Roger Stone becomes the latest in a long line of top Trump campaign advisers to be indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller.
Early Friday, Roger Stone became the latest in a long line of top Trump campaign advisers to be indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller. In the dark hours of the morning, the FBI arrived at Stone's house and arrested him for a litany of criminal activity, including obstruction of an official proceeding, making false statements, and witness tampering.
"With Stone’s indictment, the special counsel investigation has now led to charges against 34 people and guilty pleas by six Trump associates and advisers, including former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, former deputy campaign manager Rick Gates, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, former Trump attorney Michael Cohen and former campaign adviser George Papadopoulos," reports the Washington Post.
According to Mueller's office, Stone, who was arrested at his home in Florida, will appear in federal court in Fort Lauderdale at 11 am Friday.
Stone had been interviewed by Mueller's team several times about his connections to Julian Assange, WikiLeaks, and Russian interference in the 2016 election. While his communications were cited in previous court filings, Mueller waited until now to arrest him.
The Trump campaign initially denied any communications with Russian associates. But that was a lie, as the campaign made more than 100 contacts with officials linked to the Russian government.
According to the indictment, Stone and an associate used a reference from "The Godfather: Part II" to discuss lying to Congress. Stone told an associate he should do a "Frank Pentangeli" when testifying in order to avoid contradicting Stone's own testimony. In the film, Pentangeli lied in congressional testimony, saying he did not know critical information when he did, in fact, know it.
Stone's arrest is the latest in a long line of bad news for Trump. Earlier this week, Trump was implicitly accused of witness tampering when Cohen, his former attorney and longtime "fixer," sought to cancel his testimony before Congress due to threats Trump made against his father-in-law.
Even outside of the Mueller investigation, Trump is embroiled in tanking poll numbers after he initiated a government shutdown in late December. As a result of his reckless behavior, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi postponed the State of the Union address, denying Trump what he most craves: being on television.
Due to the Trump shutdown, the FBI agents who arrested Trump's longtime associate did it despite not receiving a paycheck, like an estimated 800,000 federal workers.
In the past, several Trump associates arrested by Mueller have decided to enter into a plea bargain, agreeing to cooperate with Mueller's investigation. Only time will tell if Stone is offered such a deal, and if he joins the growing list of former associates turning on Trump.
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.
