Trump: I haven’t thought about a pardon for Roger Stone

President Trump said in an interview broadcast Sunday that he has not thought about the possibility of a pardon for Roger Stone, but offered praise for his longtime confidant.

“First of all, Roger Stone didn’t work on the campaign, except way, way at the beginning long before we’re talking about,” Trump said on “Face the Nation” on CBS.

“Roger is somebody that I’ve always liked, but a lot of people like Roger, some people probably don’t like Roger, but Roger Stone’s somebody I’ve always liked,” he added.

Stone last week pleaded not guilty to seven charges stemming from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

{mosads}Asked whether he would pardon Stone, Trump he has “not thought about it.”

“It looks like he’s defending himself very well,” the president said.

Stone was charged with obstruction of a congressional inquiry, witness tampering and five counts of making false statements to Congress. He is one of six former Trump associates to be implicated in the special counsel’s investigation.

Mueller has accused Stone of lying to the House Intelligence Committee about his interactions regarding WikiLeaks, the organization that released troves of hacked Democratic emails ahead of the 2016 election that U.S. officials later concluded were stolen by Russian military hackers.

Stone has offered extensive public commentary on his own case in the months leading up to his arrest, and in the days since, prompting the judge in the case to say she is considering issuing a gag order.

Stone has appeared on multiple cable news programs to profess his innocence, decry the special counsel’s conduct toward him and declare he would not testify against Trump.

The self-proclaimed “dirty trickster” said following his arrest that he has not had any discussions with Trump about a pardon.