Decades-long Trump ally Roger Stone arrested for lying to Congress

[rooster59]

Decades-long Trump ally Roger Stone arrested for lying to Congress

By Zachary Fagenson

 

Roger Stone speaks after his appearance at Federal Court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S., January 25, 2019. REUTERS/Joe Skipper

 

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (Reuters) - A longtime ally of U.S. President Donald Trump was arrested on Friday for lying to Congress about the 2016 campaign's efforts to use stolen emails to undercut his Democratic rival in one of the highest-level arrests of the Special Counsel probe into possible election manipulation.

 

Roger Stone, a 66-year-old self-proclaimed Republican "dirty trickster," declared himself innocent hours after a large team of FBI agents raided his Fort Lauderdale, Florida home.

 

He is one of the closest Trump associates to be charged in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into whether Trump's campaign colluded with Russia to help win the election.

 

Mueller said in court papers that Stone shared with multiple members of the Trump campaign team advance knowledge he had of a plan by WikiLeaks to release senior Democrats' emails.

 

Some political analysts say the emails, which highlighted disputes among Democrats, contributed to Trump's stunning defeat of election rival Hillary Clinton.

 

The charges mark the first time the Trump campaign has been publicly tied to WikiLeaks by Mueller's team and add to pressure on the president as the newly installed Democratic majority in the House of Representatives plans to step up investigations of him.

 

"Greatest Witch Hunt in the History of our Country! NO COLLUSION!," Trump wrote on Twitter following Stone's arrest, using his most common slur for the Mueller probe.

 

The charging documents included new details about Trump aides' alleged activities, including an incident in which a senior campaign official "was directed to contact Stone about any additional releases and what other damaging information" WikiLeaks had about the Clinton campaign.

 

The papers do not make clear who gave that order to a senior campaign official.

 

Stone was charged with seven criminal counts, including obstruction of an official proceeding, witness tampering and making false statements.

 

STONE BLASTS 'INQUISITION'

 

In a rowdy scene outside a courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Stone denounced his arrest as politically motivated and said he had done no wrong.

 

"After a two-year inquisition, the charges today related in no way to Russian collusion, WikiLeaks coordination or any other illegal act in connection with the 2016 campaign," he told reporters, flashing the twin "V for Victory" signs that the disgraced President Richard Nixon was famous for.

 

"I will not testify against the president because I would have to bear false witness against him."

 

A crowd chanted "Lock Him Up," an inversion of the "Lock Her Up" chant that Trump and his surrogates led against Clinton at rallies during the 2016 campaign. Someone played the Beatles song "Back in the U.S.S.R." Others cheered in support of Stone.

 

A magistrate judge released Stone on a $250,000 bond and ordered him to limit his travel to South Florida, New York City and Washington. 

 

The indictment showed Stone using language evoking mob bosses -- and even citing a "Godfather" movie -- as he called an unnamed associate facing FBI inquiries "a rat. A stoolie."

 

NIXON TATTOO

 

Stone's reputation as an aggressive political operative dates back to the Watergate scandal of the 1970s when he was working for Nixon. He has a back tattoo bearing the late president's face.

 

WikiLeaks, referred to in the indictment as "Organization 1," did not respond to a request for comment.

 

Over 30 people have pleaded guilty, been indicted or otherwise swept up in the Russia inquiry, which has clouded Trump's two-year-old presidency.

 

They include former close associates of Trump such as his one-time lawyer Michael Cohen and former campaign chairman Paul Manafort as well as 12 Russian intelligence officers.

 

The indictment referred to an October 2016 email from a "high-ranking Trump Campaign official" asking Stone to inquire about future releases of emails by "Organization 1." Stone responded that "Organization 1" would release "a load every week going forward."

 

The high-ranking official is believed to be former Trump campaign chief Steve Bannon, according to a person familiar with the matter. Bannon did not respond to a request for comment.

 

STUMP CALL TO RUSSIA

 

The interactions with WikiLeaks covered in the indictment occurred days before Trump called out to Russia in a campaign stump speech for help finding "missing" emails from Clinton's time as secretary of state, according to Democratic U.S. Representative Adam Schiff.

 

"Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing," Trump said, vexing intelligence experts and prompting Democrats to accuse him of urging a foreign country to spy on Americans.

 

"At the very time that then-candidate Trump was publicly encouraging Russia's help in acquiring Clinton-related emails, his campaign was privately receiving information about the planned release of stolen Clinton emails," Schiff said in a statement.

 

The Kremlin has denied interfering with the 2016 election.

 

The DNC emails WikiLeaks released in the summer of 2016 sowed division among Democratic voters by appearing to show party officials favoured Clinton over the insurgent candidacy of Senator Bernie Sanders. Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned as DNC chair in response.

 

Stone's ties to Trump go back four decades. Stone has urged Trump to run for president since 1988, was chairman of his 2000 presidential exploratory committee and was a consultant when Trump considered running in 2012.

 

Stone briefly worked for the 2016 Trump campaign but left in August 2015. The campaign said it fired him after he tried to grab too much of the spotlight while Stone insisted that he quit.

 

Even after Stone resigning, he still played a key promotional role for Trump and communicated with people in his camp.

(For a graphic on 'Indictments and convictions' click https://graphics.reuters.com/USA-TRUMP-RUSSIA/0100721Z3ME/index.html)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-01-26

[TopDeadSenter]

5 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

"I will not testify against the president because I would have to bear false witness against him."

 This has been a signature of the witch-hunt right from the git go. It is clear minor players have been threatened by Mueller's team to give them juicy bones or else. The problem is when there are no juicy bones, and there never were any - what to give them in exchange for a return to normal life. Ah yes, just make stuff up. The extremists Mueller surrounds himself with are so desperate to clutch at straws they are believing any old nonsense.

 Still, Stone is a tough guy I doubt he will be intimidated by the deep state and the haters.

 

[Chomper Higgot]

7 felony charges, and that’s just the start.

 

Stone is going to sing like a canary.

 

Illiberals get your denial glasses on, the truth will (Despite Individual-1’s best efforts) out!

[Chomper Higgot]

15 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

 This has been a signature of the witch-hunt right from the git go. It is clear minor players have been threatened by Mueller's team to give them juicy bones or else. The problem is when there are no juicy bones, and there never were any - what to give them in exchange for a return to normal life. Ah yes, just make stuff up. The extremists Mueller surrounds himself with are so desperate to clutch at straws they are believing any old nonsense.

 Still, Stone is a tough guy I doubt he will be intimidated by the deep state and the haters.

 

2019 is not going to be your year.

 

You’re going to be dragged back into the reality based universe.

 

Since you are so emphatic in your statement about Stone being ‘a tough guy’ I suggest the moment Stone starts ‘singing’ would be a good time for you to understand your journey back to reality has started.

 

Enoy the journey.

[jollyhangmon]

1 hour ago, rooster59 said:

 ... Someone played the Beatles song "Back in the U.S.S.R." ... 

 

 

[Silurian]

Donald always surrounds himself with the best traitors people.

 

Another one bites the dust.

[neeray]

59 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

 This has been a signature of the witch-hunt right from the git go. It is clear minor players have been threatened by Mueller's team to give them juicy bones or else. The problem is when there are no juicy bones, and there never were any - what to give them in exchange for a return to normal life. Ah yes, just make stuff up. The extremists Mueller surrounds himself with are so desperate to clutch at straws they are believing any old nonsense.

 Still, Stone is a tough guy I doubt he will be intimidated by the deep state and the haters.

 

But NO COLLUSION ! 555

To use one of Trumps many ambiguous statements, "we'll see".

 

The swamp is slowly getting drained but not by the person who claimed he would drain it.

We'll see.

[Lungstib]

1 hour ago, rooster59 said:

arrested for lying

Wow, start doing that and politicians are going to be as rare as hens teeth.

[Silurian]

6 minutes ago, Lungstib said:

Wow, start doing that and politicians are going to be as rare as hens teeth.

Um, Stone was under oath, testifying to Congress.

 

I suggest you look up perjury.

 

 

[Boon Mee]

Looks like they have Trump now! 

Not quite. This arrest is a purely politically-motivated stunt by Mueller who hasn't a smidgen of dirt on DJT. 

[Chomper Higgot]

10 minutes ago, Boon Mee said:

Looks like they have Trump now! 

Not quite. This arrest is a purely politically-motivated stunt by Mueller who hasn't a smidgen of dirt on DJT. 

This arrest is motivated by the felonies listed in the indictment.

 

Individual-1 is already listed as a coconspirator in Cohen’s indictment, so you probably right, a great deal more than a ‘smidgen’.

 

 

 

[bendejo]

Stone, Giuliani and DT all have this thing where the more you let them talk the bigger a hole they dig for themselves.

One of Stone's rules is "deny deny deny."  Regardless of what he did or didn't actually do, any charges against him will be part of a conspiracy, and he'll be the unfortunate victim, etc, poor thing.

 

 

[DoctorG]

Nice little tip off that had CNN at his doorstep as heavily armed FBI agents arrived at 5am for the arrest. Maybe the threat from a 66 yo with no priors would have been too intimidating for these tough FBI agents. Guess it looked better on the telly.

[Tug]

As muller drains the swamp the rest of the critters are exposed in the muck lol

[stevenl]

2 minutes ago, DoctorG said:

Nice little tip off that had CNN at his doorstep as heavily armed FBI agents arrived at 5am for the arrest. Maybe the threat from a 66 yo with no priors would have been too intimidating for these tough FBI agents. Guess it looked better on the telly.

I guess you're happy he has been arrested, just not in the way how?

[Silurian]

3 minutes ago, DoctorG said:

Nice little tip off that had CNN at his doorstep as heavily armed FBI agents arrived at 5am for the arrest. Maybe the threat from a 66 yo with no priors would have been too intimidating for these tough FBI agents. Guess it looked better on the telly.

 

FYI -

 

How CNN captured video of the Roger Stone raid

 

[ballpoint]

2 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Stone is going to sing like a canary.

Careful.  In the thread about Michael Cohen I made a reference to him singing like Leonard, but it was removed.  I'd better not make any references to Roger singing like a Rolling Stone.  Damn.

[DoctorG]

6 minutes ago, Silurian said:

 

FYI -

 

How CNN captured video of the Roger Stone raid

 

Thanks, but I had already read CNNs explanation. Strange though. LEOs first duty is to move back any reporters or spectators. By the CNNs guy's own report, they did not do this until later. I am not big on coincidences but it might indeed have been as CNN says. FBI probably still not need to do the heavily-armed, pre-dawn raid thing. 

[Redline]

2 hours ago, TopDeadSenter said:

 This has been a signature of the witch-hunt right from the git go. It is clear minor players have been threatened by Mueller's team to give them juicy bones or else. The problem is when there are no juicy bones, and there never were any - what to give them in exchange for a return to normal life. Ah yes, just make stuff up. The extremists Mueller surrounds himself with are so desperate to clutch at straws they are believing any old nonsense.

 Still, Stone is a tough guy I doubt he will be intimidated by the deep state and the haters.

 

Funny and sad at the same time ???? 

 

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/the-russia-investigations-explained/

[DoctorG]

13 minutes ago, stevenl said:

I guess you're happy he has been arrested, just not in the way how?

I make no assumption about his guilt or innocence, purely about the method and possible tip-off.

[Redline]

1 minute ago, DoctorG said:

Thanks, but I had already read CNNs explanation. Strange though. LEOs first duty is to move back any reporters or spectators. By the CNNs guy's own report, they did not do this until later. I am not big on coincidences but it might indeed have been as CNN says. FBI probably still not need to do the heavily-armed, pre-dawn raid thing. 

They do heavily armed raids nearly every time regardless 

[Redline]

This is an extremely well done article:

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/the-russia-investigations-explained/

Regardless of what you think, these people need to stop lying, and face consequences.  I had to do it, and now I’m brutally honest ????????????

[keemapoot]

Decades long ally, close adviser and co-strategist?

“Nah, I hardly knew him. A lotta guys want to claim they know me, I mean who wouldn’t? Did I tell you they are planning to put me on Rushmore?”


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[DoctorG]

9 minutes ago, Redline said:

They do heavily armed raids nearly every time regardless 

Unsuccessfully tried to find something to either confirm or refute your assertion. Having never personally been arrested by the FBI I do not know.

[Respectthailand]

Looking foward to when they move on his family.

Despicable don.

4000 confirmed lies since taking the helm and counting

[utalkin2me]

ONe look at that guy's face and you know for a fact he is guilty of something. 

[FritsSikkink]

4 hours ago, TopDeadSenter said:

 This has been a signature of the witch-hunt right from the git go. It is clear minor players have been threatened by Mueller's team to give them juicy bones or else. The problem is when there are no juicy bones, and there never were any - what to give them in exchange for a return to normal life. Ah yes, just make stuff up. The extremists Mueller surrounds himself with are so desperate to clutch at straws they are believing any old nonsense.

 Still, Stone is a tough guy I doubt he will be intimidated by the deep state and the haters.

 

Mueller is a republican and you talk nonsense.

[FritsSikkink]

3 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

2019 is not going to be your year.

 

You’re going to be dragged back into the reality based universe.

 

Since you are so emphatic in your statement about Stone being ‘a tough guy’ I suggest the moment Stone starts ‘singing’ would be a good time for you to understand your journey back to reality has started.

 

Enoy the journey.

He will never go back to reality, if they are all locked up he will still be screaming FAKE NEWS.

[ballpoint]

2 minutes ago, utalkin2me said:

ONe look at that guy's face and you know for a fact he is guilty of something. 

He seems rather surprised by the whole thing.

[Slip]

Best news so far this year.  Lock him up!