(CNN) — The President of U.S, Donald TrumpHe hinted in a couple of interviews on Thursday that he was ready to forgive Roger Stone, his friend and ally who was convicted, among other things, of lying to Congress and that he will go to prison this month.
It is expected that Trump forgive or commute Stone’s sentence, according to at least half a dozen sources close to the president.
When asked by Fox News host Sean Hannity if he considered a pardon or commutation for Stone, Trump said during a phone interview: “I’m always thinking.”
“You’ll be looking like everyone else in this case,” he said.
In another interview, with radio host Howie Carr, Trump denounced Stone’s treatment at the hands of law enforcement and said he can issue his presidential pardon statement.
“I was being framed. It was horrible treatment. He was treated so badly, “said Trump.
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He said Stone was “praying” for forgiveness before the day he is due to appear in prison on July 14, Trump said Thursday, those prayers may be worth it.
“If you say you are praying, your prayer can be answered,” Trump said. “Let’s see what happens.”
He said Stone is a “good person” and “a character.”
Stone was convicted last year of five counts of lying to Congress, one count of witness tampering, and one count of obstruction of procedure in a congressional commission. Among other things, the jury unanimously decided that it had misled Congress about its communications with Trump campaign officials in 2016.
According to prosecutors, Stone lied during testimony and failed to release documents to Congress in 2017 that showed that he had attempted to contact WikiLeaks the previous year. He lied about five facts, hiding his attempt to use intermediaries to obtain information that could help then-candidate Trump in the elections against Hillary Clinton.
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Prosecutors initially asked for between seven and nine years in prison, but Attorney General William Barr retracted that recommendation, hours after Trump criticized it on Twitter as too harsh.
Four prosecutors withdrew from the case in response to Barr’s decision. Two new supervisors from the Washington United States Attorney’s Office stepped in to handle Stone’s sentences, and a new sentencing memo was released asking for “much less” time.
Stone was eventually sentenced to 40 months in prison earlier this year.
Rapid developments in the case raised questions about the department’s independence from pressure politics and they led congressional Democrats to call the Justice Department inspector general to investigate.
CNN’s Katelyn Polantz contributed to this report.
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