FBI Arrests Trump Associate Roger Stone Over His Communications With WikiLeaks (nytimes.com)

Roger J. Stone Jr., a longtime informal adviser to President Trump, was charged as part of the special counsel investigation over his communications with WikiLeaks, the organization behind the release of thousands of stolen Democratic emails during the 2016 campaign, in an indictment unsealed Friday. From a report: Mr. Stone was charged with seven counts, including obstruction of an official proceeding, making false statements and witness tampering, according to the special counsel's office. F.B.I. agents arrested Mr. Stone before dawn on Friday at his home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and he was expected to appear in a federal courthouse there later in the morning. F.B.I. agents were also seen carting hard drives and other evidence from Mr. Stone's apartment in Harlem.

The indictment is the first in months by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, who is investigating Russia's interference in the 2016 election and possible coordination with Trump campaign associates. Citing details in emails and other forms of communications, the indictment suggests Mr. Trump's campaign knew about additional stolen emails before they were released and asked Mr. Stone to find out about them. Moments ago, Stone was released on a $250,000 bond.

Comments

Re:I find it unsettling

[DrXym]

Roger Stone is indicted for blatantly lying before congress and witness tampering. This isn't an "oops I forgot some small matter" but conscious and conspicuous lying.

And why he would be indicted with stuff instead of other things is because it's a simple charge to make stick - did he lie under oath? Bigly. Did he intimidate a witness / suborn perjury? Yup.

He's going to go jail and the only question is for how long. That depends on his cooperation with the investigation or not.

Re:FBI

[AlanObject]

Well, the DOJ did find Clinton and Kavanaugh innocent of wrong doing.

Clinton: 20+ years of nonstop partisan driven investigations originating from congress and an FBI field office that is widely known for hating Hillary. From the present House minority leader: "We are doing a great job driving her poll numbers down."

Kavanaugh: 4 days including the weekend to make a determination and here is a long list of things you cannot look into.

Yep. The investigations into these two individuals was exactly the same.

Re:Witch hunt!

[amicusNYCL]

You look for reasons to declare people to be witches.

Pretty easy when they walk up and tell you they're a witch, or they have text messages saying they're a witch, or their associates tell you straight up that they're a witch, just look at this email they sent. Seriously, read the indictment.

Which you should know, as a lawyer.

I'm not one, I just have the ability to read and understand an indictment. Weird, I know.

now the FBI and Mueller have to invent ways of charging people of crimes to justify their waste of time and money.

No reason to invent anything when they make it so obvious that they're breaking the law. Again, maybe take a little glance at the indictment.

Here, let me help you out. The words of someone who is definitely not a witch (probably can't even build a bridge out of him):

e. On multiple occasions, including on or about December 1, 2017, STONE told
    Person 2 that Person 2 should do a "Frank Pentangeli" before HPSCI in order to
    avoid contradicting STONE's testimony. Frank Pentangeli is a character in the film
    The Godfather: Part II, which both STONE and Person 2 had discussed, who
    testifies before a congressional committee and in that testimony claims not to know
    critical information that he does in fact know.
    f. On or about December 1, 2017, STONE texted Person 2, "And if you turned over
    anything to the FBI you're a fool." Later that day, Person 2 texted STONE, "You
    need to amend your testimony before I testify on the 15th." STONE responded, "If
    you testify you're a fool. Because of tromp I could never get away with a certain
    [sic] 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."

Here you go:

39. Following Person 2's invocation of his Fifth Amendment privilege not to testify before
HPSCI, STONE and Person 2 continued to have discussions about the various investigations into
Russian interference in the 2016 election and what information Person 2 would provide to
investigators. During these conversations, STONE repeatedly made statements intended to
prevent Person 2 from cooperating with the investigations. For example:
    a. On or about December 24, 2017, Person 2 texted STONE, "I met [the head of
    WikiLeaks] for f[i]rst time this yea[r] sept 7 . . . docs prove that. . . . You should
    be honest w fbi . . . there was no back channel . . . be honest." STONE replied
    approximately two minutes later, "I'm not talking to the FBI and if your smart you
    won't either."
    b. On or about April 9, 2018, STONE wrote in an email to Person 2, "You are a rat.
    A stoolie. You backstab your friends-run your mouth my lawyers are dying Rip
    you to shreds." STONE also said he would "take that dog away from you,"
    referring to Person 2's dog. On or about the same day, STONE wrote to Person 2,
    "I am so ready. Let's get it on. Prepare to die [expletive]."
    c. On or about May 21, 2018, Person 2 wrote in an email to STONE, "You should
    have just been honest with the house Intel committee . . . you've opened yourself
    up to perjury charges like an idiot." STONE responded, "You are so full of
    [expletive]. You got nothing. Keep running your mouth and I'll file a bar
    complaint against your friend [the attorney who had the ability to contact the head
    of WikiLeaks]."

So, what do you do when you've done nothing illegal and you don't care what anyone is claiming about you? You call them a rat and tell them you're going to take their dog. Makes perfect sense. "Rat" is just a term for someone who lies, right? It's not a term for someone telling the truth about the shady shit you did, right?

Re:No indictments of the Trump Campaign

[amicusNYCL]

Kind of makes you wonder why this list of the best people thought that the lesser evil was lying to either Congress or the FBI. That's the thing to keep in mind, people keep suggesting that the only crime was lying, you have to keep in mind that they chose to lie versus just telling the truth. The question is why.