Roger Stone, who was a political operative for the Trump campaign, was arrested before dawn at his house in Florida on Friday, January 25.
Mr. Stone was charged with a seven- count indictment including one count of obstructing a proceeding, five counts of making false statements to Congress and one count of witness tampering, as reported by NPR. Time states that later Friday morning, Stone was released on a $250,000 bond and did not enter a plea.
Stone is best described as a Republican operative, and CBS News reports that he worked on Nixon’s 1972 campaign in addition to Reagan’s 1976 and 1980 campaigns.
Roger Stone’s relationship with Trump dates back to 1979 when the two were introduced by the lawyer Roy Cohn, and he registered as a lobbyist in the 1990s for Trump’s organization as a casino owner. Additionally, when the Trump campaign began in 2015, Stone joined immediately and remained in contact with Trump.
Roger Stone’s charges relate directly to the Russia investigation. Time reports that a criminal case revealed that senior members of the Trump campaign were seeking benefits from the release of Hillary Clinton’s emails.
This indictment also reveals details that Stone attempted to intimidate a witness of the WikiLeaks investigation, according to Politico. NPR reports that this indictment suggests that the Trump campaign was working with Russia’s Military intelligence agency through Stone as a platform to release the controversial material gained through cyber attacks.
It is also important to note that this is the first charge to directly relate an American to the release of emails that has been considered the “Russian attack” in the 2016 election.
Stone has been reported as being an informant for the Trump campaign in regard to WikiLeaks. NPR states that he was told to report back to senior officials in the campaign regarding Hillary Clinton’s emails which would be damaging to her campaign.
One important detail about Stone’s involvement with WikiLeaks is that when the Trump campaign was battling the scrutiny from the release of the Access Hollywood tape—which featured Donald Trump talking about groping women—WikiLeaks released the first of the Clinton campaign chairman’s emails three days later, according to NPR.
After this release, Stone received a text from a Trump Official quoted as “well done.” Trump’s personal attorney was quoted as saying “The indictment today does not allege Russian collusion by Roger Stone or anyone else. Rather, the indictment focuses on alleged false statements Mr. Stone made to Congress.”
Prosecutors did not charge Stone with his conceived involvement with WikiLeaks or Russian officials. Like other cases in the Mueller investigation, this case focuses on deception and the covering-up of information.
Stone lied to lawmakers about WikiLeaks, as well as attempted to intimidate witnesses and obstruct a congressional investigation about the Trump campaign’s involvement with Russia to sway the election results.
After Stone was released, he talked with Alex Jones and stated “There are no circumstances under which I would plead guilty to these charges. There are no circumstances under which I would bear false witness against the president.”
Roger Stone appeared at court Tuesday, January 29 and pleaded “not guilty.” Stone’s next court appearance will be on Friday, February 1.