Trump won't say whether he'll pardon Roger Stone

(12 Feb 2020) President Donald Trump is defending the Justice Department's decision to overrule the four prosecutors on the Roger Stone case and seek a lighter prison sentence for Trump's longtime confidante. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office Wednesday, Trump said Stone was treated "very badly" during the case against him and he thanked the Justice Department "for seeing this horrible thing." "They saw the horribleness of a nine year sentence for doing nothing. You have murderers and drug addicts, you don't get nine years, nine years for doing something that nobody even can define what he did," Trump said. The president refused to say whether he planned to pardon Stone if the federal judge responsible for Stone's sentencing doesn't follow the administration's recommendation. Asked if a pardon was under consideration, Trump said, "I don't want to say that yet. But I tell you what, people were hurt viciously and badly by these corrupt people." Trump also hailed his strong primary showings in New Hampshire and Iowa over the past week, calling the results "a tremendous success." Though Trump is running virtually unopposed, his long-shot challenger, former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, did receive more than 12,000 votes in New Hampshire's Republican primary. Still, Trump amassed more votes in that primary than any incumbent president in history. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Google+: https://plus.google.com/b/102011028589719587178/+APArchive​ Tumblr: https://aparchives.tumblr.com/​​ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/0d81784092a54ae2932d1efa1ea82cb6