A few hours before the commutation:

https://twitter.com/howardfineman/status/1281681337351626752

Just had a long talk with #RogerStone. He says he doesn’t want a pardon (which implies guilt) but a commutation, and says he thinks #Trump will give it to him. “He knows I was under enormous pressure to turn on him. It would have eased my situation considerably. But I didn’t.”

(Twitter embed isn't working for some reason).

How Trump can even pretend that this isn't a corrupt attempt to protect himself is beyond me. And how his supporters can even pretend to not know this is also beyond me.

There's no benefit of the doubt here. It's corruption, through and through.