No judge in the United States accepts “other people do bad things” as a defense in court. Of course, simply believing that specific other people did bad things with no proof or evidence at all isn’t even a good defense in the court of public opinion.
There is no “if Roger Stone was indicted for lying to Congress,” he actually was indicted for lying to Congress and was arrested for it. He was arrested for much more serious crimes, as well. Lying to Congress, if done under oath, is a perjury charge that carries a maximum five-year sentence. Roger Stone’s charges also include witness tampering. That carries a maximum sentence of twenty years.
There’s no question as to whether or not Stone committed the crime of witness tampering. In his indictment, he’s quoted as threatening his old friend, Randy Credico, by vowing to kill his service dog.
As for Hillary Clinton, James Comey, John Brennan, Lisa Page, and Peter Stzrok, there is no indication that any of them lied to Congress. There is proof that James Clapper did so years ago during his time as director of the CIA, but that doesn’t excuse Roger Stone for lying, witness tampering, or obstructing justice.
Trump can do his “whataboutism” dance all he likes, but it won’t change the fact that senior officials in his presidential campaign, and possibly Trump himself, were also implicated in crimes in Stone’s indictment.
Twitter is over the “whataboutisms.” Read some of their comments below:
Featured image via Flickr by Gage Skidmore under a Creative Commons license
