Chris Christie: I wouldn’t have commuted Roger Stone sentence | TheHill

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said Sunday that he wouldn’t have commuted President TrumpDonald John TrumpDeSantis on Florida schools reopening: ‘If you can do Walmart,’ then ‘we absolutely can do schools’ NYT editorial board calls for the reopening of schools with help from federal government’s ‘checkbook’ Mueller pens WaPo op-ed: Roger Stone ‘remains a convicted felon, and rightly so’ MORE associate Roger StoneRoger Jason StoneMueller pens WaPo op-ed: Roger Stone ‘remains a convicted felon, and rightly so’ GOP senator says Trump commuting Stone was a ‘mistake’ Sunday shows preview: Coronavirus poses questions about school safety; Trump commutes Roger Stone sentence MORE.

ABC’s George StephanopoulosGeorge Robert StephanopoulosCDC won’t revise school opening guidelines after Trump criticism Pelosi: Nationwide mask mandate ‘definitely long overdue’ ABC News to air Bolton interview shortly before White House memoir release MORE asked Christie, who sat on the roundtable panel for “This Week,” whether commuting Stone’s sentence was “the right thing to do.”

“Well, I wouldn’t have done it, George, because I don’t think that the facts that surround the Stone prosecution support the idea of any type of clemency,” the former governor said.

Christie acknowledged that the president “has the right to do it” but maintained that “I wouldn’t have done it.”

“I wouldn’t have done it,” Chris Christie says when asked about President Trump commuting the sentence of Roger Stone, “because I don’t think that the facts that surround the Stone prosecution support the idea of any type of clemency.” https://t.co/NJ1yDcze81 pic.twitter.com/eAyqRK41l2

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) July 12, 2020

Trump commuted Stone’s sentence of three years and four months on Friday after Stone, his former campaign adviser in the 2016 election, was convicted of several crimes, including witness tampering and lying to Congress. Stone’s sentence was supposed to start on Tuesday.

Trump has held that Stone’s conviction was a political witch hunt, and Stone has openly asked for clemency from the president.

Stone is one of six of the president’s associates who were charged during former special counsel Robert MuellerRobert (Bob) MuellerCNN’s Toobin warns McCabe is in ‘perilous condition’ with emboldened Trump CNN anchor rips Trump over Stone while evoking Clinton-Lynch tarmac meeting The Hill’s 12:30 Report: New Hampshire fallout MORE’s Russia investigation. The probe concluded that the 2016 Trump campaign was open to Russia’s election interference, but there was not enough evidence to charge the campaign with conspiring with Russia.

Mueller reacted to the commutation by defending the charging of Stone saying he “remains a convicted felon, and rightly so.”

Sens. Pat ToomeyPatrick (Pat) Joseph ToomeyGOP senators push for quick, partial reopening of economy NSA improperly collected US phone records in October, new documents show Overnight Defense: Pick for South Korean envoy splits with Trump on nuclear threat | McCain blasts move to suspend Korean military exercises | White House defends Trump salute of North Korean general MORE (R-Penn.) and Mitt RomneyWillard (Mitt) Mitt RomneyGOP senator says Trump commuting Stone was a ‘mistake’ Roger Stone joins list of political figures, allies granted clemency by Trump Romney blasts Trump’s Stone commutation: ‘Historic corruption’ MORE (R-Utah) are the only Republican senators to criticize the president for the commutation, prompting backlash from Trump over Twitter.