Even before Stone verdict, Alex Jones launched campaign for Trump pardon
Alex Jones did not wait until Roger Stone’s conviction Friday by a federal jury in Washington to launch a campaign, at what he said was Stone’s behest, to secure a pardon from President Donald Trump.
From his Austin studio Thursday, Jones urged viewers of his InfoWars webcast to call the White House demanding Trump pardon his longtime political adviser. He urged his audience to travel to Washington next week to encircle the White House with bullhorns — Jones’ emblematic back-to-basics method of communication — calling for a presidential pardon.
Stone was convicted on seven counts of lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstruction of a House investigation.
“So, Roger Stone’s message is this,” Jones said. “He expects to be convicted. He said only a miracle can save him now, that's his exact words to me last night and this morning. And he said to me, `Alex, barring a miracle, I appeal to God, and I appeal to your listeners for prayer. And I appeal to the president to pardon me because to do so would be an action that would show these corrupt courts that they're not going to get away with persecuting people for their free speech or for the crime of getting the president elected. If we don't do that, it will embolden their criminal activity.’”
Jones directed his audience to check out his site for the number at the White House to call.
After the jury returned its guilty verdict Friday, prosecutors asked Judge Amy Berman Jackson that Stone be taken into custody pending sentencing in February for violating her gag order by talking to Jones. Jackson declined, saying that there was not clear evidence that he had actually communicated with Jones. But she said the gag order remains in place even after his conviction.
Stone faces a maximum penalty of 50 years in prison, although as a first offender he would face far less time under federal sentencing guidelines.
Stone has been Trump’s guide to national politics for decades, but in August 2015 he left a formal role in Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Trump said he was dismissed; Stone said he left of his own accord.
But he continued to play an outside role, and sometimes a personal advisory role, during the campaign.
On news of Stone’s conviction, Trump, facing impeachment hearings proceeding blocks away from the federal courthouse, tweeted his pique that Stone was the victim of a “double standard” for lying.
“Well, what about Crooked Hillary, Comey, Strzok, Page, McCabe, Brennan, Clapper, Shifty Schiff, Ohr & Nellie, Steele & all the others, including even Mueller himself? Didn’t they lie?”
....A double standard like never seen before in the history of our Country?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2019
Trump made no mention of a pardon in the tweet or at a subsequent news conference..
“Trump needs to run toward this and pardon Stone,” Jones said. “That’s a lack of loyalty and it’s not good.”
“He’s the key player that’s got the power to stop all this,” Jones said. “Leaving Roger Stone twisting in the wind is not good.”
“Trump is not a wimp but he’s not as tough as he says he is,“ Jones told a caller who wondered whether Trump was not just turning into another tool of the Deep State.
At issue was whether Stone had told the truth about any role he may have played as an intermediary between the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks regarding emails hacked by Russia and published by WikiLeaks that undermined Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
During the campaign, Trump publicly encouraged Russia to hack Clinton’s emails and declared his “love” for WikiLeaks.
It was Stone who brokered the politically mutual beneficial relationship between Trump and Jones during the 2016 presidential campaign, including in December 2015, when Trump, then a Republican presidential contender, appeared on InfoWars via Skype, courting Jones’ audience and telling Jones, "Your reputation is amazing. I will not let you down."
For Trump, Jones offered access to a huge audience of disaffected, mostly white male listeners who, like Jones himself, were more acquainted with what they are against than what they are for, or who they might actually go out and vote for.
For Jones, it offered, for the first time, real access to power and the ear and respect of a man who could, and did, become president.
Jones and Stone broadcast side by side on election night 2016 from Jones’ Austin studios, toasting each other with champagne as it became apparent Trump had been elected president.
Over time, Stone became something of a political guru to Jones and a paid part of the InfoWars on-air team, a role Stone ended when he was indicted in January.
Throughout Trump’s presidency, Jones’ site has produced countless memes, stories and conspiracy theories, often buttressed by Stone’s “insider” contributions, that portrayed Trump as a heroic figure battling globalists, the Deep State, and treacherous enemies within his own inner circle.
