A former campaign adviser to US President Donald Trump, Roger Stone - in attendance with his wife Nydia on Sunday night at a dinner at Trump's golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida - thanked the outgoing president for pardoning him.
Stone, a former Trump political consultant, told The Hill that he and his spouse had thanked Trump "for correcting the injustice of the Soviet-style show trial I was subjected to". Stone reportedly declined to comment further beyond his statement from last week, in which he referred to Trump as "the greatest president since Abraham Lincoln", praising the Republican leader for reversing the "injustice" he claimed to have suffered.
The ex-Trump campaign consultant on social platform Parler, shared photos from his Sunday night meeting with the outgoing president at the golf club, according to the Daily Mail. He was reportedly invited to the dinner by Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy, who is a member of the Trump golf club.
During a brief meeting, Stone encouraged Trump to appoint a special counsel to investigate the latter's allegations of "voter fraud" in a last-ditch attempt to reverse President-elect Joe Biden's victory in the 3 November US presidential election.
"I thanked President Trump in person tonight for pardoning me", Stone captioned a photo of himself talking to Trump that he posted on Parler. "I also told the president exactly how he can appoint a special counsel with full subpoena power to ensure that those who are attempting to steal the 2020 election through voter fraud are charged and convicted and to ensure that Donald Trump continues as our president".
As part of a wave of presidential pardons, on Wednesday, the outgoing president pardoned Stone, along with 2016 Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and real estate developer Charles Kushner, his son-in-law Jared Kushner's father.
In November 2019, Trump campaign consultant Roger Stone was convicted on seven felony counts, including witness tampering, obstruction of official proceeding, and making false statements under oath to Congress in relation to US Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation over claims that Russia interfered in the 2016 US presidential election.
Stone's prison sentence was commuted by Trump in July, just days before he was to start serving over three years in jail.
On 14 December, the US Electoral College voted in Joe Biden as the winner of the 3 November election and the nation's president-elect. Trump has not conceded his loss, although Biden's White House win is expected to be confirmed by the US Congress on 6 January 2021.