frustration after failing to prove the “fantasy” that the Trump campaign had colluded with the Kremlin.
“This is why the out-of-control Mueller prosecutors, desperate for splashy headlines to compensate for a failed investigation, set their sights on Mr Stone,” said the statement.
The White House also suggested that the FBI had tipped off CNN about their pre-dawn raid on Stone’s house, noting that a camera crew for the cable network was on the scene to record the arrest.
“Roger Stone has already suffered greatly,” the statement said. “He was treated very unfairly, as were many others in this case. Roger Stone is now a free man!”
Mr Trump had been hinting about a reprieve for Stone for months, including on Thursday night in an interview with a Fox News host.
What’s the reaction?
Stone told the Associated Press news agency that Mr Trump had called him earlier on Friday to let him about the commutation.
The political adviser said he was celebrating in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with his friends and drinking champagne.
But House of Representatives Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff condemned Mr Trump’s clemency.
“With this commutation,” said the top Democratic lawmaker, “Trump makes clear that there are two systems of justice in America: one for his criminal friends, and one for everyone else.”
Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez said: “Is there any power Trump won’t abuse?”
Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren said it showed Donald Trump was the most corrupt president in history.
But the president’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, welcomed the news, saying Roger Stone’s sentence was draconian.
The president has been accused by political critics of undermining the justice system by criticising criminal cases against Stone and other former aides.
Mr Trump has also publicly groused about the prosecutions of onetime campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former White House National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.
What was Stone convicted of?
The president’s commutation does not void a criminal conviction as a pardon does.
Stone was found guilty of lying to the House Intelligence Committee about his attempts to contact Wikileaks, the website that released damaging emails about Mr Trump’s 2016 Democratic election rival Hillary Clinton.
US intelligence officials have concluded the messages were stolen by Russian hackers.
Stone had acknowledged during the 2016 campaign that he was in contact with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.
He also intimated that he knew the website would disclose more than 19,000 emails hacked from the Democratic National Committee servers.
Source: BBC
