Despite the pearl clutching from Democrats over President Trump’s decision to commute the prison sentence of Roger Stone, Fox News's “The Five” co-hosts reminded viewers that Presidents Obama and Clinton had much more controversial pardons.
"Stone's no saint and he has been in the gutter for decades, but he is not a criminal either," Jesse Watters said Monday. "He is an old man who likes to talk a lot of trash and got caught up in a frame job."
Watters pointed to Obama commuting the sentence of Chelsea Manning, the former Army Intelligence analyst who was found guilty of espionage and theft after giving classified information to WikiLeaks.
Co-host Greg Gutfeld, meanwhile, brought up that Obama commuted the sentence of Oscar Lopez Rivera, the leader of Puerto Rican terrorist group FALN.
Townhall columnist Joe Connor, whose father was murdered when the terror group blew up the Fraunces Tavern in New York City, has reminded readers about how Rivera was so unrepentant over his actions that he refused Clinton’s clemency.
As Hillary Clinton geared up for her 2000 New York Senate run and was looking to connect with New York’s Hispanic community, in August 1999 Bill Clinton granted clemency to the FALN, a blatant political gesture orchestrated by then deputy attorney general Eric Holder.
One terrorist, FALN leader Oscar Lopez Rivera, was so dedicated to his cause and his comrades that he refused the 1999 Clinton clemency. However in 2017 he accepted an unprecedented and astonishing second clemency from Obama/Biden. Granting a second clemency to this unrepentant terrorist was one of the Obama/Biden administration’s last acts in office.
Watters also recalled other controversial pardons.
"Bill Clinton, didn't he pardon his brother [Roger Clinton]? Or his business partner?" Watters asked. "But this is the craziest thing: He pardoned the biggest tax cheat [financier Marc Rich] because his wife gave $1 million to the Clinton Foundation. Come on! A little perspective."
Speaking to Bret Baier, Fox News senior political analyst Brit Hume pointed to Rich and others, saying critics appear to be suffering from a "staggering case of memory loss."
“Remember, Bret, this was not a pardon. He stands convicted and remains convicted,” Hume said. “While the Democrats are getting on the fainting couch — with Pelosi leading them — and talking about staggering corruption and national security implications from this commutation, it seems that what they need to do is consult their own record books and remember what has gone before them. We seem to be living in an age of extraordinary exaggeration.”
Watch: Fox’s @BritHume says Dems appalled by Stone commutation should 'consult their own record books' pic.twitter.com/ocKWtBhEdn
— TV News HQ (@TVNewsHQ) July 14, 2020