Roger Stone: Lawbreaker Or Political Prisoner?

Roger Stone is a seasoned political operative, speaker, pundit, and lobbyist who has worked on the campaigns of several Republican politicians, including Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and Donald Trump. In 2019, Stone was arrested on charges of witness tampering, obstructing an official proceeding, and making false statements. He was convicted on all seven felony counts and sentenced to 40 months in prison. However, his sentence was commuted by President Trump just days before he was scheduled to report to prison.

The question of whether Roger Stone broke the law is a complex one. While he was ultimately convicted and sentenced for his crimes, there are arguments that his actions did not constitute illegal activity. Some have claimed that the charges against him were politically motivated and that he was unfairly targeted due to his association with President Trump. Additionally, Stone himself has maintained his innocence and claimed that he never did anything illegal.

Ultimately, the determination of whether Roger Stone broke the law was made by a jury and a judge in a court of law. Despite his assertions of innocence, Stone was found guilty and convicted on all charges, indicating that his actions were indeed in violation of the law.

Roger Stone's connections to WikiLeaks and Russian espionage

Roger Stone, a former adviser to Donald Trump and self-proclaimed political "dirty trickster", was found guilty of obstructing a congressional investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and related offences.

Stone was accused by Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign chairman, John Podesta, of having prior knowledge of the publishing by WikiLeaks of Podesta's private emails obtained by Russian hackers. Stone tweeted before the leak, "It will soon [be] the Podesta's time in the barrel". Five days before the leak, he tweeted, "Wednesday, Hillary Clinton is done. #Wikileaks."

Stone denied having any advance knowledge of the Podesta email hack or any connection to Russian intelligence, stating that his earlier tweet was referring to reports of the Podesta Group's own ties to Russia. He claimed he had established a back-channel with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to obtain information on Hillary Clinton, and that this intermediary was the source for his advance knowledge about the release of Podesta's emails. Stone ultimately named Randy Credico, who had interviewed both Assange and Stone for a radio show, as his intermediary with Assange. A January 2019 indictment claimed Stone communicated with additional contacts knowledgeable about WikiLeaks plans.

In February 2017, The New York Times reported that the FBI was looking into any contacts Stone may have had with Russian operatives. The following month, The Washington Times reported that Stone had direct-messaged alleged DNC hacker Guccifer 2.0 on Twitter. Stone acknowledged contacts with the mysterious persona and made public excerpts of the messages. U.S. intelligence agencies believe Guccifer 2.0 to be a persona created by Russian intelligence to obscure its role in the DNC hack.

In March 2017, the Senate Intelligence Committee asked Stone to preserve all documents related to any Russian contacts. The Committee Vice Chair, Senator Mark Warner, called on Stone to testify before the committee, saying he "hit the trifecta" of shady dealings with Russia. Stone denied any wrongdoing in an interview on Real Time with Bill Maher on March 31, 2017, and said he was willing to testify before the committee. The Committee's final report of August 2020 found that Stone had access to WikiLeaks and that Trump had spoken to Stone and other associates about it multiple times.

On January 25, 2019, Stone was arrested at his Fort Lauderdale, Florida, home in connection with Robert Mueller's Special Counsel investigation and charged with witness tampering, obstructing an official proceeding, and five counts of making false statements. He pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing in press interviews. Stone was convicted on all seven counts on November 15, 2019, and was due to be sentenced in February 2020. His sentence was later commuted by Trump.

Stone's arrest by the FBI

On January 25, 2019, Roger Stone was arrested at his Fort Lauderdale, Florida, home by 29 FBI agents. The arrest was made in connection with Robert Mueller's Special Counsel investigation and Stone was charged with witness tampering, obstructing an official proceeding, and five counts of making false statements.

The arrest was conducted in a pre-dawn raid, with CNN capturing footage of the agents moving up the driveway with weapons and flashlights. This caused some Republicans, including President Trump, to question whether the FBI had used unusual force in the operation. However, law enforcement veterans called it standard operating procedure.

Stone himself was outspoken about the arrest, saying the FBI used "greater force" than was used in operations conducted on drug kingpin Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán and Osama bin Laden.

Ultimately, Stone was found guilty of all seven felony counts and was sentenced to 40 months in prison. However, days before he was due to report to prison, Trump commuted his sentence. Trump later pardoned Stone on December 23, 2020.

Stone's sentence and subsequent commutation by Trump

On January 25, 2019, Roger Stone was arrested at his Fort Lauderdale, Florida, home. He was charged with witness tampering, obstructing an official proceeding, and five counts of making false statements. In November 2019, a jury convicted him on all seven felony counts. He was sentenced to 40 months in prison.

On July 10, 2020, days before Stone was scheduled to report to prison, Trump commuted his sentence. Trump's White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, said:

> Roger Stone is a victim of the Russia Hoax that the Left and its allies in the media perpetuated for years in an attempt to undermine the Trump Presidency.

She added:

> Mr. Stone, like every American, deserves a fair trial and every opportunity to vindicate himself before the courts. The President does not wish to interfere with his efforts to do so. At this time, however, and particularly in light of the egregious facts and circumstances surrounding his unfair prosecution, arrest, and trial, the President has determined to commute his sentence. Roger Stone has already suffered greatly. He was treated very unfairly, as were many others in this case. Roger Stone is now a free man!

Trump's decision to commute Stone's sentence was met with criticism from Democrats, who viewed it as an abuse of the rule of law. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called it "an act of staggering corruption".

On December 23, 2020, Trump issued a full pardon to Stone.

Stone's involvement in the 2020 election and the January 6 Capitol attack

Roger Stone, a long-time ally of former US President Donald Trump, was scrutinised for his involvement in the events leading up to the 6 January 2021 Capitol attack.

On 5 January 2021, Stone was seen with members of the far-right militia Oath Keepers, who acted as his "bodyguards". The next day, Stone was present at the Capitol attack, hanging out with six Oath Keepers, three of whom have been charged in the federal investigation.

In the weeks prior to the attack, Stone had made incendiary comments at rallies, urging Trump loyalists to "fight until the bitter end" and amplifying Trump's unfounded claims of election fraud. Stone also raised funds for "private security" events on 5 and 6 January, which included a rambling talk by Trump urging his supporters to "fight like hell".

Stone has been investigated for his ties to far-right groups involved in the attack, including the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. He has also been investigated for his role in founding the "Stop the Steal" group, which promoted baseless claims of election fraud.

In August 2023, video footage was released showing Stone pushing to overturn the 2020 election results two days before the election was called for Joe Biden. This contradicted Trump's defence that he and his allies genuinely believed they had won the race.

Stone's alleged tax evasion

Roger Stone, a former adviser to Donald Trump, and his wife, Nydia, were alleged to have evaded paying nearly $2 million in taxes between 2007 and 2011, and in 2018, during the Trump administration. The Justice Department filed a civil fraud suit against the couple, which was approved at the highest levels of the department. The suit alleged that the Stones used an "alter-ego" company, Drake Ventures, to conceal their financial transactions from the IRS and fund a lavish lifestyle.

The civil complaint outlined how the Stones used Drake Ventures, a Delaware limited liability company, to establish bank accounts in the name of the company, and a trust to purchase a residence. The complaint also stated that the Stones owed the US government almost $2 million in taxes, and that Stone had stopped making instalment tax payments during the Mueller investigation into alleged interference in the 2016 election.

The Stones agreed to pay $2.1 million to settle the case, with the money coming from the sale of their condominium and the Bertran Family Revocable Trust, in which Nydia Stone was the sole grantor and trustee.

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