CNN said Friday that it did not have any advance warning that President Trump’s former confidant Roger Stone would be arrested Friday morning, an event that CNN was able to cover exclusively.
Instead, a producer for CNN said a team of reporters was present for the raid on Stone’s home due to “reporter’s instinct.”
“It’s reporter’s instinct,” CNN producer David Shortell said Friday when asked why a CNN camera crew was in place at Stone’s home. “The whole Russia team thought maybe something was happening.”
CNN’s @davidgshortell was on the ground when Roger Stone was arrested in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., this morning. He says he was monitoring the situation because of “unusual grand jury activity in Washington D.C. yesterday.” https://t.co/Ljjyb8zTVN pic.twitter.com/O5rSFqbOcZ
— New Day (@NewDay) January 25, 2019
“There was some unusual grand jury activity in Washington, D.C., yesterday,” he said. “Robert Mueller’s grand jury typically meets on Fridays. Yesterday, Thursday, there was grand jury activity.”
“We also had some other signs that maybe something was going on this angle, the Roger Stone angle,” Shortell added. “So we showed up at his house this morning, we were the only ones there, and lo and behold, the FBI agents did come.”
Stone was arrested after a seven-count indictment was released that cited five violations of Stone lying to Congress, one count of witness tampering, and another count of obstructing justice.
[Read more: ‘FBI, open the door! FBI warrant!: Armed agents in riot gear arrested Roger Stone in pre-dawn raid]
