This really has to be the most pathetic excuse ever to justify the pardon we all know is coming eventually for Trump-fixer, now convict, Roger Stone.
Pence aide Marc Short was asked about the potential pardon by Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace, who actually, to his credit, pointed out the real reason for the pardon -- the fact that Stone protected Trump in the Mueller investigation -- and Short responded by claiming that the entire system is just terribly unfair because the former Acting Director of the FBI Andrew McCabe has been hired by CNN instead of sitting in a jail cell, which is where Trump would still like for him to be.
Trump's own DOJ refused to prosecute McCabe, but that doesn't matter to the right-wing grievance industry, who will never stop beating this dead horse as long as Trump remains in office, or ever.
TRUMP: I'd love to see roger exonerated. and I'd love to see happen because I personally think he was treated very unfairly.
WALLACE: So here's the question, Stone was convicted, specifically, for lying about the fact that he in fact was trying to get information from Wikileaks about what they were going to do with the thousands of hacked Democratic emails. Why does the president -- and it was a treasure trove of evidence that indicated he had lied about the fact that he was trying to find out from Wikileaks what they were going to do with the emails. Why does the president think you should be exonerated?
SHORT: You know it's possible he will get exonerated Chris...
WALLACE: I'm asking you, why does the president think he should be?
SHORT: I have no interest in being a character witness for Roger Stone. I don't know Roger Stone. I think that lying to federal investigators, he should be prosecuted for and that's what the Department of Justice did. But I think the president's frustration is, you see a Department of Justice that comes in with the original sentencing guidelines four years beyond what it's supposed to be for sentencing guidelines for his offenses. And yet when you see people like Andy McCabe, who also lied to federal investigators, referred for investigation, what they get is a lucrative contract at CNN. That doesn't seem to be equitable justice. I think that's what the president's primary frustration is.
WALLACE: But, he's not saying he got sentence for too long. Incidentally, he didn't get the 7-9 years, he got three and a half years, roughly. Here's what the president's own Attorney General William Barr said.
BARR: I think it was established, he was convicted of obstructing Congress and witness tampering, and I thought that was a righteous prosecution, and I was happy that he was convicted.
WALLACE: And the judge in the case, said this about Stone.
“He was not prosecuted, as some have complained, for standing up for the president. He was prosecuted for covering up for the president.”
So when the president talks about wanting to see Roger Stone get off, to be exonerated, and even raises the possibility that he might pardon him, is that because Roger Stone protected him in the Mueller investigation?
SHORT: I don't think so, Chris. I think the president again is frustrated in seeing what he thinks is an equitable system of justice. I think what he's seeing is the Roger Stone investigation was born out of the Mueller Report, what's there it started from. The reality is that the Mueller Report, as we've seen, did not show Russia collusion. It would seem to our minds...
WALLACE; You have the Attorney General saying it was a righteous prosecution.
SHORT: And I'll just share with you that I think it should be prosecuted as well. I think that people who lie to Congress should be prosecuted Chris... and so... but I think that what's unfair in the system, is that those who also were trying to prevent this president from being elected inside their position at the Department of Justice, lied about it, leaked information. The Inspector General refers them for prosecution and what they get is a lucrative contract at a TV network. How is that equitable justice?
WALLACE: Well, I suppose one of the arguments would be just because one guy gets off, doesn't mean the other person should.
SHORT: And I've said multiple times on your network that he should have been prosecuted. And so we will see what happens with the second round.
