Donald Trump’s Roger Stone scandal just got even uglier for him

Right now Donald Trump is trying to figure out whether to take the enormous risk of pardoning Roger Stone – which would set off a political shockwave and could finish off his sinking approval rating – or to take the risk of not pardoning Stone, which could result in Stone flipping on him and revealing forty years worth of personal secrets before the election.

Trump is running out of time, as Stone is set to report to prison in barely a week. We have no idea what criteria Trump is using when it comes to his decision-making, and we’re not going to predict which way he’ll go with it. But we do know that Trump’s ability to pull off a Stone pardon will largely depend upon just how scandalous the whole thing becomes. In that regard, the whole thing just got even uglier.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron Zelinsky, who worked on the Roger Stone case, is set to testify about it to the House Judiciary Committee tomorrow. Today he released his opening statement, and it’s a doozy. Zelinsky reveals that the Department of Justice was treating Stone “differently from any other defendant” because of his personal relationship with Donald Trump. Moreover, Zelinsky says that the U.S. Attorney in the case is “afraid” of Trump.

This is the last thing Donald Trump needs right now. As the Roger Stone case becomes more scandalized for him, he faces an even more difficult math when it comes to trying to keep Stone from turning on him, without burying himself in the process. Of course at this point we doubt Trump can even do any math.