Stone was arrested early Friday morning in Florida and later released. He spoke out against the charges, which he says he will defeat in court.

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WASHINGTON — Roger Stone, the longtime adviser to President Donald Trump who has a lengthy and storied history in Republican Party politics, was charged Friday in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation with lying to Congress about his contacts with WikiLeaks and witness tampering. The indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Washington, DC, on Thursday was unsealed early Friday morning. Stone was arrested in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Friday and made his first court appearance there. He faces one count of obstructing Congress, five counts of making false statements to Congress, and one count of witness tampering. He faces up to 20 years in prison on the tampering count and up to five years in prison for each of the other charges. After the hearing, Stone and his lawyers addressed a crowd of reporters and onlookers — with Stone stepping out of the courthouse with his hands raised making the double-peace sign gesture made famous by former president Richard Nixon. Facing boos from the crowd as he approached the podium and cries of "lock him up" as he spoke, Stone said the charges against him "relate in no way to Russian collusion." "I am falsely accused of making false statements during my testimony to the House Intelligence Committee. That is incorrect," he said. "Any error I made in my testimony would be both immaterial and without intent." Stone said he will face an arraignment on the charges next week in DC and will plead not guilty to the charges, telling the crowd, "I look forward to being fully and completely vindicated."

He also, indirectly, defended Trump, saying, "[T]here is no circumstance whatsoever under which I will bear false witness against the president nor will I make up lies to ease the pressure on myself." Trump meanwhile, indirectly defended Stone, tweeting about the "Greatest Witch Hunt," asserting there was "NO COLLUSION," and referencing the fact that CNN had a camera outside Stone's house this morning when he was arrested. CNN reporters said they stationed a camera outside Stone's house as part of a stakeout after becoming suspicious that an arrest could be made. The grand jury convened for Mueller's investigation had met on Thursday — an unusual practice that had preceded an earlier indictment.



Greatest Witch Hunt in the History of our Country! NO COLLUSION! Border Coyotes, Drug Dealers and Human Traffickers are treated better. Who alerted CNN to be there?

Stone has been saying he was “prepared” to face an indictment from Mueller, who has been investigating Russia’s efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election and whether the Trump campaign had any involvement in those efforts, since May 2017. His lawyer did not immediately return a request for comment on Thursday.

The indictment accuses Stone of lying to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence when he testified in September 2017 about what he knew and who he communicated with about documents stolen via hacks of the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's campaign chair during the 2016 election. Prosecutors claim Stone lied or gave misleading information to the House on a number of subjects, including saying he didn't have documents about the hacked materials — he did, according to charging papers; saying he hadn't directed associates to contact WikiLeaks — he had, according to messages quoted in the indictment; and saying he hadn't discussed his conversations with an intermediary about WikiLeaks with the Trump campaign — he told senior campaign officials about information WikiLeaks had on "multiple occasions," prosecutors alleged. Stone is also accused of trying to convince one of his then-associates, referred to as "Person 2," to lie to Congress in order to align their stories. A lawyer for former Stone associate Randy Credico confirmed that Credico is "Person 2"; he declined to comment further. Credico testified before the grand jury in September 2018. Prosecutors say that in December 2017, as Credico faced a congressional subpoena to testify, Stone asked Credico to do a "Frank Pentangeli" — a reference to a character in the Mafia movie The Godfather: Part II who was cooperating with law enforcement but then gave false testimony before Congress after his brother was threatened. The indictment also details that Stone also had only told the House about one intermediary's contacts with WikiLeaks, but Mueller's office alleges that Stone actually sought assistance from a second person earlier, referred to as "Person 1," in reaching out to WikiLeaks. Lawyers for Jerome Corsi, who had previously been cooperating with Mueller’s office but later said he expected to be indicted by Mueller, confirmed on Friday afternoon that Corsi is "Person 1." On Friday, however, Corsi's lawyers also said in their statement that their client "fully cooperated with the Special Counsel" and "is not being accused of any illegality." Corsi, a purveyor of conspiracy theories best known for his efforts to push the false "birther" claims against former president Barack Obama, worked for InfoWars, run by Alex Jones, for a period of time as the head of its DC bureau. In a statement responding to the indictment and arrest of Stone, Trump's lawyer, Jay Sekulow, said, "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."



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