Adam Schiff Slams Donald Trump For Creating ‘Two Systems Of Justice’ After President Commuted Stone’s Sentence
After President Donald Trump commuted the sentence of his ally, Roger Stone, earlier today, Representative Adam Schiff — who is the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee — condemned the president for creating what he called separate justice systems in the United States.
The Massassachuttes Democrat expressed his thoughts on the president signing an Executive Grant of Clemency just days before Stone’s sentence was set to begin in a tweet.
“Trump just commuted Roger Stone’s sentence. Stone lied and intimidated witnesses to hide Trump’s exploitation of the Russian hack of his opponent’s campaign. With Trump there are now two systems of justice in America: One for Trump’s criminal friends and one for everyone else.”
The congressman’s tweet received a lot of attention, gaining nearly 60,000 likes and more than 22,000 retweets. Approximately 14,000 Twitter users also chimed in with a comment. Many agreed with Schiff’s comments, but others expressed their happiness about President Trump’s decision to allow Stone not to serve his sentence.
Fox News reported that Stone was convicted of charges related to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation in the Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Before the president commuted the sentence, Stone was supposed to begin his 40 months behind bars on July 14.
He received his sentence in February 2020 after his November 2019 conviction. A jury found the high-profile Republican consultant guilty of seven counts of obstruction, witness tampering, and making false statements to Congress. Stone appealed the decision and has maintained his innocence throughout the process.
Commuting Roger Stone’s sentence is a terrible blow to justice and the rule of law.
Through this act, Trump is saying: “If you lie for me, if you cover up for me, if you obstruct for me, I will protect you.”
Another tragic day for American democracy. pic.twitter.com/kgIXpc6HdG
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) July 11, 2020
Later, Schiff also tweeted a video of himself speaking with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. They talked about the situation for nearly seven and a half minutes. The host noted that the interview was one that they’d planned last minute. Schiff said that the intervention the president and Attorney General William Barr attempted was not enough, so Trump abused his power to make the whole situation go away.
“This is part of the broad pattern of the president rewarding his friends, and potentially the more serious shoe to fall of punishing his enemies,” noted Schiff.
They also talked about how it appeared that Trump was using Barr to shield the people who lied and covered up for him. However, Schiff felt the most worrisome thing about the situation was that President Trump might use Barr to prosecute his enemies. Later, the congressman compared Trump’s behavior to that of a mafia boss and said that it damaged the rule of law in the country.
Schiff told the host that he did not know if there was anything Congress could do concerning Stone. However, the representative said that he expected Congress to enact several reforms to prevent such abuses of power in the future. Schiff stated that he felt the ultimate remedy would end up happening in November when the people of the United States vote for president.
