long-time adviser, in court today, pleading not guilty to charges brought by the special counsel. here s our chief justice correspondent pierre thomas. reporter: walking into court today, roger stone, the president s long-time confidant, met by a crush of opponents and supporters. lock him up! lock him up! reporter: inside, a speedy 12-minute hearing. stone s plea? not guilty. stone facing seven felonies, including lying to congress, obstruction and witness tampering. robert mueller accusing the self-described so-called dirty trickster of reaching out to wikileaks through an intermediary to help the trump campaign. president trump and stone go back decades. but the president insists none of this has anything to do with him. can you guarantee that the president won t pardon roger stone? again, i m not going to take about hypotheticals. reporter: stone s indictment has many wondering where mueller is in his probe. the acting attorney general surprising even republicans with
it s come up before and once again this time with roger stone about the possibility of a pardon. when sarah sanders was asked about it yesterday she says that the president she was asked if the president ruled out a pardon. she says i am not aware of that and haven t had conversations around it. can you guarantee that the president won t pardon roger stone? i m not going to talk about hypotheticals that are just ridiculous things i haven t heard about. she did say the very same thing about paul manafort when asked this question. do you read anything into this? i think it is hard to read anything into her response. i certainly think that stone is doing the right actions to keep himself in contention for the pardon. the real hard part of predicting what this president pardons is he doesn t follow any particular process. he has by passed the office. he certainly seems to like the fact that stone seems very
pardon from president trump. it sure sounded as though over the last few days roger stone is campaigning for one and here s how sarah sanders andswered tha question earlier today. he said i m not aware of that when asked if the president has ruled out a pardon for roger stone. is does that mean he hasn t ruled out a pardon? i m not aware of any conversation regarding that or need for it. sarah, just to follow up, can you guarantee that the president won t pardon roger stone? again, i m not going to talk about hypotheticals that are just ridiculous of things that i haven t talked about. reporter: and anderson, so you saw there, sarah sanders was trying to turn to me for a question there in the briefing room but never really ruled it out. and i think that basically indicates that this is a live option for the president. when i was able to ask sarah sanders a question, i asked her whether or not, you know, these aides, these associates of the president who are pleading guilty, w
regarding that matter. can you guarantee the president won t pardon roger stone? i will not talk about hypotheticals ridiculous, things i haven t talked about. if she hasn t talked to the president she is smart not to because it would put her in a bad position. ultimately, david gregory, if stone is convicted and stone is sentenced to prison time, what does he do? i don t think reporters will get very far pressing the press secretary whether he will rule on a pardon. clearly, he s not. you re not going to go talk to the president about that in any case. the reality is what stone represents, as laura says, you can change your tune once indicted if you re feeling that pressure. currently the president would reward that. there is a place where a lot of
end of 2017, and of course, here we are. the white house, sarah sanders was asked directly about roger stone s chance at a pardon, explain what she said? reporter: that s right. and there was some tap dancing going on around this question. take a listen to this as some of my colleagues in the briefing room pressed sarah sanders on whether or not roger stone could actually receive a presidential pardon from president trump. it sure sounded as though over the last few days roger stone is campaigning for one and here s how sarah sanders answered that question earlier today. you said, i m not aware of that, when asked if the president had ruled out a pardon for roger stone. so, does that mean he hasn t ruled out a pardon? i m not aware of any conversation regarding that or a need for it. sarah, just to follow up, can you guarantee that the president won t pardon roger stone? again, i m not going to talk about hypotheticals that are just ridiculous of things that i haven t talke