- Rep. Matt Gaetz told Roger Stone in 2019 that Trump would grant him clemency, The Washington Post reported.
- Gaetz was caught speaking to Stone on a hot mic during a Trump event in October 2019.
- Stone had his 40-month sentence commuted by Trump in July 2020.
A hot mic caught GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz reassuring former President Donald Trump's ally Roger Stone that he would be granted clemency as he was preparing for trial in 2019, The Washington Post reported on Saturday.
Stone, who had been a Trump associate for decades, was indicted on one count of obstruction, five counts of making false statements to the FBI and congressional investigators, and one count of witness tampering in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe.
In November 2019, a jury found Stone guilty. In February 2020, he was sentenced to 40 months in prison, but that sentence was later commuted by Trump before he left office.
According to The Post, a month before Stone was found guilty, Gaetz told Stone during an event at a Trump property that he'd likely be found guilty but also be granted clemency.
"The boss still has a very favorable view of you," Gaetz told Stone, according to The Post. Gaetz stressed that Trump had "said it directly."
He also added, "I don't think the big guy can let you go down for this."
The congressman told Stone that he was working on getting him a pardon but did not want to discuss the situation further since there were many microphones backstage at the event.
"Since there are many, many recording devices around right now, I do not feel in a position to speak freely about the work I've already done on that subject," Gaetz said.
Trump in July 2020 commuted Stone's sentence, which he said was "unjust."
"Roger Stone is a victim of the Russia Hoax that the Left and its allies in the media perpetuated for years in an attempt to undermine the Trump Presidency," the then-president said in a statement. "There was never any collusion between the Trump Campaign, or the Trump Administration, with Russia."