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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsChris Christie: Not 'politically viable' for Trump to pardon Roger Stone
Former Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Sunday warned President Trump against pardoning longtime confidant Roger Stone.
"I don't think pardons in this instance are viable politically, politically viable. Legally, I think he's absolutely well within his right to do it," Christie told ABC News' "This Week." "The president understands the limits of politics. He is understanding it even more, and I think he knows that those kind of pardons would not be politically viable."
Stone, who last week was indicted in special counsel Robert Mueller's federal Russia investigation, told the news outlet earlier Sunday Trump had "absolutely, positively not" suggested he was considering pardoning him.
Stone faces seven counts of lying to Congress, witness tampering, and obstructing a congressional inquiry amid Mueller's probe. Christie, a former U.S. attorney for New Jersey, pushed back on Stone's assertion that Mueller's indictment was as "thin as piss on a rock," saying the Nixon-era political operative and self-described political trickster could be in "very, very grave danger" should he decide to contest the charges in court.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/chris-christie-not-politically-viable-for-trump-to-pardon-roger-stone/ar-BBSNG0d?li=BBnb7Kz
Trumpy don't care.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,844 posts)That doesn't stop him. The government shutdown wasn't politically viable either.
empedocles
(15,751 posts)'Protesteth too much'.
[Seemed like stone and trump talked, - but not mentioned the pardon elephant in the room with them?]
RockRaven
(14,998 posts)Stone is the kind of person whose cooperation is useless because he is so absolutely sleazy, value-free, and deceitful. Like Trump -- if Trump tried to cooperate by rolling on a different defendant no prosecutor would ever give him a deal because even honest genuine cooperation from such a person has no usefulness/value. Stone is going to get prosecuted and sentenced the same whether he tries to cooperate or not. The only little differences around the edges would be some consideration for not wasting the court's time with a trial if he pleads guilty, or an extra tough sentencing if he tries to jerk Mueller around like Manafort and PapaD did.
However, arresting and charging Stone is useful by itself b/c of the electronic and communications devices and records Mueller was able to seize simultaneously.