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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.
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.
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
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