During an Oval Office photo-op Wednesday with the President of Ecuador, President Trump addressed the criminal sentencing of his former campaign manager Roger Stone for lying to Congress, saying he doesn't "want to say... yet" whether he would consider pardoning him. Trump said his tweet yesterday saying he thought Stone's sentencing guidelines were too harsh was "not at all" political interference in the Justice Department.



"The fact is Roger Stone was treated horribly…Roger Stone for doing – nobody even knows what he did," Trump said.



"Nine years recommended by four people that -- perhaps they were Mueller people. I don't know who they were -- prosecutors," Trump said about the four DOJ prosecutors who worked on the Roger Stone case and resigned in protest after Trump's comments Tuesday.



Follow up question:"Are you considering a pardon for Roger Stone?"



Trump: "I don't want to say that yet."





PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Okay. Do you have any questions?



QUESTION: On Roger Stone, sir. On Roger Stone.



TRUMP: Yeah.



QUESTION: Isn't your tweet political interference?



TRUMP: No, not at all. He was treated very badly. Nine years recommended by four people that--perhaps they were Mueller people. I don't know who they were--prosecutors. And they--I don't know what happened. They all hit the road pretty quickly. Look, you had somebody just recently. You saw what happened. He got two months. He got sentenced for two months for leaking classified information at the highest level.



QUESTION: Who's that (INAUDIBLE)?



TRUMP: They treated Roger Stone very badly. They treated everybody very badly. And if you look at the Mueller investigation, it was a scam because it was illegally set up. It was set up based on false documentation and false documents. You look at what happened, how many people were hurt. Their lives were destroyed.



And nothing happened with all the people that did it at large scale. Where's Comey? Why--where is Comey? What's happening to McCabe? What's happening to Lisa--and Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. What's happening with them? It was a whole set up. It was a disgrace for our country. And everyone knows it too, everyone, including NBC, which gives a lot of fake news. The fact is that Roger Stone was treated horribly and so were many other people. Their lives were destroyed.



And, it turns out you look at the FISA warrants and what just happened with FISA where they found out it was fixed that it was a dirty, rotten deal. So, when you look at that and you see what happened with Roger Stone. But think of it--a man leaks classified information, highly classified--they give him two months--Roger Stone for doing--nobody even knows what he did. They said he intimated somebody that person said he had no idea he was going to jail for that. That person didn't want to press charges. They put him in for nine years. It's a disgrace and frankly, they ought to apologize to a lot of the people who's lives they've ruined. Next question. Next question. Go ahead.



QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)



TRUMP: Wait, wait, wait.



QUESTION: Are you considering a pardon for him?



TRUMP: I don't want to say that yet, but I tell you--people were hurt, viciously and badly by these corrupt people. And I want to thank if you look at what happened I want to thank the Justice Department for seeing this--this horrible thing. And, I didn't speak to them by the way, just so you understand. They saw the horribleness of a nine-year sentence for doing nothing. You have murderers and drug addicts that don't get nine years. Nine years for doing something that nobody even can define what I he did. Somebody said he put out a tweet and the tweet they based it on that.



We have killers, we have murderers all over the place nothing happens and then they put a man in jail they destroy his life, his family, his wife, his children. Nine years in jail. It's a disgrace. In the meantime, Comey walks around making book deals--the people that launched the scam investigation and what they did was a disgrace. And hopefully it will be treated fairly everything else will be treated fairly.

