[bitontheslide]

US President Donald Trump has commuted the prison sentence of his longtime ally and former adviser Roger Stone.

The move - sparing Stone from jail but not a pardon - came just after a court denied Stone's request to delay the start date of his 40-month prison term.

He was convicted of lying to Congress, obstruction and witness tampering.

Stone was the sixth Trump aide found guilty on charges linked to a justice department probe that alleged Russia tried to boost the Trump 2016 campaign.

The 67-year-old had been due to report to a federal prison in Jesup, Georgia, next Tuesday.

The White House said in a statement: "Roger Stone is a victim of the Russia Hoax that the Left and its allies in the media perpetuated for years in an attempt to undermine the Trump Presidency."

It said that Department of Justice prosecutors under special counsel Robert Mueller only charged Stone out of frustration after failing to prove the "fantasy" that the Trump campaign had colluded with the Kremlin.

"This is why the out-of-control Mueller prosecutors, desperate for splashy headlines to compensate for a failed investigation, set their sights on Mr Stone," said the statement.

The White House also suggested that the FBI had tipped off CNN about their pre-dawn raid on Stone's house, noting that a camera crew for the cable network was on the scene to record the arrest.

"Roger Stone has already suffered greatly," the statement said. "He was treated very unfairly, as were many others in this case. Roger Stone is now a free man!"

Mr Trump had been hinting about a reprieve for Stone for months, including on Thursday night in an interview with a Fox News host.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-53371756

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unbelievably corrupt