No indictment yet for Stone in Mueller’s Russia probe
Some expected a pre-Labor Day drop, but ...
A steamed Roger Stone, in the special counsel’s crosshairs, said he counted 79 media inquiries peppering his cellphone all day in anticipation of an indictment that never materialized.
“The only thing I’m guilty of is supporting Donald Trump for president and being effective against Hillary Clinton,” Stone told the Herald last night as he confirmed Robert Mueller didn’t come knocking.
Stone said Mueller is being merciless in his dogged pursuit of a scalp for Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
“I can assure you,” Stone said, “the special counsel has no evidence against me of Russian collusion or of WikiLeaks intrusion or that I knew about the release of John Podesta’s emails.”
Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign chairman, had his email account hacked, exposing exchanges about Clinton’s paid speeches to Wall Street, criticizing her “instincts,” exposing infighting and calling Democratic rival Bernie Sanders a “doofus,” to name a few.
Who in the Trump camp knew about the hack, and when, is Mueller’s mission to uncover.
Speculation spread like wildfire across the web yesterday that a pre-Labor Day weekend indictment was imminent. The timing, some speculated, was to drop the news 60 days ahead of the midterm elections to avoid allegations of trying to influence voting patterns. That indictment clock is still ticking. Mueller’s team has been digging deep into Stone’s involvement with the Trump campaign. Stone readily admits he’s a target to help raise money for his defense, he said yesterday. Friends and associates have also been questioned by the special counsel.
The probe centers on WikiLeaks and hacker Guccifer 2.0 — both online entities who spread dirt on the Democrats during the run-up to the presidential election. The hack was orchestrated by Russian intelligence agents.
Mueller has already won convictions against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and has charged three others — including Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser.
Also, 13 Russian nationals, 12 Russian intelligence officers and three Russian companies have been hit with charges.
Hillary Clinton got in on the action last night, tweeting, in part: “Vladimir Putin has waged a 30-year campaign to disrupt world events, including our last election . ... ” She links to a website advancing the showing of “Active Measures,” a film about a “30-year history of covert political warfare devised by Vladmir Putin to disrupt, and ultimately control world events ... that leads directly back to The White House.”
Soon after President Trump tweeted a video of his new retirement savings initiative.
No indictments were announced at press time.