Tag: Roger Stone

Senate report finds Manafort passed campaign data to Russian intelligence officer

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The Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday released the fifth and final volume of its report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, which details “counterintelligence threats and vulnerabilities.”

Why it matters: The bipartisan, 996-page report goes further than the Mueller report in showing the extent of Russia’s connections to members of the Trump campaign, and how the Kremlin was able to take advantage of the transition team’s inexperience to gain access to sensitive information.

Highlights

Paul Manafort: The report found that the former Trump campaign chairman began working on influence operations for the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and other pro-Russia Ukrainian oligarchs in 2004. Continue reading.

Democrats blister Barr during tense hearing

The Hill logoAttorney General William Barr came under blistering criticism from Democrats on Tuesday over a series of decisions he has made as President Trump’s leader at the Department of Justice (DOJ), including Roger Stone‘s prosecution, the use of federal police in U.S. cities and allegations that DOJ has become politicized under his leadership.

Democrats sought to paint Barr, making his first appearance before the House Judiciary Committee, as a Trump loyalist who has sought to shield the president and his allies from scrutiny, all while seeking to help Trump project the image of a law-and-order president ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

“The job of the attorney general is to defend the best interests of the people and serve as the people’s lawyer, but during your time as attorney general you have consistently undermined democracy, undermined the Constitution and undermined the health, safety and well-being of the American people,” said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.). “All to personally benefit Donald Trump.” Continue reading.

Roger Stone Denies Using Racial Slur on Radio Show

New York Times logoThough the audio suggests otherwise, Mr. Stone said he did not use a slur in referring to his interviewer, who is Black. He also contended that the word was not offensive.

Roger Stone, the political operative who was spared a prison sentence this month by his friend President Trump, denied on Sunday that he had uttered a racial slur on a radio show the night before, calling the accusation a “smear” while also contending the word was not offensive.

During a live interview on “The Mo’Kelly Show” on Saturday night, the host, Morris W. O’Kelly, who is Black, questioned the role that Mr. Stone’s relationship and proximity to the president played in the commutation of his sentence.

Mr. O’Kelly said: “There are thousands of people treated unfairly daily. How your number just happened to come up in the lottery — I am guessing it was more than just luck, Roger, right?”

Mr. Stone, who was speaking by phone, responded by muttering words that sounded like “arguing with this Negro”; the beginning of his sentence was hard to hear. It sounded as if Mr. Stone was not speaking directly into the phone, but rather to himself or to someone in the room with him. Continue reading.

Roger Stone Is A Wise Guy — So Treat Him Like One

Even amid the endless torrent of malevolent incompetence that characterizes the Boss Trump regime, some days stand out. One such was his Friday night commutation of career lowlife Roger Stone’s 40-month sentence for lying to Congress, obstructing a congressional investigation, and witness tampering. The federal judge who handed it down described Stone’s crimes as “covering up for the president.”

Specifically, he obstructed the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. In the immediate aftermath, Stone bragged to veteran journalist Howard Fineman about why he lied and who he was protecting. “He [Trump] knows I was under enormous pressure to turn on him. It would have eased my situation considerably. But I didn’t.”

Turn on him, that is, by fully describing his own and Trump’s conversations about Wikileaks during the 2016 campaign when Julian Assange served as a cat’s paw for Russian intelligence by publishing the Democratic National Committee’s stolen emails. Trump testified that he has no memory of talking with Stone about it, although two witnesses overheard them. He also swore that his son Donald, Jr. never told him about meeting Kremlin operatives promising “dirt” on Hillary Clinton in Trump Tower. Continue reading.

Watch: Bill Barr’s face falls when a reporter asks him about the Roger Stone commutation

AlterNet logoOn Friday, President Donald Trump saved veteran GOP operative Roger Stone from federal prison by commuting his sentence. Attorney General Bill Barr, before the commutation, had said that he considered Stone’s prison sentence fair. But when CBS News reporter Weijia Jiang asked Barr to weigh in on the commutation, he had no comment.

Jiang approached Barr, introducing herself and asking the attorney general, “Do you have any comment on the Stone commutation?.” Barr smiled when Jiang first introduced herself, but after hearing the question, he immediately turned away from the CBS reporter and ignored her.

Stone was sentenced to three years and four months in prison for charges that included obstruction of justice, witness tampering and lying to Congress. During an interview with ABC News, Barr said of the sentence, “I think the prosecution was righteous, and I think the sentence the judge ultimately gave was fair.” Continue reading.

Trump commutes Roger Stone’s sentence

The Hill logoPresident Trump on Friday commuted the prison sentence of longtime confidant Roger Stone after the former campaign adviser was sentenced to three years and four months in prison in connection with former special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.

The decision capped a months-long saga that has roiled the Justice Department and divided some of the president’s advisers. Stone was set to report to prison July 14, but his allies had lobbied for a pardon or a commutation, citing his risk of contracting coronavirus while in jail.

The move Friday did not come as a particular surprise, as Trump had at various points in recent months signaled he was leaning toward intervening in Stone’s case. Trump told reporters he was considering a commutation or pardon for Stone as the date he was scheduled to report to prison loomed. Continue reading.

Bill Barr warns of “mutiny” at Department of Justice if Trump commutes Roger Stone’s sentence: rpt

Bill Barr is begging Trump not to commute Roger Stone’s sentence

According to a report from Vanity Fair on Wednesday, President Donald Trump wants to commute Roger Stone’s sentence before he must report to prison on July 14.

Stone, who has long been pals with Trump, was convicted on seven counts and sentenced to over three years in prison (40 Months) after witness tampering, lying to investigators, and a slew of other things.

Attorney General Bill Barr “has told Trump not to do it, and if he does, there will be a mutiny at DOJ,” Vanity Fair cited a source briefed on the internal debates. Continue reading.

Facebook closes network of accounts and pages affiliated with Roger Stone for manipulation

Washington Post logoThe longtime Trump friend and former campaign adviser used fake accounts and other deceptive tactics to manipulate public debate, the company said

Facebook took down a network of more than 100 pages and accounts on Wednesday it said was affiliated with felon and former Republican operative Roger Stone for “coordinated inauthentic behavior,” taking the company’s campaign against disinformation closer to the heart of the nation’s political establishment.

The offending activity on Facebook and its subsidiary Instagram dated as far back as 2015 but was particularly active during the 2016 presidential election season, when Stone was advising Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, and in 2017, as federal investigators were scrutinizing his activities.

Facebook officials said Stone, a longtime friend of Trump’s, used fake accounts and other deceptive measures to manipulate public debate. In at least a small number of occasions, Stone also drew attention to posts made by anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, which at the time was publishing damaging Democratic Party emails originally stolen by Russian hackers, the company said. Continue reading.

Stone Posts Meme That Depicts Him Wielding Sword Against Judge

As Trump confidant Roger Stone serves home confinement while waiting to report to prison on July 14, he is using Instagram to attack Judge Amy Berman Jackson, the federal judge who oversees his case. Stone previously ran afoul of Jackson after he used his Instagram account to post a picture that showed Jackson next to apparent gun crosshairs.

The image Stone posted on Instagram on July 4 references the film 300, a fictionalized account of the 480 B.C. Battle of Thermopylae, which pitted a small number of Spartan warriors against Persian King Xerxes I.

Jackson is depicted as Xerxes, the film’s main antagonist, and Stone is shown as a sword-wielding Leonidas, the leader of the Spartans. (At the climax of the film, Leonidas attempts to kill Xerxes by throwing a spear at him, but succeeds only in wounding him, before he and the rest of his men are overwhelmed by the Persian army.) The image references a line often used by Stone while discussing his criminal proceedings — his claim that he will not “bear false witness” against President Donald Trump. Continue reading.

Stone received ‘favorable treatment’ because of relationship with Trump, former prosecutor will testify

The Hill logoA former prosecutor who worked on the Roger Stone case is expected to testify Wednesday that top officials at the Justice Department (DOJ) intervened on behalf of President Trump to help his longtime friend receive a lighter sentence.

Aaron Zelinsky, who is slated to testify before the House Judiciary Committee, will allege that Stone received more favorable treatment as a result of his relationship with the president.

“What I heard — repeatedly — was that Roger Stone was being treated differently from any other defendant because of his relationship to the president,” Zelinsky wrote in an opening statement released by the panel in advance of the hearing. Continue reading.