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Top Democrats Blast Trump's Commutation of Roger Stone Sentence

Ken Bredemeier

   WASHINGTON - Two leading U.S. Democrats on Sunday condemned President
   Donald Trump's clemency for his long-time friend Roger Stone, wiping
   out his 40-month prison sentence for political wrongdoing, saying it
   was a perversion of American legal standards.

   "It's staggering corruption," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said of
   Trump's commutation of Stone's sentence during an interview on CNN.

   "People should know this isn't just about lying to Congress, that means
   lying to the American people, and witness tampering and the rest,"
   Pelosi said of the seven convictions a jury handed down against the
   67-year-old Stone. "It's about our national security."

   U.S. presidential power for overseeing pardons and commutations is
   virtually unlimited, but Pelosi said legislation will be introduced
   that would in the future limit a president from commuting, pardoning or
   offering clemency to anyone who is convicted of a crime that affects
   the president's behavior and culpability.

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