In the crosshairs, political consultant fires back
PEMBROKE PINES – Political provocateur Roger Stone is bracing for a possible indictment, but he said Monday night that it couldn’t be about colluding with the Russians to help his friend Donald Trump win the presidency.
“I have a clear conscience,” he said after a speech Monday night in Pembroke Pines, in a meeting room at the Total Wine superstore.
But Stone said “it is certainly possible” he’ll be indicted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller for some other infraction, as he says his finances and personal life have been picked through with a fine tooth federal comb.
Stone, a Fort Lauderdale resident and longtime political consultant, has been scrutinized for nearly two years, since he said publicly that he’d made contact with Julian Assange of Wikileaks before a trove of damaging Democratic emails was released. Stone, who has been friendly with Trump for years, was an unofficial surrogate in the Trump campaign and appeared to have advance knowledge of the emails’ release.
Stone said he had no such knowledge, and the investigation is political harassment.
“This is a fairy tale, a canard, a left-wing conspiracy, if you will,” he said.
Stone billed the Pembroke Pines appearance as returning to the scene of “no crime.”
It was his speech in August two years ago to the same crowd, the Southwest Broward Republican Organization, where he first publicly mentioned Assange, saying he had communicated with him.
Monday night, Stone reiterated his explanation that he did not directly communicate with Wikileaks or Assange, but used an intermediary “confirming source.”
He has called “a bald faced
blatant lie” the idea that the Russians interfered in the 2016 presidential election to help Trump win.
“I received nothing from Wikileaks or Julian Assange or the Russian state or anyone else,” he said Monday, “and that includes allegedly hacked materials, and therefore I passed no such materials on to Trump or to the Trump campaign.”
Nevertheless, a post on Stone’s website, StoneColdTruth.com, says Stone “is expecting a ‘manufactured’ indictment from Mueller’s team.”
Stone said Monday night the word “expecting” might be a bit strong, but he can’t rule it out.
His attorney, Grant Smith of Fort Lauderdale, said he is confident there’s “nothing there” and he has “no worries at night when I go to sleep” that there will be any evidence found of Russian collusion.
The colorful Stone used the political speech to sell copies of his latest book, and told the crowd he’s not a millionaire and faces up to $1 million in legal bills.
In an email Friday, his grandson Nick Stevens asked for donations to a legal defense fund for Stone.
“My grandfather has even been forced to use the small amount he has made from the sale of the five books he has written that was supposed to help pay for my college education and the college education of my sisters and my cousins – all of Roger Stone’s grandchildren,” the email said.
Brittany Wallman can be reached at bwallman@sun-sentinel .com or 954-356-4541. Find her on Twitter @BrittanyWallman.