The self-proclaimed ‘dirty trickster’, who was arrested on Friday, has spent decades cultivating a reputation as a combative political operative

Roger Stone – the self-proclaimed “dirty trickster” of Republican politics and longtime ally of Donald Trump – has spent decades cultivating a reputation as a combative political operative with a penchant for making brash statements and trafficking in conspiracy theories.

Trump ally Roger Stone arrested on seven charges in Mueller inquiry Read more

Stone, 66, was arrested by the FBI on Friday following an indictment from special counsel Robert Mueller, whose team is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 US election, as well as ties between Moscow and the Trump campaign.

The arrest came after months of scrutiny over Stone’s fate as federal prosecutors zeroed in on the veteran Republican strategist. Stone predicted in August “Robert Mueller is coming for me”, though he denied wrongdoing and said he faced legal peril simply because he had advised Trump for decades.

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Raised in Lewisboro, New York, Stone’s foray into national politics began when he was just 19.

An ardent supporter of Richard Nixon, Stone was part of a scheme in 1972 to sink the former president’s longshot primary challenger, Pete McCloskey.

The plot, which was uncovered during the congressional hearings on Watergate, entailed sending McCloskey donations from the “Young Socialist Alliance” and then leaking the information to the press in an attempt to damage his image. Stone remained such a Nixon devotee that he infamously got the former president’s face tattooed on his back.

During the 1970s, Stone also played a key role in bringing the full force of outside campaign money behind negative advertising against congressional candidates. He went on to work for Ronald Reagan’s unsuccessful 1976 presidential campaign and served as a political director on Reagan’s second bid for president in 1980, which sent him to the White House.

Although he did not join the Reagan administration, Stone remained a key player in politics. A Washington Post profile, published in 1986, wrote that Stone, then only 33, “earns a reported $450,000 a year, owns two homes and a hot tub, wears $800 designer suits and a Patek Philippe watch”.

The following year, Stone urged a real estate developer in New York to run for president: his name was Donald Trump.

Over the next three decades, Stone would repeatedly encourage Trump – whose celebrity status grew more solidified by his foray into reality television – to seek the presidency. When Trump ultimately threw his hat in the race in the 2016 election cycle, Stone was by his side as a campaign adviser.

Although Stone later left the campaign in an official capacity, he continued to informally advise then candidate Trump. Left unknown is what – if anything – Stone told Trump about his alleged contacts with WikiLeaks.

Mueller’s indictment included evidence purporting to show that Stone had advanced knowledge of WikiLeaks’ plans to leak thousands of hacked Democratic party emails.

Trump expressed confidence last month that Stone would ultimately stay loyal to his cause, despite mounting pressure from the ongoing FBI investigation.

“I will never testify against Trump,” the president tweeted last month, quoting Stone.

“This statement was recently made by Roger Stone, essentially stating that he will not be forced by a rogue and out of control prosecutor to make up lies and stories about ‘President Trump.’ Nice to know that some people still have ‘guts!’”