Republican operative Roger Stone, a longtime associate of President Trump, early Friday was arrested by a dozen armed FBI agents and indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller on seven counts, including making false statements to Congress, witness tampering, and obstruction of justice.
Stone, 66, was arrested in a dawn raid at his home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and the special counsel’s office said he will make an appearance later today at the federal courthouse in the area. A Washington grand jury approved the indictment Thursday.
According to CNN, the FBI also executed a search warrant at the New York residence of Stone, according to Kristin Davis, who shares the duplex with Roger. Davis was notified at 6 a.m. by the FBI, she said.
The 24-page indictment introduced Stone — a self-proclaimed “dirty trickster” — as an official on Donald Trump’s presidential campaign until August 2015, and that he maintained contact with it and publicly supported it through the 2016 election.
Under the indictment, Stone faces seven counts — one for obstruction of proceeding, five for making false statements, and one for witness tampering.
In a statement, Stone’s attorney Grant Smith said: “They found no Russian collusion or they would have charged him with it. Roger Stone is vindicated by the fact there was no Russian collusion.”
The charges do not allege that Stone committed any crimes during the 2016 presidential campaign.
The indictment alleged that Stone was told by an unnamed senior Trump campaign official to find out more about what emails WikiLeaks had that would reveal information about Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign.
According to the indictment, between June and July 2016, Stone told “senior Trump campaign officials” about the stolen emails in WikiLeaks’ possession.
Then, the Trump campaign directed a senior campaign official to contact Stone after the July 22, 2016 release of emails by WikiLeaks of the Democratic National Committee and other groups.
After the July 22, 2016 release, “[a] senior Trump Campaign official was directed to contact Stone about any additional releases and what other damaging information Organization 1 had regarding the Clinton campaign,” the indictment said, referring to WikiLeaks as “Organization 1.” The indictment does not make clear who that senior campaign official is.
Around this time, Stone also communicated with conservative author Jerome Corsi about his communication with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Those communications began in late July 2016 and ended in early August 2016.
On August 8, 2016, Stone said on Twitter that he had relevant information.
“I actually have communicated with Assange,” he said, according to the Washington Post. “I believe the next tranche of his documents pertain to the Clinton Foundation but there’s no telling what the October surprise may be.”
On August 21, 2016, Stone tweeted: “Trust me, it will soon the Podesta’s time in the barrel. #CrookedHillary.”
From October 2016 to November 2016, WikiLeaks then began releasing other documents, including more from the DNC and Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta.
According to the indictment, the same unnamed official asked Stone about additional releases and “what other damaging information” WikiLeaks had “regarding the Clinton campaign.” Stone communicated with WikiLeaks through a person he described as a “mutual friend,” “go-between,” and “intermediary.”
Stone also misled lawmakers on the House Intelligence Committee about his efforts to communicate with WikiLeaks and the communications he had with the Trump campaign, thus obstructing the panel’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, according to the indictment.
The five counts of making false statements deal with separate assertions he made to the committee, and the witness tampering count dealt with his attempt to get another target of the investigation not to contradict anything he told the committee.
Stone also allegedly attempted to influence radio host Randy Credico, another witness in Mueller’s investigation who was in contact with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in 2016. Credico is identified as “Person 2 “ in the indictment, which said Stone tried to get Credico to avoid making any statement that contradicted Stone’s comments to the committee.
“‘Stonewall it. Plead the fifth. Anything to save the plan’ … Richard Nixon,” Stone texted Credico, and in another message he said: “If you turned over anything to the FBI you’re a fool.”
Credico did not stick to his false story, and Stone wrote to Credico in April 2018: “You are a rat. A stoolie. You backstab your friends.”
Mueller has been investigating Russian election interference in the 2016 election sine May 2017 and possible connections with the Trump campaign. Stone’s indictment is the biggest one connecting a Trump associate with Russian efforts to bring down Clinton’s campaign.
Stone becomes the sixth person in Trump’s orbit charged by the special counsel. Though Stone had said he expected to be charged, he also maintained he did nothing wrong.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, said Friday that the charges brought against Stone “have nothing to do with the president.”
[Read more: Roger Stone threatened radio host’s dog after witness tampering attempt]
