The 56-year-old newsman, a Fox News original who joined that network at its start in 1996, says he's relishing the fresh start. Smith left more questions than answers upon his Fox exit, leaving others to speculate about why. His 3 p.m. newscast stood out at a network where opinion is king, and sometimes he challenged statements made by the network's prime-time hosts. Asked about it, Smith said that “I had felt like it was time for a new challenge for a long time. With CNN, MSNBC and the broadcast networks courting Smith, CNBC was considered an underdog, at best.

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump called Roger Stone to inform his longtime political confidant that he would commute his sentence for crimes related to the Russia investigation, Stone told The Associated Press on Friday, just days before he was set to report to prison. The president told me he thought my trial has been unfair, Stone told the AP in a phone call from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. A commutation would not erase Stones felony convictions in the same way a pardon would, but it would protect him from serving prison time as a result. Trump had repeatedly publicly inserted himself into Stones case, including just before Stones sentencing, when he suggested in a tweet that Stone was being subjected to a different standard than several prominent Democrats. Trump went on a clemency spree in February commuting the 14-year prison sentence of former Illinois Gov.

FILE - In this Nov. 6, 2019 file photo, Roger Stone arrives at Federal Court for the second day of jury selection for his federal trial, in Washington. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)WASHINGTON, D.C. – A federal judge on Tuesday refused to delay sentencing for Roger Stone on his witness tampering and lying to Congress conviction as President Donald Trump kept up his unrelenting defense of his longtime confidant and said he wouldn’t be quieted on social media even if he's making things harder for his attorney general. Judge Amy Berman Jackson’s decision to sentence Stone on Thursday, as scheduled, sets up a crossroads moment in an extraordinary case marked by a mini-revolt inside the Justice Department and allegations that Trump has interfered in the case. She said delaying sentencing “would not be a prudent thing to do.”Stone's defense team has requested a new trial and had asked Jackson to delay sentencing until she rules on that motion. The judge indicated she would delay the execution of Stone's sentence, pending resolution of the motion for a new trial.