Fox News' Tucker Carlson Demands Trump Pardon Roger Stone, Says If He's Jailed 'Russia Lie Will Be Validated'

Fox News host Tucker Carlson urged President Donald Trump to pardon his former adviser Roger Stone, claiming the president would validate "the Russia lie" if he allows the convicted felon to serve time in prison.

The case against Stone grew from former FBI Director Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. The Mueller report concluded that Russia had interfered in the election to benefit Trump, but did not find sufficient evidence for collusion by Trump, while also failing to exonerate the president. Carlson believes that claims of collusion were actually a "hoax" concocted by Democrats and he is worried that jailing Stone could undermine his theory.

"Stone's prosecution was designed in part to confirm the fantasy that Democrats have constructed to explain the outcome of the 2016 election," said Carlson on the Wednesday edition of his show Tucker Carlson Tonight. "His conviction helps their case. In other words, if the Russia collusion story was a hoax, and it most certainly was a hoax, then why is Roger Stone going to prison for his role in it?"

"If Roger Stone serves even a single day behind bars, the Russia lie will be validated as true," Carlson added. "Stone's imprisonment will be prima facie evidence in the view of Democrats. So, at this point there's only one solution. The president must pardon Roger Stone or commute his sentence before he goes to jail."

Trump has not recently commented on whether or not he will pardon Stone, although he has not ruled it out in the past. Conspiracy theorist and radio host Alex Jones claimed Tuesday that a White House insider had told him Stone would be pardoned by Trump after he is sentenced.

When federal prosecutors released sentencing guidelines of up to nine out of a possible 50 years for Stone on Monday, Trump quickly expressed outrage at the "miscarriage of justice."

The Department of Justice contradicted the guidelines the following day, instructing the court to sentence Stone to "far less" time than originally recommended. The reversal was met with outrage from many Democrats, who suggested the change was improperly made due to pressure from Trump, who had tweeted his displeasure at the guidelines shortly before.

Regardless of the sentence, Carlson believes that Stone should serve no time in prison, claiming that the Republican operative is one of the judicial system's biggest ever victims, who can only be saved by Trump.

"While justice does exist, it's often imperfect, and it's never been more imperfect than in the case of Roger Stone, who is facing a grossly unjust prison sentence," insisted Carlson. "And it's likely only the president can fix it."

"This is a pure political hit," Carlson remarked later. "Roger Stone is facing prison because he's a high-profile Donald Trump supporter. It's that simple."

Carlson warned that Democrats would be "howling" if Stone were pardoned, adding that they "are already doing that" over the sentencing guidelines reversal.

The reversal did inspire a great deal of backlash, with over 120,000 people signing a petition demanding an investigation into the decision as of Wednesday night.

Stone is due to be sentenced on April 20.