'Historic corruption': Romney slams Trump for commuting sentence of ally Roger Stone

'An American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president,' tweeted the Republican senator

Mitt Romney strongly condemned Donald Trump’s decision to commute the prison sentence of his longtime friend and ally Roger Stone on Saturday.

The Republican senator for Utah described the president’s actions as “unprecedented, historic corruption”.

“An American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president,” he wrote.

Mr Romney is the most prominent Republican to criticise the President for commuting Mr Stone’s 40-month prison sentence.

As with his impeachment vote to remove Mr Trump from office, Mr Romney stands alone among Republicans.

Other GOP representatives have rushed to support the move by Mr Trump, with congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio saying that "Trump has the constitutional right to commute sentences where he believes it serves the interests of fairness and justice".

South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham tweeted prior to the official announcement that it would be justified for the President to commute Mr Stone’s sentence given his age and that it was a non-violent, first-time offence.

Mr Stone, 67, had been due to report to prison next week.

Democrats were outraged by the commutation with House speaker Nancy Pelosi calling it “an act of staggering corruption”.

Keeping Mr Stone from prison was a self-created win for Mr Trump following what has been a bleak time. A slew of polls have predicted him losing to Joe Biden in the November election.

Reporting in the Washington Post on Friday, citing advisers and confidants of the President, described how meetings with Mr Trump in recent weeks have begun with a “woe-is-me” preamble.

The President reportedly rants about the coronavirus pandemic destroying the “greatest economy”; about the “fake news” media never giving him any credit; and the “sick, twisted” police officers in Minneapolis for the killing George Floyd that sparked nationwide protests.

Mr Trump is said to have “cast himself in the starring role of the blameless victim” — a sentiment he expressed in a tweet following the news of the Supreme Court ruling allowing New York prosecutors access to his financial records.

"The Supreme Court sends case back to Lower Court, arguments to continue. This is all a political prosecution. I won the Mueller Witch Hunt, and others, and now I have to keep fighting in a politically corrupt New York. Not fair to this Presidency or Administration!" he posted on Thursday.

Some officials pushed back on the claim that the President sees himself as the victim, saying that Mr Trump sees the country as having been victimised by the pandemic.

The President spent Saturday golfing ahead of a planned trip to Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre scheduled for early in the evening to visit healthcare workers and veterans.

A planned rally in New Hampshire originally planned for Saturday night has been postponed for a week or two due to tropical storm Fay passing over New England on Friday night.