After Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) spoke out against President Donald Trump for commuting the sentence of Roger Stone, Trump hit back in a tweet calling them Republicans In Name Only who were unconcerned about the “illegal spying on my campaign.”
“Do RINO’S Pat Toomey & Mitt Romney have any problem with the fact that we caught Obama, Biden, & Company illegally spying on my campaign,” tweeted Trump late Saturday evening. “Do they care if Comey, McCabe, Page & her lover, Peter S, the whole group, ran rampant, wild & unchecked – lying & leaking all the way? NO!”
Do RINO’S Pat Toomey & Mitt Romney have any problem with the fact that we caught Obama, Biden, & Company illegally spying on my campaign? Do they care if Comey, McCabe, Page & her lover, Peter S, the whole group, ran rampant, wild & unchecked – lying & leaking all the way? NO!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2020
Stone, who had his 40-month sentence commuted late Friday evening, was convicted of witness tampering, lying to Congress, and obstructing a congressional investigation, charges stemming from his alleged conduct during the Mueller investigation, as the former special counsel pointed out in a Washington Post op-ed, published on Saturday, defending the case against Stone.
In a statement on Friday evening, the Trump administration defended the president’s decision to grant Stone clemency, arguing that he was a casualty in the collusion hoax “that was perpetuated for years in an attempt to undermine the Trump Presidency.”
The White House also noted that Stone has maintained his innocence, was seeking a new trial, and was at risk of health complications should he be sent to prison. (Stone was scheduled to begin his sentence later this month.)
While Democrats have decried Trump’s decision to grant Stone clemency, Toomey and Romney are the only GOP senators who have made statements against it as of publication.
“While I understand the frustration with the badly flawed Russia-collusion investigation, in my view, commuting Roger Stone’s sentence is a mistake,” said Toomey, reports CNN correspondent Manu Raju.
“He was duly convicted of lying to Congress, witness tampering, and obstructing a congressional investigation conducted by a Republican-led committee,” he said, later adding, “Any objections to Mr. Stone’s conviction and trial should be resolved through the appeals process.”
As The Daily Wire previously reported, Romney took to Twitter and called the commutation “unprecedented, historic corruption: an American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president.”
Unprecedented, historic corruption: an American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president.
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) July 11, 2020