Stone's false statements successfully concealed Trump's collusion
Roger Stone has been found guilty of obstruction of justice and making false statements in his federal trial over what he told Congress relating to emails hacked from the Democrats and published on WikiLeaks.
The 67-year-old Stone, who also calls himself an agent provocateur, was charged earlier this year, including accusations of lying to the House intelligence committee during its investigation Trump-Russia hearings as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s inquiry.
A jury convicted Donald Trump’s adviser on all counts Friday, with the dramatic development adding to a day of tension in Washington as the verdict came during a break in the explosive impeachment inquiry on Capitol Hill.
The jury in the Washington district court found the long-time Republican operative and self-proclaimed “dirty trickster” guilty on seven criminal counts of lying to Congress, obstruction and witness tampering.
The verdict, in a trial arising from investigations of Russian interference in the 2016 US election, is not only a blow to Stone but renews scrutiny on then-candidate Trump’s activities at a time when he faces an impeachment inquiry that could derail his presidency.
Stone’s colorful trial in federal court was as much about the rough-and-tumble world of politics, as it was about hair-splitting legal arguments, such as whether Stone truly lied about WikiLeaks since that website was never explicitly mentioned in the intelligence committee’s publicly-stated parameters of its probe.
The political heavyweights including former Trump campaign chief Steve Bannon and former Trump campaign deputy Rick Gates testified that they believed Stone had inside information about when WikiLeaks might release more damaging emails about then-Republican candidate Trump’s Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.
Prosecutors accused Stone of telling lawmakers five different lies related to WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange, which in 2016 dumped a series of damaging emails about Clinton that US intelligence officials and Mueller later concluded had been stolen by Russian hackers.
Some of those lies relate to the existence of certain texts or emails, while others pertain to Stone’s conversations with Trump campaign officials and a supposed “intermediary” with WikiLeaks in early August 2016 whom Stone identified to lawmakers as being comedian Randy Credico.
Prosecutors said Stone did not actually start talking to Credico about WikiLeaks until later that month, and the actual person to whom he was referring in testimony as an “intermediary” was conservative author Jerome Corsi whom Stone dispatched in an email to “Get to Assange!” and get the emails.
Corsi was not called as a witness in the trial.
Stone, a close Trump ally who famously has the face of former president Richard Nixon tattooed on his back, was also accused of tampering with a witness, Credico, when Credico was summoned to testify before Congress and speak with the FBI.
Both Stone and Credico, who took the stand in the case, have since said that Credico did not act as a WikiLeaks back channel.
In emails and texts, the jury saw messages that Stone had sent Credico that included comments like “Prepare to die,” “You’re a rat. A stoolie,” and “Stonewall it. Plead the Fifth. Anything to save the plan,” in a reference to a famous Nixon Watergate quote.
A lawyer for Stone dismissed the Pentangeli reference, saying Credico had done impressions of the character in the past, and said the “odious language” they used was just part of how they interacted.
The 67-year-old Stone, who also calls himself an agent provocateur, was charged earlier this year, including accusations of lying to the House intelligence committee during its investigation Trump-Russia hearings as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s inquiry.
A jury convicted Donald Trump’s adviser on all counts Friday, with the dramatic development adding to a day of tension in Washington as the verdict came during a break in the explosive impeachment inquiry on Capitol Hill.
The jury in the Washington district court found the long-time Republican operative and self-proclaimed “dirty trickster” guilty on seven criminal counts of lying to Congress, obstruction and witness tampering.
The verdict, in a trial arising from investigations of Russian interference in the 2016 US election, is not only a blow to Stone but renews scrutiny on then-candidate Trump’s activities at a time when he faces an impeachment inquiry that could derail his presidency.
Stone’s colorful trial in federal court was as much about the rough-and-tumble world of politics, as it was about hair-splitting legal arguments, such as whether Stone truly lied about WikiLeaks since that website was never explicitly mentioned in the intelligence committee’s publicly-stated parameters of its probe.
The political heavyweights including former Trump campaign chief Steve Bannon and former Trump campaign deputy Rick Gates testified that they believed Stone had inside information about when WikiLeaks might release more damaging emails about then-Republican candidate Trump’s Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.
Prosecutors accused Stone of telling lawmakers five different lies related to WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange, which in 2016 dumped a series of damaging emails about Clinton that US intelligence officials and Mueller later concluded had been stolen by Russian hackers.
Some of those lies relate to the existence of certain texts or emails, while others pertain to Stone’s conversations with Trump campaign officials and a supposed “intermediary” with WikiLeaks in early August 2016 whom Stone identified to lawmakers as being comedian Randy Credico.
Prosecutors said Stone did not actually start talking to Credico about WikiLeaks until later that month, and the actual person to whom he was referring in testimony as an “intermediary” was conservative author Jerome Corsi whom Stone dispatched in an email to “Get to Assange!” and get the emails.
Corsi was not called as a witness in the trial.
Stone, a close Trump ally who famously has the face of former president Richard Nixon tattooed on his back, was also accused of tampering with a witness, Credico, when Credico was summoned to testify before Congress and speak with the FBI.
Both Stone and Credico, who took the stand in the case, have since said that Credico did not act as a WikiLeaks back channel.
In emails and texts, the jury saw messages that Stone had sent Credico that included comments like “Prepare to die,” “You’re a rat. A stoolie,” and “Stonewall it. Plead the Fifth. Anything to save the plan,” in a reference to a famous Nixon Watergate quote.
A lawyer for Stone dismissed the Pentangeli reference, saying Credico had done impressions of the character in the past, and said the “odious language” they used was just part of how they interacted.
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