Marc Short: Trump’s Frustrated McCabe Gets a Lucrative CNN Contract and Roger Stone Is Sentenced
WALLACE: One of the president’s friends, Roger Stone, was sentenced to 40 months in prison for lying to Congress, for obstruction, and for witness tampering. Here was the president’s reaction.
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TRUMP: I’d love to see Roger exonerated. And I’d love to see it happen because I personally think he was sweet treated very unfairly.
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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 there 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 he should be exonerated?
SHORT: I — you know, it’s possible he will get exonerated, Chris. I have — I have no interest —
(CROSSTALK)
WALLACE: Well, I’m asking you, the president — why does he think he should be?
SHORT: I have no interest of being 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 out with the original sentencing guidelines four years beyond what they’re — 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. And 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 to 9 years. He got three and a half years, roughly.
SHORT: Correct.
WALLACE: Here’s what the president own Attorney General William Barr said.
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WILLIAM BARR, ATTORNEY GENERAL: 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.
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WALLACE: And the judge in the case, Amy Berman Jackson, 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 inequitable system of the justice. I think what he’s seen is that the Roger Stone investigation was born out of the Mueller report, where they started from.
The reality is that the Mueller report, we’ve seen, did not show Russia collusion. We’ve seen, in our minds (ph) —
(CROSSTALK)
WALLACE: But you have the attorney general saying it was a righteous prosecution.
SHORT: I understand.
And I just share with you that I think it should be prosecuted as well. I think that people who lied to Congress should be prosecuted, Chris.
And so — but I think that’s what’s unfair in the system is that those who also were trying to prevent this president from being elected inside their position at Department of Justice, lied about it, leaked information. The inspector general refers them for prosecution and what they get is a lucrative contract to TV network.
How is that equitable justice?
WALLACE: Well, I mean, 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.
WALLACE: OK.
SHORT: And so, we’ll see what happens with the second round. And also —
