Questions and answers about President Trump’s Roger Stone commutation

In Washington, there’s a history of announcing controversial actions on a Friday night, when the weekly news cycle is over and fewer Americans are watching. The announcement made by the White House on July 10 was a big one: President Donald Trump commuted the sentence of longtime confidant Roger Stone on charges stemming from Robert Mueller’s special counsel investigation.

At the time of the commutation, Stone was just days away from starting a 40-month sentence in federal prison. He had been convicted on several counts that involved lying to Congress about the 2016 election. Specifically, he wasn’t truthful about his efforts to get information from WikiLeaks on Democratic emails stolen by Russian agents. He also was convicted of pressuring comedian Randy Credico to support his story.

Stone is a longtime Republican operative known for his unconventional, colorful, and sometimes envelope-pushing tactics. Critics pounced on Trump’s commutation for Stone, saying it was at least unseemly, and possibly unprecedented.