Roger Stone, a longtime political advisor to President Trump, has been arrested in Florida.
Stone faces seven counts, including witness tampering, obstruction of justice and making false statements to Congress.
The indictment alleges that Stone had been in contact with top-ranking Trump campaign officials about efforts to leak damaging information about Hillary Clinton just before the 2016 election.
According to a person with direct knowledge of the matter, one of the senior officials who reached out to Stone was Steve Bannon, who served as CEO of the Trump campaign during the election's final stages.

FBI arrests Roger Stone on seven counts FBI arrests Roger Stone on seven counts 1 Hour Ago | 02:42

Roger Stone, a longtime political advisor to President Donald Trump, was arrested during a predawn raid Friday in special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into election interference in 2016.

Stone, who was arrested in Florida, faces seven counts, including witness tampering, obstruction of justice and making false statements to Congress.

The indictment alleges that Stone had been in contact with top-ranking Trump campaign officials about efforts to leak damaging information about Hillary Clinton just before the 2016 election.

TM note: Nevermind that the "damaging information" was true and implicated Hillary Clinton in fixing the election against Bernie Sanders and in her favor!!!

According to a person with direct knowledge of the matter, one of the senior officials who reached out to Stone was Steve Bannon, who served as CEO of the Trump campaign during the election's final stages.

Bannon's attorney declined to comment. Bannon, who worked as Trump's chief strategist in the White House for less than a year, has not returned repeated calls for comment.

Stone, a veteran Republican operative who has described himself as a dirty trickster, has consistently denied collusion with Russia during the campaign. He will make an initial appearance at 11 a.m. ET Friday at the federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Mueller describes repeated contacts between Stone and high-ranking members in Trump's campaign organization.

During the summer of 2016, STONE spoke to senior Trump Campaign officials 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.

The indictment does not identify "Organization 1" or its head, but it clearly refers to WikiLeaks and Julian Assange because it says the head of the organization was at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. Assange has been living there since 2012 while avoiding sexual offense charges in Sweden.

The group leaked thousands of Clinton campaign emails during the final month of the 2016 campaign. At a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Oct. 10, 2016, Trump praised the group, saying "WikiLeaks! I love WikiLeaks." In addition, Trump's oldest son, Donald Jr., acknowledged he had been in private communications with WikiLeaks.

The indictment also says a senior official in the Trump campaign "was directed" to talk to Stone about potential future releases by Organization 1, following a release of stolen Democratic National Committee emails in July 2016:

After the July 22, 2016 release of stolen DNC emails by Organization 1, a senior Trump Campaign official was directed to contact STONE about any additional releases and what other damaging information Organization 1 had regarding the Clinton Campaign. STONE thereafter told the Trump Campaign about potential future releases of damaging material by Organization 1.

The indictment says a high-ranking Trump campaign official asked Stone about whether the organization would release more material in October, with about a month left to go in the campaign. Clinton was considered the favorite to win the election at the time, leading Trump in national polls.

On or about October 4, 2016, the head of Organization 1 held a press conference but did not release any new materials pertaining to the Clinton Campaign. Shortly afterwards, STONE received an email from the high-ranking Trump Campaign official asking about the status of future releases by Organization 1. STONE answered that the head of Organization 1 had a "[s]erious security concern" but that Organization 1 would release "a load every week going forward."

The special counsel alleges that an associate of a high-ranking Trump campaign official texted Stone to praise him after an initial load of stolen Clinton campaign emails was released Oct. 7.

On or about October 7, 2016, Organization 1 released the first set of emails stolen from the Clinton Campaign chairman. Shortly after Organization 1's release, an associate of the highranking Trump Campaign official sent a text message to STONE that read "well done." In subsequent conversations with senior Trump Campaign officials, STONE claimed credit for having correctly predicted the October 7, 2016 release.

Oct. 7 also marked the release of the "Access Hollywood" tape from a decade earlier, which included Trump boasting about grabbing women's genitals. At the time, it appeared to be a mortal wound for Trump's presidential ambitions.

The indictment also says Stone

Made multiple false statements to [The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence] about his interactions regarding Organization 1, and falsely denied possessing records that contained evidence of these interactions; and attempted to persuade a witness to provide false testimony to and withhold pertinent information from the investigations.

Bruce Rogow, a lawyer for Stone, slammed the special counsel's office.

"I am disappointed in the grandstanding with an early morning arrest. I would have expected better from the SCO. Roger was not hiding from anyone; quite the opposite," Rogow said in a statement to CNBC. "A phone call and he would have appeared voluntarily."

Rogow also said he would work on getting Stone released from custody following his court appearance.

The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.

Stone, who acted as an informal advisor to Trump's presidential campaign, has been under scrutiny for months but has maintained his innocence. He is one of the top subjects of the investigation into potential collusion between Moscow and the Trump campaign.

Stone is also a former business associate of Paul Manafort, who headed up Trump's campaign for several months in 2016. Manafort himself has been convicted of several federal crimes stemming from Mueller's investigation.

The special counsel is investigating potential links between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. Trump has repeatedly denied that he colluded or obstructed justice.

Stone had predicted that he could face charges in the probe. He said he did nothing wrong, but contended to The Guardian that Mueller "may frame me for some bogus charge in order to silence me or induce me to testify against the president."

Legal scrutiny of Stone, who as a young operative helped to boost President Richard Nixon's re-election bid, appeared to focus on what he knew about the leak of Democratic emails during the 2016 campaign.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/25/us-speci...in-florida.html

Quote: algernonpj wrote in post #7

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Quote: Cincinnatus wrote in post #5

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Zitat

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Roger Stone, a longtime political advisor to President Donald Trump, was arrested during a predawn raid

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About 20 FBI agents conduct the raid. Somehow CNN was notified it was happening.

Yep, nothing untoward going on here, nothing at all.

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Predawn with a SWAT team - that's how the FBI arrests terrorists and MS-13

Intimidation directed toward a known Trump associate and all future witnesses Mueller decides to call !

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And still ....ZERO interest in ANY Democrat misdeeds? The lid needs to come off this cover up.

UPDATE: Ranking Judiciary Committee Republican wants FBI to explain use of force in Stone arrest

Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday, questioning the bureau's tactics when arresting Roger Stone, a longtime adviser and confidant of President Trump, last week at his Florida home.

Collins joins Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., in questioning the amount of force used in arresting the 66-year-old Stone at his home, given that he was not deemed a flight risk and had already publicly stated that he expected to be indicted.


“Although none of the seven charges against Stone is considered to be a violent crime, the FBI demonstrated an immense show of force during an early-morning raid on Stone’s home,” Collins wrote in his letter to Wray. “Given the fact that the FBI is embroiled in a scandal related to the origins of this investigation, we are perplexed about why the FBI would use such a show of force in the arrest of an elderly man.”

Collins goes on to point out that when Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., was indicted in 2015 on 14 charges – as with Stone, the charges included giving false statements – he and his lawyers were allowed to discuss how the lawmaker would voluntarily surrender.

In his letter, Collins asks Wray to clarify how far up the chain of command the knowledge of the raid and tactics used went, if the FBI had had any discussions with Stone’s attorneys before the raid, and if the FBI spoke to any media organizations ahead of the raid. A CNN commentator was near the scene during the time of the raid on Stone’s house and overheard his conversation with FBI agents.

Collins joined a growing chorus of Republican lawmakers and strategists criticizing Stone's arrest, with former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie calling it “overkill” and a former FBI agent comparing it to a “pre-dawn ‘knock-and-announce’ arrest warrant of a meth lab somewhere in the United States.” Stone himself drew a parallel between the level of force displayed during his arrest and that used to capture alleged Mexican drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzman.

Stone on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to felony charges in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation after a publicity-filled few days spent slamming the probe as politically motivated.

The indictment does not accuse Stone of coordinating with Russia or with WikiLeaks on the release of hacked Democratic emails. But it does allege that he misled lawmakers about his pursuit of those communications and interest in them. The anti-secrecy WikiLeaks website published emails in the weeks before the 2016 presidential election that the U.S. says were stolen from Democrats by Russian operatives.

Mueller's team and lawyers with the U.S. attorney's office for the District of Columbia are jointly prosecuting the case against Stone. They did not push for Stone to be jailed or for U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson to impose a gag order in the case.

Stone remains free on $250,000 bond.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ranking...in-stone-arrest

They arrest him in a pre-dawn SWAT raid, he faces a judge and then he's released to his own custody, back on the street.

BUT THE FBI WAS SEARCHING STONE'S HOME WHILE HE WAS BEING ARRAIGNED, LOOKING FOR AND NO DOUBT REMOVING FILES DEEMED "EVIDENCE". This is America???

That's the Left's newest tactic. They did it to Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen, taking boxes of files. They somehow failed to do it to Hillary Clinton.

This dragnet approach to gathering all kinds of information is being used selectively. The political value in such an information gathering sweep is immense and completely wrong. This special counsel should have to identify the crime before such a vast sweep is allowed. TM

"For some strange reason this was not aired on CNN who had a camera crew at Stone’s home during the arrest."

We're living in a political police state. Let's hope we can straighten out this egregious abuse of power!

UPDATE: Lindsey Graham is taking up the cause now !



Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)(shown above right) sent a letter on Wednesday calling on FBI leaders to explain the very aggressive way in which Roger Stone was arrested.

President Donald Trump has been at the center of a federal investigation by a special prosecutor; Stone became a person of interest, having previously served as a political adviser for the president.


Lindsey Graham Calls on FBI to Explain Highly Aggressive Arrest of Roger Stone

Pre-dawn raid and dramatic show of force seemed unnecessary

By Connor D. Wolf | January 30, 2019

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)(shown above right) sent a letter on Wednesday calling on FBI leaders to explain the very aggressive way in which Roger Stone was arrested.

President Donald Trump has been at the center of a federal investigation by a special prosecutor; Stone became a person of interest, having previously served as a political adviser for the president.

He was arrested last week on charges of obstruction, making false statements and witness tampering in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Stone and others were quick to denounce the way in which law enforcement arrested him. Stone said police stormed his house in an unnecessarily aggressive show of force that terrorized his wife and his dogs.

Graham is now hoping to get an explanation.

“I have supported special counsel Mueller’s ability to conduct his investigation without interference,” Graham wrote in his letter. “I am leery that a subject of the special counsel’s investigation, who had retained counsel, had publicly stated that he believed that he would at some point be indicted, and was apparently willing to surrender voluntarily, was arrested in a pre-dawn raid at his home.”

Stone claimed after his arrest that authorities made no attempt to contact him or his lawyer beforehand and that he would have voluntarily turned himself in if they did.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges on Tuesday. He also said he does not plan to accept any plea deals to cooperate with the special counsel.
“The American public has had enough of the media circus that surrounds the special counsel’s investigation,” Graham wrote. “Yet, the manner of this arrest appears to have only added to the spectacle. Accordingly, I write to seek justification for the tactics used and the timing of the arrest of Mr. Stone.”
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https://www.waynedupree.com/lindsey-graham-roger-stone/