LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA — In the early hours of Friday morning, the FBI arrested career ratfucker and one-time Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone. An indictment released by the special counsel’s office, which is investigating allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government, accuses Stone of committing several crimes, all of which occurred long after Stone left the campaign and nearly a year after Trump won the election.
After his release from jail, Stone announced his intention to plead not guilty to the charges.
In the indictment, Stone is accused of one count of obstruction by lying to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) about the existence of documents responsive to the committee’s request for all of Stone’s communications concerning “Organization 1,” or WikiLeaks, and by attempting to “persuade a witness to provide false testimony.”
That witness is pro-WikiLeaks activist and radio host Randy Credico.
Sorry to disappoint everyone, but the indictment does not establish that Roger Stone had any privileged access to WikiLeaks, or “coordinated” with WikiLeaks in any other respect. Might want to put away away the party balloons and champagne bottles.
— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) January 25, 2019
Stone is also facing five counts of making false statements, including that he did not disclose his conversations with Credico, Stone’s self-proclaimed “go-between” with WikiLeaks. He also allegedly lied about the existence of email and text records of his communications with Credico and about asking Credico to communicate something to the “head of Organization 1,” Julian Assange. Stone had left the campaign the year prior to the actions he allegedly lied about.
Stone is trying to speak but he’s having some trouble talking over a clamor of boos and “lock him up.” pic.twitter.com/ayvCV4emN9
— Alejandro Alvarez (@aletweetsnews) January 25, 2019
Stone is also charged with witness tampering. When Credico informed Stone that his lawyers were trying to reach him, Stone told Credico to “Stonewall it. Plead the fifth. Anything to save the plan… Richard Nixon.” (Stone has a tattoo of Richard Nixon’s face on his back.)
In case you didn’t already want to die: pic.twitter.com/HOovUU8bTs
— workers of the world stop working (@ekingc) January 25, 2019
After several exchanges in which Stone asks Credico to withhold information, Credico texted Stone: “You need to amend your testimony before I testify on the 15th,” so that Stone would not be directly contradicted by Credico under oath.
“If you testify you’re a fool. Because of tromp [sic] I could never get away with [asserting] my Fifth Amendment rights but you can. I guarantee you you are the one who gets indicted for perjury if you’re stupid enough to testify,” Stone fired back.
Roger Stone’s stone selling business is on its last leg. Prices are dropping FAST. Pretty soon he won’t be able to cover the cost of postage! pic.twitter.com/ftyLsfgxxg
— Vic Berger IV (@VicBergerIV) January 5, 2019
“You are a rat. A stoolie. You backstab your friends-run your mouth my lawyers are dying Rip [sic] you to shreds,” Stone said. He went on to threaten to steal Credico’s therapy dog, Bianca, saying he’d “take that dog away from you.”
“I am so ready. Let’s get it on. Prepare to die [expletive],” Stone threatened via email.
Here’s Randy Credico with his dog, Bianca, who is mentioned in the Stone indictment pic.twitter.com/mmuJDIpyl6
— Betsy Woodruff (@woodruffbets) January 25, 2019
In text message exchange, this time with InfoWars’ Jerome Corsi, “Person 1” in the indictment, Corsi advised Stone to “be honest [with the] FBI…there was no back channel…be honest.”
“I’m not talking to the FBI and if your [sic] smart you won’t either,” Stone replied.
Roger Stone has been tampering with democracy for decades & getting lionized by fawning DC hacks. He bragged about bribing a New York judge in 1980 to put John Anderson on NY ballot & split the Carter vote for Reagan. “Rule of law” applied now b/c he tampered for the wrong guy
— Mark Ames (@MarkAmesExiled) January 25, 2019
Stone’s checkered past and present
While Stone’s alleged behavior is unbecoming of, well, just about anyone, it should not come as a surprise to those familiar with his resume, and certainly does not substantiate the “collusion” narrative that has been promoted in the mainstream media. The most damning connection? “Stone was contacted by senior Trump Campaign officials to inquire about future releases by Organization 1.” The line does not say whom Stone was asked to contact — it could have been Credico, Corsi, or anyone else for that matter.
And asking a media company about its impending publications is not illegal. While Mueller has alleged that the hacker that gave WikiLeaks the document was no “Guccifer 2.0,” but actually 12 Russian spies with a penchant for romancing former Playboy models, it remains unproven; merely an allegation.
“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
Media being tipped off about the raid on Roger Stone smells a lot like when Robert Mueller tipped off the media to Steven Hatfill’s apartment and garbage being searched during the 2001 anthrax investigation
— Robbie Martin (@FluorescentGrey) January 25, 2019
Stone, like his longtime associate Paul Manafort, has a storied history of deception and shadiness in politics. Stone has been a Republican operative for nearly a half of a century, first coming into prominence when he was outed by journalist Jack Anderson as “dirty trickster” for Richard Nixon. Stone played a role in the Watergate scandal; boasted about orchestrating the “Brooks Brothers riot,” a heated attempt to interfere with the 2000 presidential election recount, and has compiled a laundry list of other dirty deeds.
Here are Mueller’s mandates. Read carefully. Without (i) there’d be no (ii). Without the collusion pretext there’d be no Manafort or Cohen corruption cases. It’d be business as usual in the Beltway. Shame it takes xenophobic scapegoating to get bank fraud convictions in the US pic.twitter.com/Ku18As1OgV
— Alex Rubinstein (@RealAlexRubi) August 28, 2018
Stone and Manafort even set up a lobbying firm with one another in 1980 and became one of the most effective of such shops. They went on to represent dictators from Somalia, the Philippines, Angola and more. The Center for Public Integrity has said Black Manafort & Stone made more than $3 million from dictators in the early 1990s.
Top Photo | Former campaign adviser for President Donald Trump, Roger Stone walks out of the federal courthouse following a hearing, Friday, Jan. 25, 2019, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Stone was arrested Friday in the special counsel’s Russia investigation and was charged with lying to Congress and obstructing the probe. Lynne Sladky | AP
Alexander Rubinstein is a staff writer for MintPress News based in Washington, DC. He reports on police, prisons, and protests in the United States and the United States’ policing of the world. He previously reported for RT and Sputnik News.
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