What Could Be More Impeachable Than Clemency for Roger Stone?

By commuting the prison sentence of Roger Stone, President Donald Trump has made his contempt for the rule of law plain for all to see. Clemency for a crony convicted of interfering with an investigation of presidential malfeasance is a flagrant abuse of power. President Richard Nixon wasn’t willing to pardon the Watergate criminals who broke into Democratic Party offices in the run-up to the 1972 presidential campaign because he knew how bad it would look; the evidence that Nixon hinted at clemency for his convicted associates was part of the reason he was eventually forced to resign or face certain impeachment by the House of Representatives and conviction and removal by the Senate.

Stone, Trump’s friend and a longtime Republican political operative, was sentenced to more than three years in prison for lying to congressional investigators and witness tampering in matters related to inquiries about Russian interference in the 2016 campaign. The investigation by Robert Mueller, the special counsel who conducted the probe of Russia’s activities, concluded not only that Stone had behaved improperly, but that Trump’s public actions praising him were part of what amounted to obstruction of justice.1 The decision Friday night to commute Stone’s sentence comes after other presidential actions taken after the impeachment acquittal by the Senate that include the firing of several inspectors general, retaliation against officials who testified truthfully to Congress, and of course Trump’s continuing refusal to submit to normal oversight by Congress. All were abuses of presidential power, exactly what the impeachment and removal power of Congress is designed for.