20:30

Roger Stone, Trump’s longtime adviser who was arrested, indicted and released earlier today, has just spoken to a sympathetic Tucker Carlson on Fox News. He said he was a “little tired”, but glad to be on the show.

Stone said his early-morning arrest by the FBI was unnecessary:

I had no firearm in the house. I don’t have a permit for a firearm. I don’t own a firearm. Only my wife, three dogs and two cats were at home ... I’m not a flight risk ... Frankly, they could have just contacted my attorney, and I would have voluntarily turned myself in.

He also criticized CNN for its live coverage of his dramatic arrest. CNN has said its journalists were staking out Stone’s house because there was enough evidence in Mueller’s investigation suggesting the arrest might happen. But Stone said:

It’s disconcerting that CNN was aware that I would be arrested before my lawyers were informed, so that’s disturbing.

Stone, with support from Carlson, painted himself as a victim of a larger conspiracy:

This is about silencing me. There’s a war on alternative media … There’s a war where they’re trying to criminalize free speech ... I intend to plead not guilty. I believe I will be vindicated ... The press is not coming out and standing up against this war against free expression.

He also said the strategy of the investigation was to “wear Stone down financially, make sure that he’s so broke so he has to plead guilty to these charges ... then try to flip me against the president”. He added:

I’m in for the fight of my life. I will not quit. I will not fold. I will not bend ... I’m 66 years old, and I’m essentially broke ... Every dollar I scrape up has to go this fight.

For more on the significance of Stone’s arrest, read the analysis from the Guardian’s Tom McCarthy: