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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.
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.
Trump is a lucky guy, he's had all these criminals around him and didn't even know it! It's fortunate that the authorities have found them out before any of these scoundrels had a chance to take advantage of him.
Except there is evidence right there in the indictment to support the charges. If you bothered to read it that is.
It’s like doing a witch hunt at hogwarts
Tangential to wikileaks, I imagine. Also because events taking place at the highest level of US politics have such wide-ranging impacts that they are of importance to every field. Even when everyone is sick of hearing about them, they still matter.
The indictment is 24 pages long. I'm going through it, but this is part of the introduction (which goes on for 20 pages until the first count). In the indictment, they use the term "Organization 1", which I have replaced with "WikiLeaks".
1. By in or around May 2016, the Democratic National Committee ("DNC") and the
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee ("DCCC") became aware that their computer
systems had been compromised by unauthorized intrusions and hired a security company
("Company 1") to identify the extent of the intrusions.
2. On or about June 14, 2016, the DNC—through Company 1—publicly announced that it
had been hacked by Russian government actors.
3. From in or around July 2016 through in or around November 2016, an organization
("WikiLeaks"), which had previously posted documents stolen by others from U.S. persons,
entities, and the U.S. government, released tens of thousands of documents stolen from the DNC
and the personal email account of the chairman of the U.S. presidential campaign of Hillary
Clinton ("Clinton Campaign").
a. On or about July 22, 2016, WikiLeaks released documents stolen from the
DNC.
b. Between on or about October 7, 2016 and on or about November 7, 2016,
WikiLeaks released approximately 33 tranches of documents that had been
stolen from the personal email account of the Clinton Campaign chairman, totaling
over 50,000 stolen documents.
4. ROGER JASON STONE, JR. was a political consultant who worked for decades in U.S.
politics and on U.S. political campaigns. STONE was an official on the U.S. presidential campaign
of Donald J. Trump ("Trump Campaign") until in or around August 2015, and maintained regular
contact with and publicly supported the Trump Campaign through the 2016 election.
5. During the summer of 2016, STONE spoke to senior Trump Campaign officials about
WikiLeaks 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 WikiLeaks.
6. By in or around early August 2016, STONE was claiming both publicly and privately to
have communicated with WikiLeaks. By in or around mid-August 2016, WikiLeaks made
a public statement denying direct communication with STONE. Thereafter, STONE said that his
communication with WikiLeaks had occurred through a person STONE described as a "mutual
friend," "go-between," and "intermediary." STONE also continued to communicate with members
of the Trump Campaign about WikiLeaks and its intended future releases.
I'll stop there. So, Russians attack the DNC. WikiLeaks releases stolen DNC documents, presumably obtained from the attackers, Russians. During the time period when WikiLeaks was releasing the DNC documents obtained from the Russians, Stone was talking to Trump's campaign about the leaks, and the Trump campaign contacted Stone and directed him to ask WikiLeaks about future releases. Stone then claimed publicly that he had been communicating with WikiLeaks, before then denying that he had done so. And he continued to communicate with the Trump campaign about what WikiLeaks intended to release in the future.
So, Russians steal DNC documents, give them to WikiLeaks, and Stone acts as an intermediary between the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks, holder of the documents stolen by Russia, about when those documents are going to be released. Stone was specifically asked by the campaign to communicate with WikiLeaks about the release of documents stolen by Russians. This is where the claims of collusion are starting to coagulate.
Then, since everyone did everything just fine, and there was No Collusion(tm), this happened:
7. After the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the U.S. House of Representatives Permanent
Select Committee on Intellig
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
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.
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.
Go and read the indictment and stop pretending this was some minor slip-up.
Obstruction of Proceeding, 5 counts of false statements, and Witness Tampering. And, what were his false statements about? Being the go-between for the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks regarding documents that were stolen from the DNC by Russians. Those 7 counts against Stone are enough to put the old man away for the rest of his life, so with that mind we'll see what he has to say about Trump. Maybe he'll admit which senior campaign officials directed him to contact WikiLeaks about the documents stolen by the Russians.
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
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?
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
If you have communications with WikiLeaks, you're a witch.
Nice try, but wrong. Communicating with WikiLeaks is not a crime. No one is being charged with that. Nice attempt to derail though.
Go read the indictment if you want to talk about it.
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
Hold on. How the fuck does that dumb analogy have anything to do with the 24-page indictment against Stone. Have you read it?
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
Another reason to NEVER talk to the FBI...
This is where you should have stopped.
2) Don't talk and Trump will pardon him in a couple of years right before he walks out of the white house.
That's very optimistic. Stone would be betting his freedom and life on that happening. Getting a pardon and Trump serving out his term are not guaranteed at this point. And, guess what happens if anyone finds out that Stone or his lawyers were communicating with Trump or his team to discuss a potential pardon. That's another charge against Trump.
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
The same James Comey, former registered Republican, who chose to gratuitously kneecap Hillary's campaign at the last minute, is the one who could not justify bringing charges against Hillary. And you think she benefitted from some kind of privilege in that matter?
Also CNN had staked out Stone's house for days beforehand because they strongly suspected Roger Stone would be arrested. That's good ol' fashioned American hard work, don't Republicans normally pretend to admire that sort of thing?
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Again, have you read the actual indictment? They list the text messages. They show the actual lies. They show him threatening potential witnesses. Hell, they show him threatening the pets of potential witnesses.
He doesn't have to admit anything, it's already there. And if you've got a liar, are you really going to put a lot of stock into whether or not they admit to it? You've got evidence that he did specific things, in writing. Then you ask him, and he says no, I never did those specific things. That's a lie. So, start applauding.
The thing to not lose sight of is that Stone is not the target, Trump is. This isn't victory, it's just the next domino.
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
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.
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
The freaky detail on this is that Stone has a richard nixon tattoo (not kidding).
If they get the definitive proof that Trump colluded with Russia then Nixon is going to look a saint in comparison. If Nixon were alive today he'd be excited that he could be on the verge of losing the title of the most vilified President.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
The evidence of the text and emails he made are right there in the indictment. The evidence will be easy for any jury or judge to understand. He's toast. It's kind of pathetic to rationalise this away and yet...
There will be some people who will never admit the world is not flat, that we landed on the moon, that O'Blama is an American Citizen, or that there is any evidence of Russian interference, collusion, or criminal acts. They still think PizzaGate is real.
I read the document. Stone isn't in a real good place, no matter what the kooks think.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Former President Park of South Korea tried that defense a few years ago, and she didn't get the funny mod points. She got a long prison sentence.
Right now I think there are two big differences here: (1) She's young enough that she may get out of prison someday. (2) The South Korean government is much more honest than America under #PresidentTweety.
I'm not sure how similar Roger Stone is to Choi Tae-min, but it was the close advisor's arrest that soon led to the arrest of Park. I want to refer to her as Inmate #x, but I can't find the number.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
"I don't give a shit what happens. I want you all to stonewall it, let them plead the Fifth Amendment, cover up or anything else, if it'll save it, save this plan. That's the whole point. We're going to protect our people if we can." -- Nixon, Statement to Haldeman, in tapes ordered released for the trial of Haldeman, Ehrlichman and Mitchell
https://www.nytimes.com/intera...
https://www.cheatsheet.com/cul...
Spoiler: for the worst lies, Obama raked in 2 per year, Trump was on course for 124 per year (but that only counted his first 10 months in office - it's higher now).
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
Can't understand how your [amicusNYCL's] long argument with such an obvious troll earned an insightful mod.
I think we'll turn this over to an expert:
t is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it
Thought you were making that up, but several journalists are reporting Stone threatened to steal a witnesses therapy dog, and told a witness "Prepare to die"... Trump is surrounded by Don Corleone wanna-bes!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
but when are they going to arrest any Democrat for blatantly lying before Congress about running arms to al-Qaeda and Mexican drug lords
When they actually do that. Turns out Inforwars isn't the best source of reality.
(Fast and Furious, btw, was a program started under W's administration. It had strict rules about the guns and following them....until one DEA agent broke all the rules about distributing guns, got caught, and started screaming to certain media outlets to cover his own ass. Difficult to indict a "whistle-blower" and Holder didn't want to try.)
giving $billions to Iran
That would be the Reagan administration.
having the GCHQ spy on the opposing party's candidates
[Citation Required]. No need have GCHQ do it when there's already a FISA warrant.
or any of a half dozen other scandals that would have gotten anyone other than America's First Black President impeached
Yeah, like Pizzagate, right? How'd you guys figure out to cover over the fact that the building doesn't have a basement?
It turns out, you don't have to actually tell the truth to put a story into the media. Lots of people will believe you are telling the truth when you're lying about, say, birth certificates. And many of a certain set of people will gladly eat up the tabloid reporting, so the tabloids keep doing it.
I'll just stick to the facts, thanks. Facts like the DNC announced that Russians were responsible for attacking them (unless you're trying to assert that the DNC was never hacked in the first place, in which case good luck explaining away all of that evidence), facts like the numerous Russians who have been indicted or sanctioned by the US, facts like Ms. Butina being charged here after attempting to infiltrate various conservative groups (with mountains of evidence), etc.
Keep your conspiracy theories to yourself, you don't speak for me.
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
Frankly, until the same standards of justice are applied equally, nobody gives a fuck about these indictments.
You don't speak for anyone else.
Why should we care if Roger Stone lies?
Because doing it was a crime. Try to keep up. The indictment is only 24 pages.
Oh, that's right, that will never happen, because they are not under investigation
2 years of Republican controlled White House and Congress, and no Democrats under investigation. It must be because Mitch McConnell and Trump and his buds are willing to let the Democrats break the law and get away with it. Yeah, that's the most obvious answer. Because they're such great friends.
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black