Former Republican South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy defended Attorney General William Barr’s decision to review sentencing guidelines for former Trump advisor Roger Stone.
A day after federal prosecutors recommended 87 to 108 months in prison for Stone as punishment for making false statements and witness tampering, the Justice Department weighed in and issued new guidelines after finding the sentencing recommendation “extreme, excessive and grossly disproportionate.”
Asked about the decision on Wednesday night’s “The Story with Martha MacCallum,” Gowdy told Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum that Barr “thinks two or three years is more proportional.”
Without a sentencing enhancement “for actively threatening a witness,” Gowdy contended, “everyone would agree that Bill Barr’s view of the guidelines is accurate.”
“But the notion that Bill Barr should resign is about the dumbest damn thing I have ever heard,” he said. “If a United States senator really believes that the Department of Justice cannot weigh in on what a proportional sentence is — there are child pornographers who don’t get nine years. There are people who rob banks who don’t get nine years. So, let the judge decide. I think two or three years is about right.” (RELATED: ‘Do You Know What The Average Rapist Does In This Country?’: Tucker Hits Back At Warren, Calls For Roger Stone Pardon)
Gowdy did say that President Donald Trump shouldn’t have weighed in on the case before it was decided, but contended that Barr was aware of the sentencing recommendation long before “Trump ever tweeted a single syllable.”
When asked about comparisons to “Loretta Lynch talking to Bill Clinton on the tarmac,” Gowdy said Trump “has the power to commute Roger Stone’s sentence” or “pardon him right now if he wants to.”