A U.S. judge in Washington on Monday ordered the government to explain the scope of President Donald Trump’s commutation of the 40-month prison sentence she had imposed on his friend Roger Stone for political corruption.Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered the parties in the case to produce Trump’s executive order by Tuesday which he signed late last week to keep the 67-year-old Stone from being required to report to prison on Tuesday.Berman said she wants to see whether the commutation also covered a provision requiring Stone to report for two years of supervised probation after what would have been his term in prison.White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany told reporters she did not “have the exact details” of Trump’s commutation of Stone’s sentence.But she called it “a very important moment for justice in this country” and served to correct what she called the “wrongdoing” of law enforcement officials who pursued prosecution of Stone.President Donald Trump listens during a meeting with Hispanic leaders in the Cabinet Room of the White House, July 9, 2020, in Washington.The commutation Trump granted Stone, a longtime political adviser, freed him from the prison term but did not wipe out his underlying convictions on seven charges, including witness tampering and lying to federal authorities linked to the lengthy investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election won by Trump. Trump, who long has dismissed allegations that Russia helped him win as “fake news,” said he commuted Stone’s sentence because Stone had been “treated very unfairly.” The president blamed the jury forewoman and Jackson, saying Stone “should have had another trial.” Prominent U.S. political figures have condemned Trump’s commutation of Stone’s prison sentence, saying it was a perversion of American justice. House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff, who oversaw impeachment proceedings against Trump late last year, said Trump’s decision “is basically saying through this commutation, ‘If you lie for me, if you cover up for me, if you have my back, then I will make sure that you get a get-out-of-jail-free card.’” “Other Americans? Different standard,” Schiff said. “Friends of the president, accomplices of the president, they get off scot-free.” FILE – Republican Senator Mitt Romney speaks with members of the media on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 16, 2020.Republican Sen. Mitt Romney, who lost the 2012 presidential election to former President Barack Obama, called Trump’s commutation of Stone’s sentence “unprecedented, historic corruption. An American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president.” The clemency for Stone was only the 36th Trump has granted, with 180 denied. Many of those granted by Trump have been to his political supporters or suggested by people he knows, rather than being processed through normal pardon procedures overseen by the U.S. Justice Department.  At the same points in their presidencies, 3½ years after taking office, Trump’s six predecessors acted on hundreds or thousands of petitions for clemency.  
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The U.S. federal government is set to execute an inmate for the first time in 17 years, after a federal appeals court ruling on the matter Sunday.
 
Daniel Lewis Lee, a member of a white supremacist group from Yukon, Oklahoma, was convicted of murdering a family of three, including an 8-year-old girl in 1996.
 
Sunday’s decision follows a string of appeals, during which even the family of the victims opposed the execution.
 
Lee’s family had filed an appeal saying that traveling thousands of kilometers to witness the execution in a small room where social distancing is not possible would put them at risk of contracting the novel coronavirus.
 
Lee is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 4pm local time on Monday at a federal prison in Indiana.
 
Last month, he U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied a legal challenge to a new lethal injection protocol proposed for federal executions, clearing the way for the Trump administration to resume executing federal death row inmates for the first time in nearly two decades.
 
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The U.S. inability to contain the coronavirus at home is beginning to have a bigger impact on U.S. military missions overseas, some analysts warned Monday, as infections among American service members surge in Japan and South Korea.  
 
Japanese officials in Okinawa prefecture on Sunday said more than 60 coronavirus cases have been reported at two U.S. Marine bases over the past week, including Marine Corps Air Station Futenma and Camp Hansen. On Monday, Japan’s Asahi Shimbunreported 32 more cases at the Futenma base.  
 
In response, the U.S. military placed Marines, their families, and contractors in Okinawa on lockdown, severely restricting their off-base access.In light of recent clusters of positive COVID-19 cases on Okinawa, Marine Forces Japan has implemented additional HPCON measures to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus. These measures have been put into place to protect our forces, our families, and our local communities. pic.twitter.com/2uq9SzSNB0— III MEF Marines (@IIIMEF) July 11, 2020At a press conference Sunday, Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki said he was “shocked” at the new infections and that he has “strong doubts” about measures taken by the U.S. military to prevent the spread of the virus.
 
It’s not clear where the Okinawa cases originated, but the Kyodo news agency reported the U.S. Marine Corps had experienced two “localized clusters” of individuals who tested positive.
 Arrivals from US
 
The outbreak among U.S. service members in South Korea appears more contained, stemming mainly from recent arrivals of troops from the United States.
 
Over the past two weeks, at least 34 service members or affiliated individuals have tested positive after arriving in South Korea from the United States, according to statements from the U.S. military in South Korea.  
Four others during that period have tested positive after arriving from elsewhere, including Europe and Japan, the statements said.
 
That is a sharp increase from previous months, when the U.S. military in South Korea reported only a slow trickle of new cases.
 Missions complicated?
 
The infections create a precarious situation for South Korea and Japan, which have had relative success in containing the coronavirus.  
 
Japan has reported under 1,000 virus-related deaths, while South Korea has seen fewer than 300. The United States, meanwhile, has reported almost 135,000 deaths.
 
With U.S. coronavirus cases and deaths continuing to soar, some analysts warn that Washington’s inability to control the virus is complicating U.S. missions in Japan and South Korea, which host nearly 80,000 U.S. troops and serve as the bedrock for the U.S.-led security order in East Asia.FILE – U.S. Army and South Korean soldiers take their positions during a live-fire exercise as a part of the annual joint military exercises, at the Rodriquez Multi-Purpose Range Complex in Pocheon, South Korea, March 25, 2015.”Washington’s poor public health policy and inability to contain the spread of COVID-19 has affected military readiness,” says Daniel Pinkston, a former Air Force linguist who now teaches international relations at Troy University in Seoul. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus.
 
“Infection within the U.S. military…could affect combined training with allies as well as the ability of the U.S. to fulfill its alliance commitments,” he added. “This can reduce the confidence of allies and lead to miscalculation by adversaries.”
 
In a statement, U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) said it remains “at a high level of readiness with less than 1% of its active duty service members who are currently confirmed positive for COVID-19.”  
 
The USFK statement also highlighted its safety precautions:
 
Upon arrival in South Korea, all U.S. troops and affiliated individuals are required to undergo COVID-19 testing and must enter quarantine or isolation for 14 days depending on the result. They must then test negative at least once before being released.
 Military drills: delayed again?
 
The new infections are raising the possibility the U.S. and South Korea will not be able to conduct an annual military exercise.
 
Last week, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported both countries appear increasingly likely to scale back or cancel the drills.
 
The U.S. and South Korea already canceled a major joint military exercise earlier this year.  
 
Canceling or modifying the drills again could have a “serious impact” on the combined defense posture, says retired South Korean lieutenant general Chun In-bum.   
 
“The exercises are quite important. They only occur twice a year. They used to occur four times a year,” he says.FILE – U.S. soldiers stand guard during a joint medical evacuatioin exercise at a South Korean Army hospital in Goyang, northwest of Seoul, March 15, 2017.An official with South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense told VOA that Washington and Seoul are in close consultation on the matter but that no decision has been made.  
 
This spring’s exercise was canceled in February, when South Korea was experiencing one of the world’s first major outbreaks.
 
Within weeks, South Korea had contained the virus, thanks to its strategy of widespread testing, data-driven contact tracing, and quick isolation of those impacted.  
 
The U.S. military in South Korea, too, has been praised for its quick and effective response to the virus.  
 More concern in South Korea
 
But as the world’s coronavirus hotspot has shifted to the United States, some South Koreans have become more concerned.
 
During a briefing Sunday, South Korean Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said he was worried about the increase in USFK cases, calling on South Korean authorities to work with U.S. officials to strengthen quarantine measures.  
 
“Residents of Pyeongtaek, where USFK is located, have already expressed concerns and complaints several times about being exposed to the virus,” says Ki Mo-ran, an epidemiologist who has advised the South Korean government on its coronavirus response.  
 
“If our soldiers make contact with [U.S. soldiers], there is a high risk that the number of infections in our military will increase as well,” she told VOA.
 
David Maxwell, who specializes in the U.S.-South Korea military relationship at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, says he would not be surprised if the coming exercise is postponed.  
 
“Yes, we need to train,” Maxwell said. “However, if there is an outbreak among the entire ROK/US Combined Forces Command staff, it will have a debilitating effect on more than readiness.”  Lee Juhyun contributed to this report.
 
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China has imposed sanctions on three U.S. lawmakers in retaliation for Trump administration’s sanctions imposed over Beijing’s treatment of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang province.Chinese Foreign ministry spokesman Hua Chunying announced sanctions Monday against Republican Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, and Republican Representative Chris Smith.Hua also said sanctions have been imposed against Sam Brownback, the U.S. ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom, and the Congressional-Executive Committee on China, a joint congressional-White House panel created to “monitor human rights and the development of the rule of law” in China.  Rubio is the Republican co-chair of the panel, and Smith is the ranking member and a former co-chair of the committee.The “corresponding sanctions” were announced days after the Trump administration imposed financial sanctions against several high-ranking Chinese officials, including Chen Quanguo, the Chinese Communist Party chief in Xinjiang.President Donald Trump signed legislation last month that allowed for sanctions to be imposed over the mass incarceration of as many as 1 million ethnic Uighur Muslims and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang province.Ties between the world’s biggest economies have deteriorated in recent months over a host of issues, including trade and human rights concerns involving Hong Kong and Taiwan, as well as Xinjiang. 
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