Tucker Carlson showed footage of the arrest of Roger Stone, narrating as he went along, condemning the FBI’s unnecessary use of force. CNN, the notoriously Trump-hating network, was the only outlet with the footage.
“Until now the only public footage of the raid came from CNN, which somehow knew to arrive one hour before the FBI got there,” Carlson said Friday during “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
The CNN cameraman arrived about 15 minutes before the first agent who chatted with him briefly.
The raid took place at Stone’s home last month in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
He is charged, not with drug running or murder, but rather with making false statements to Congress, witness tampering and obstruction. Those are the same charges leveled against Martha Stewart and many others. When the FBI charges one of the three, they tack on the others.
Carlson compared the takedown of the elderly Roger Stone to that of “a Mexican drug lord, maybe even SEAL Team 6 going into [Osama] bin Laden’s compound.”
Carlson described the scene last night in detail, from the cameraman jumping out of the car to the feds assembling on the driveway, said to be 29 in all.
POLICE STATE
“The feds assemble on Stone’s driveway, they’re wearing ballistic armor and carrying assault weapons with 30-round magazines, red dot sites and tactical flashlights mounted to the barrel shroud. One has his gun hanging by the strap while he’s carrying a battering ram in the left hand.”
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“All of the men have a sidearm holstered on their waists. A second camera mounted on Stone’s front door shows another angle of the raid. A heavily armed FBI agent approaches the door with the gun drawn while others stake out positions behind,” Carlson recounted. “It looks like a high-stakes raid, but the cameraman is 40 feet away filming it all.
Stone was greeted with an assault rifle in his face while he stood in his tee shirt and bare feet.
Carlson ended by saying, “The FBI and their water carriers in the corporate media, tell us totally commonplace, by the book, happens all the time.”
It does — in police states. Given the political nature of the arrest and of Stone’s ties, this is a message. It is the FBI, Mueller in particular, using the power of the State to aggressively demean and threaten a political targeet.
These clips are in two parts:
WHITAKER IS DEEPLY CONCERNED ABOUT THE LEAK TO CNN
Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker expressed his deep concerns yesterday concerning the probable leak to CNN who showed up at the arrest.
Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA) asked Whitaker whether he was aware of Stone’s indictment before it became public. He said he was.
Collins followed up by asking Whitaker whether he was aware that a CNN reporter was camped outside of Stone’s house when the FBI arrested him.
“I am aware of that, and it was deeply concerning to me as to how CNN found out about that,” Whitaker said.
Collins then asked Whitaker if someone at the Department of Justice shared a draft of Stone’s indictment with CNN.
“Ranking member Collins, the court had a sealed indictment that, after Mr. Stone’s arrest, was unsealed. Consistent with all its prior indictments, the DOJ’s basic policy for transparency in criminal cases is that the indictment is posted on the DOJ webpage promptly after it’s unsealed, and the media outlets were notified,” Whitaker.
Whitaker then told Collins that he did not know of any other notice from either the DOJ or the special counsel’s office to media outlets regarding Stone’s indictment or his arrest.
Collins then asked Whitaker whether he viewed it as a problem that CNN could have been tipped off.
“Mr. Collins, I share your concern with the possibility that a media outlet was tipped off to Mr. Stone’s either indictment or arrest before that information was made available to the public,” Whitaker said.