Liberal law professor fires back at Mitt Romney for condemning 'unprecedented' Roger Stone commutation
Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington University Law School and self-described "liberal," responded to Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and others who are using extreme political rhetoric to characterize President Donald Trump's decision to commute Roger Stone's sentence.
Romney called Trump's decision "unprecedented, historic corruption." The Republican senator was echoing language from CNN legal analyst Jeff Toobin, who called the commutation, "the most corrupt and cronyistic act in perhaps all of recent history."
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However, according to Turley, Romney and other detractors are wrong.
Turley made it clear that, although he disagrees with Trump's decision, it is by no means "unprecedented."
In fact, according to Turley, Romney champions a former Republican president who also made a series of highly controversial commutations.
"The sordid history of White House pardons makes this commutation look positively chaste in comparison," Turley said.
"Romney has long heralded his respect and support of President George H.W. Bush despite Bush's executive clemency actions for six former senior government officials implicated in the Iran-Contra scandal, including former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger," he explained.
"Bush himself was implicated in that scandal and some alleged was protected by their silence," Turley added.
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