Appeals Court Denies Roger Stone’s “Emergency” Bid

Bloomberg News reports:

A federal appeals court denied an emergency request from Republican operative Roger Stone for a delay to the start of his prison term for lying to Congress, saying he hadn’t proved that he was in particular danger of catching the coronavirus behind bars.

“Stone proffers for the first time new facts regarding what he describes as positive tests for COVID-19 at the prison facility to which he has been assigned,” the appeals court in Washington wrote. “But Stone never afforded the district court the opportunity to consider that new evidence and make any relevant fact findings in a motion for reconsideration.”

Fox News reports:

President Trump is expected to announce that he will commute Roger Stone’s sentence, just days before the longtime political operative is slated to report to prison to serve more than three years for charges stemming from former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, Fox News has learned.

Sources told Fox News Friday that the president could announce a commutation of Stone’s sentence as early as Friday evening. The president, as recently as Friday morning, has said he was “looking at” offering Stone clemency, saying he was “very unfairly treated.”

I’ll be back after Blue Bear if Trump announces the commutation, dammit.