#Judge demands information on Roger Stone’s commutation

A federal judge in Washington on Monday demanded more information about President Trump’s decision to commute the prison sentence of his longtime pal Roger Stone.

US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered that the parties provide her by Tuesday with a copy of the executive order that commuted Stone’s sentence.

Jackson also asked for clarity about the scope of the clemency, including whether it covered just his prison sentence or also the two-year period of supervised release that was part of his sentence.

Trump commuted Stone’s 40-month prison sentence on Friday evening, just days before he was to report to a federal lockup.

Stone was convicted as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation with making false statements, tampering with a witness and obstructing lawmakers who were examining Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Although presidents have broad authority to commute prison sentences and issue pardons, the brief order from Jackson — who presided over Stone’s trial last year — makes clear the judge still wants information and clarity about the clemency, including the actual executive order from the White House.

Trump defended his decision to commute Stone’s sentence, tweeting Saturday that the process leading to his conviction had been illegal.

“Roger Stone was targeted by an illegal Witch Hunt that never should have taken place. It is the other side that are criminals, including Biden and Obama, who spied on my campaign – AND GOT CAUGHT!” Trump said.

The White House also attacked Mueller for his op-ed published in the Washington Post last weekend, calling his probe corrupt and asserting that he failed to investigate purported wrongdoing by the Obama-Biden administration.

Attorney General William Barr has slammed the “Russian collusion” investigation as “without any basis.”

“I think the president has every right to be frustrated because I think what happened to him was one of the greatest travesties in American history,” Barr said in an interview with Fox News Channel’s Laura Ingraham in April.

“Even more concerning, actually, is what happened after the campaign, a whole pattern of events while he was president,” Barr said. “To sabotage the presidency, and I think that — or at least have the effect of sabotaging the presidency.”

An inspector general’s report on the Russia probe detailed 17 errors and omissions in FISA applications throughout the FBI’s investigation, including failing to tell the court when questions were raised about the reliability of some of the information the bureau had presented to receive the warrants.

Barr said at the time that he believed they were more than just mistakes.

“My own view is that the evidence shows that we’re not dealing with just mistakes or sloppiness,” he said. “There is something far more troubling here, and we’re going to get to the bottom of it.”

With Post wires