The lawyer representing political operative Roger Stone claims metadata contained in his indictment proves CNN received an FBI tip ahead of his arrest.

In particular, according to Stone’s attorney Grant Smith, one day prior to Stone’s arrest CNN had obtained the original copy of the indictment before it was submitted to PACER, a database allowing public access to electronic copies of court records.

Explaining how the metadata exposes CNN, Smith writes, “It is unknown how CNN had obtained a copy of a sealed indictment without a PACER filing header. Additionally, the metadata of the document sent to me, also attached, indicates that the author was ‘AAW’ and that it was created and modified on 1/23/19 at 11:04 pm using Acrobat PDF Maker for Word, a full day before it was filed with the Court under seal.”

AAW stands for Andrew Weissmann, a senior deputy to special counsel Mueller in the Russian collusion investigation.

In a letter to South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, Smith notes, “Regarding the Letters sent by your Offices to FBI Director Wray following the arrest of Roger Stone, Mr. Stone has directed me to provide the detailed chronology of his arrest outlined below.”

“It should be noted that CNN apparently received a copy of Mr. Stone’s Indictment prior to its filing and its unsealing. This is substantiated by the metadata contained within the copy of the Indictment that was sent to me by a reporter contemporaneous with Mr. Stone’s arrest. Curiously, the copy sent to me did not contain the PACER filing notations in its header. It would be of great public interest to understand how that occurred.”

See the chronology of the arrest below:

Chronology of Roger Stone’s… by on Scribd

Below are screenshots of the metadata contained in the document which suggests it was the original copy leaked to CNN ahead of Stone’s arrest:

Below is a clip from CNN’s coverage of the raid on Stone’s house where reporter David Shortell claimed “a reporter’s instinct” led his team to stakeout the Florida home.

CNN producer David Shortell: "We were here at 5am waiting for whatever was going to happen – it was dark – 6am just after the hour about a half dozen police vehicles with sirens….pulled in front of this Ft. Lauderdale home where Roger Stone lives."pic.twitter.com/8YwBqFQN3N — Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) January 25, 2019

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