Roger Stone, a former adviser to President Trump, was indicted Thursday and arrested Friday on charges of obstruction, making false statements, and witness tampering as part of the special counsel’s wide-ranging probe.
Stone has been saying for months that he might be arrested. He said Mueller believes he had advance knowledge of the Wikileaks hacked/leaked Democrat emails in 2016. For two years, Stone has denied having such knowledge.
He will appear in court later on Friday.
The charges are all process crimes, and most of what is in the indictment is known. There is nothing about Russia collusion or conspiracy in the document.
It is odd that Democrats can continually lie to Congress, like James Clapper, and they are not indicted for lying.
THE CHARGES
The 24-page indictment alleges Stone worked to obstruct the Senate Intelligence Committee’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election by lying to the committee, denying he had records sought by the committee, and persuading a witness to give false testimony.
He is arrested on seven counts.
To be more specific, he is charged with one count of obstructing the House Intelligence Committee investigation, five counts of lying to the committee, and one count of trying to get another witness (Randy Credico) to lie to the committee.
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According to Byron York, Stone is basically charged with lying to House about his communications with Credico and Jerome Corsi [a lunatic] over supposed second-hand communications and efforts to communicate with Julian Assange.
Stone advised Trump for years, left the campaign in August 2015, but kept in contact with Donald Trump.
THE ARREST ON CNN TAPE
Greta van Susteren tweeted that CNN cameras were at the raid of Stone, so the FBI obviously tipped off CNN. Why would Mueller’s office tip off CNN and not keep the arrest quiet and safe?
It may be so they would do what they’re doing, playing the tape almost on a loop as if he were El Chapo or Osama bin Laden.
CNN cameras were at the raid of Roger Stone…so FBI obviously tipped off CNN…even if you don’t like Stone, it is curious why Mueller’s office tipped off CNN instead of trying to quietly arrest Stone;quiet arrests are more likely to be safe to the FBI and the person arrested
— Greta Van Susteren (@greta) January 25, 2019
Greta later tweeted “Weird that Roger Stone arrested in FBI raid early this morning rather than surrender w/ lawyer at FBI office…did they think he would flee? Fear destruction of evidence? Or did he make the FBI and Mueller so mad so that they did it this way?” she tweeted.”
The FBI was in full riot gear.
“FBI. Open the door.”
Watch exclusive CNN footage of the FBI arresting longtime Trump associate Roger Stone. Stone has been indicted by a grand jury on charges brought by special counsel Robert Mueller. https://t.co/5QHKDB2mfA pic.twitter.com/UeKo7CmXWo
— CNN (@CNN) January 25, 2019
STONE HAD REPORTED HIS CONTACTS WITH ASSANGE
“I actually have communicated with Assange,” Stone said during a South Florida GOP forum in early August 2016. “I believe the next tranche of his docs pertain to the Clinton Foundation, but there’s no telling what the October surprise may be.”
Then, 10 days later, during a C-SPAN interview, Stone called Assange a “hero” and suggested that he “could theoretically drop a tranche of documents” before each of the Clinton-Trump debates. “These are like the Watergate tapes,” Stone said.
Stone also kept talking in public throughout the campaign about WikiLeaks and the hacking of Democratic emails.
KEY PASSAGES FROM THE INDICTMENT
A lot of the information has already leaked out. Randy Credico is the left-wing radio host who Stone allegedly tried to intimidate into lying. Jerome Corsi has said he forwarded the email from Stone to his friend in the U.K. but that’s all. He accused Stone of lying.
From the indictment:
“During the summer of 2016, STONE spoke to senior Trump Campaign officials [Steve Bannon?] about Organization 1 and information it might have had that would be damaging to the Clinton Campaign. STONE was contacted by senior Trump Campaign officials to inquire about future releases by Organization 1″
Organization 1 is Wikileaks.
[SINCE THIS STORY WAS WRITTEN, CNBC IS REPORTING THAT BANNON WAS THE SOURCE IN THE CAMPAIGN AS WE THOUGHT.]
He kept in regular contact with the Trump campaign through an intermediary after leaving the campaign.
On or about July 22, 2016, Organization 1 released documents stolen from the DNC.
“Organization 1 and information it might have had that would be damaging to the Clinton Campaign. STONE was contacted by senior Trump Campaign officials to inquire about future releases by Organization 1.”
The special counsel alleges Stone continued to communicate with Organization 1 about future releases.
People involved and unnamed in the indictment are a political commentator, person 1, who communicated with Trump campaign officials, and person 2, a radio host who confirmed to Stone that the Clinton emails were pending publication.
Stone informed Trump campaign officials about the upcoming release in June and July 2016.
Stone’s emails to Person 1 [Jerome Corsi] directed him to get to Assange. That information was then directed to a Trump supporter in the U.K.
Person 2 [Credico?] said there would be more dumps about August 2016. He wrote his friend [Assange] was planning two more highly damaging dumps.
There were communications throughout August via email, radio and TV, and through October 7. The emails begin on p.4.
On October 3, Stone told a reporter [Matthew Boyle] a [high-ranking Trump campaign official] wouldn’t call him back so he could tell him Wikileaks has something good.
“On or about March 20, 2017, the then-director of the FBI testified at a HPSCI hearing and publicly disclosed that the FBI was investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links and coordination between the Trump Campaign and the Russian government.”
Stone allegedly continually lied and held back information.
THE INDICTMENT
Stone Indictment 012419 by on Scribd
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