Roger Stone: Trump pardon of D’Souza was a signal to Mueller

Roger Stone says President Trump sent a “signal” to special counsel Robert Mueller by pardoning conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza on Thursday. 

Stone, a longtime associate of Trump’s, told The Washington Post that the message was clear: “Indict people for crimes that don’t pertain to Russian collusion and this is what could happen.”

{mosads}“The special counsel has awesome powers, as you know, but the president has even more awesome powers,” Stone added.

Mueller is reportedly investigating Stone’s finances as part of the probe into ties between Trump campaign associates and Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign. Stone has claimed that the counsel is investigating his personal life and business affairs because he has no evidence of collusion.

“The special counsel, having found no evidence or proof whatsoever of Russian collusion, trafficking in allegedly hacked emails with WikiLeaks or advance knowledge of the publication of [then-Clinton campaign chair John] Podesta’s emails, now seems to be combing through every molecule of my existence including my personal life, political activities and business affairs to conjure up some offense to charge me with either to silence me or induce me to testify against the president,” Stone said to CNN on May 24. 

Mueller in recent weeks has issued subpoenas to two of Stone’s associates.

D’Souza, who pleaded guilty in 2014 to making illegal campaign contributions, was granted a pardon because he was the “victim of selective prosecution for violations of campaign finance laws,” the White House said. 

Trump tweeted that D’Souza “was treated very unfairly by our government!”

Just hours after issuing D’Souza’s pardon, Trump said he was considering commuting the sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) and pardoning TV personality Martha Stewart.