Via – CNBC

A federal judge sentenced President Donald Trump’s friend, the longtime Republican operative Roger Stone, to more than 3 years in prison on Thursday for lying to Congress and tampering with a witness in an effort to protect Trump.

“He was not prosecuted, as some have complained, for standing up for the president, he was prosecuted for covering up for the president,” said Judge Amy Berman Jackson.

“The truth still exists, the truth still matters. Roger Stone’s insistence that it doesn’t … are a threat to our most fundamental institutions,” Jackson said in a blistering denunciation of Stone, in which she repeatedly mentioned “dismay and digust” about his crimes.

But Stone, 67, will not have to serve Jackson’s sentence of 40 months in prison yet — and possibly not at all.

Jackson suspended the imposition of the sentence pending her ruling on a request by Stone that he be granted a new trial on the grounds of alleged juror misconduct at his trial last fall.

If Jackson approves that request, the sentenced she announced Thursday is U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., will be void.

Stone, whose lawyers had requested a sentence of probation, also could be granted a pardon by Trump, who has been critical of the case against his former advisor. If Stone is pardoned, his conviction would be voided, along with any sentence.

Jackson called Trump’s tweets about Stone “inappropriate,” but also said she would not hold them against Stone.

Stone did not make a statement on his own behalf at the sentencing, a decision that could reflect his plans to appeal his conviction, and a wish to avoid harming his defense at a second trial.

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