White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley on Wednesday denied that President Donald Trump or anyone at the White House pressured Attorney General William Barr or others about reducing the sentence of his associate Roger Stone.
"Unequivocally no," Gidley told Fox News' "America's Newsroom." "The attorney general and DOJ made very clear they made this decision before any tweet went out. The president did not interfere here with anything."
However, Gidley said that as the nation's "chief law enforcement officer," Trump has the "right to do it, but he just didn't. He didn't have a conversation, rather, with the attorney general. That's just ludicrous."
He added the outcry from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and other Democrats about the call from the Department of Justice to lower Stone's recommended sentence is "another scandal Democrats are trying to push forward. Now that the impeachment and Russia collusion is done, they look for something else to grab onto. They don't want to talk about the successful policies of this president."
Trump applauded Barr Wednesday for reducing the Justice Department's sentencing recommendation for Stone after federal prosecutors handling the case recommended he be sentenced to 7-9 years for a conviction of lying to Congress and witness tampering, among other charges.
The DOJ later Tuesday, after Trump tweeted about the case, calling it a "miscarriage of justice," told a judge the department recommended a "far less" sentence. The four federal prosecutors making the recommendation pulled out of the case and one, an assistant U.S. attorney, completely resigned from the DOJ.
Meanwhile, Gidley also commented on the New Hampshire primary, telling Fox News it "doesn't matter" which Democrat tops the party's ticket,as they "all want to erode" what Trump has accomplished and "hurt Americans' futures," but he would not comment about what Trump's strategy will be should Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., becomes the Democratic nominee.
"What this president has been able to accomplish in such a short amount of time is historic by any measure," he said. "The Democrats don't want to talk about it."
"They continue to put their own selfish political desires over the needs of the American people," Gidley concluded. "The president is focused on making their lives better."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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