Former Russia special counsel Robert Mueller defends Roger Stone prosecution in wake of Trump commutation

Robert Mueller challenges President Trump: Roger Stone was 'prosecuted and convicted because he committed federal crimes.'.

President Donald Trump commuted the sentence of his longtime confidant Roger Stone.

Former Russia special counsel Robert Mueller pushed back against President Donald Trump on Saturday, defending the prosecution of Roger Stone and the larger investigation into Russia interference in the 2016 election, saying that the flamboyant political operative was "prosecuted and convicted because he committed federal crimes.".

Mueller said the FBI had evidence that the Russians had signaled to a Trump campaign adviser that they could assist the campaign through the anonymous release of information damaging to the Democratic candidate.

"Stone became a central figure in our investigation for two key reasons: He communicated in 2016 with individuals known to us to be Russian intelligence officers, and he claimed advance knowledge of WikiLeaks’ release of emails stolen by those Russian intelligence officers," Mueller wrote.

"We also identified numerous links between the Russian government and Trump campaign personnel – Stone among them.

We did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired with the Russian government in its activities," the former special counsel wrote, re-asserting the team's conclusions.

"The investigation did, however, establish that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome.

"He lied by denying he had communicated with the Trump campaign about the timing of WikiLeaks’ releases," Mueller wrote.

"The jury ultimately convicted Stone of obstruction of a congressional investigation, five counts of making false statements to Congress and tampering with a witness," Mueller wrote