In an interview with CNN broadcast on Sunday, Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi slammed President Donald Trump for commuting Roger Stone’s sentence, The Hill reported.
“It’s staggering corruption, but I think it’s important for people also to know it’s a threat to national security,” the top Democrat said on State of the Union .
Pelosi said that Democrats will continue to investigate links between Trump and the Russian government.
“The whole impeachment process was about our national security. Why we are at the Supreme Court on these cases was to find out about the Russian connection, and we will continue to pursue that.”
“This case was about the Russian connection,” she underlined.
“People should know this isn’t just about lying to Congress, that means lying to the American people, and witness tampering and the rest. It’s about our national security,” the California Democrat argued.
Stone — who advised Trump during the 2016 presidential election — was sentenced to three years in prison, having been found guilty of obstruction of justice, witness tampering and lying to the United States Congress.
Trump commuted Stone’s sentence on Friday, drawing intense criticism from Democratic politicians. Some Trump allies — including Attorney General William Barr — were apparently opposed to the decision, but lobbying efforts from Stone’s daughter and longtime friend Michael Caputo prevailed.
In a statement, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany dismissed the criticism, saying that Stone was a “victim” of former special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe.
Trump has long dismissed investigations of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election as a “hoax” meant to remove him from office.
During her Sunday interview with CNN, Pelosi also made it clear that House Democrats are working on legislation that would limit a president’s pardon powers.
As Bloomberg noted, a bill to limit a president from commuting sentences would “have no chance of becoming law” since Republicans control the United States Senate. Furthermore, given that the Constitution gives the president pardon power, the bill would likely face significant legal challenges.
Republicans have either expressed support for Trump’s decision or remained silent. However, there were some exceptions. Notably, Sens. Mitt Romney of Utah and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania expressed opposition to the move.
Romney — who was the only Republican to vote to convict Trump in the Senate’s impeachment trial earlier this year — said that the president engaged in “unprecedented, historic corruption.”
Toomey picked his words more carefully, calling the commander in chief’s decision a “mistake.” The senator also described Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference and related matters as “badly-flawed.”
