The New York State Bar Association on Monday condemned President Donald Trump's commutation of the prison sentence of his longtime ally Roger Stone, calling it a "perversion of justice, plain and simple."

Trump on Friday commuted Stone's 40-month sentence, handed down over his conviction on charges stemming from Special Counsel Robert Mueller III's investigation, days before Stone was set to report to prison. The White House, in announcing the grant of clemency, attacked the Mueller probe, and Mueller made a rare public statement Saturday, defending his team in a Washington Post op-ed.

On Monday, New York State Bar Association President Scott M. Karson said in a statement that is it "inexcusable for a president to use his power to commute sentences to save a political crony who was convicted by a jury of his peers of lying to protect the president."