Stone scrimps for expensive legal battle
Roger Stone, the longtime adviser to President Donald Trump, accused the special counsel’s office that indicted him of acting improperly by tipping off CNN so it could capture video of the dramatic predawn raid on his Fort Lauderdale home.
Appearing Wednesday west of Boca Raton, Stone also accused Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office of improperly releasing a draft of the indictment to the media two-and-a-half hours before a federal magistrate judge signed an order releasing it.
Also on Wednesday, in federal court in Washington, D.C., Stone’s lawyers filed a motion asking that Mueller’s office be held in contempt for the alleged leak to the media.
Peter Carr, spokesman for the special counsel’s office, declined to comment. He said via email the special counsel “will respond at the appropriate time in court.”
Since the Jan. 25 arrest, CNN said it was outside his house because of enterprising reporting that included observing unusual activity at a federal courthouse the day before. Stone labeled that explanation “implausible.”
CNN spokesman Matt Dornic said by email that the network “did not have an early copy of the indictment. Those claims are baseless and the ‘evidence’ outlined by Stone’s attorney is bogus and easy to disprove.”
Stone is charged with witness tampering, obstruction and false statements about his interactions related to the release of stolen Democratic Party emails by WikiLeaks.
Speaking to reporters and then at a luncheon at the Gold Coast Tiger Bay Club, Stone said he wouldn’t discuss the case against him in great detail on Wednesday — other than to proclaim his innocence.
He repeated his frequent argument that the charges against him don’t allege any kind of collusion with the Russians. Mueller has been investigating crimes related to Russian attempts to influence the 2016 election.
Stone said he’d comply with a gag order if one is issued by the judge in the case — but that a prohibition on talking wouldn’t be fair to him.
Stone said that the special counsel’s office has been able to shape public perceptions of him and the case against him — including by staging the Jan. 25 raid in Fort Lauderdale — so he should be able to make his case in public.
And, he said, he’d be harmed by a gag order because preventing him from speaking would make it much harder for him to raise money for his
legal defense fund. “If I am gagged it makes it difficult for me to tell people to go to stonedefense.com.”
Post-arrest life
Stone, who typically is an colorful and ebullient and forceful speaker, sounded somewhat subdued Wednesday. He said the lengthy Mueller investigation, and more recently the indictment, have taken a personal toll.
Stone, who was at the Tiger Bay Club to speak and sign copies of his books, said his ability to earn a livelihood has been made more difficult by the investigation and indictment.
He said he lost his health and life insurance in December and has had to sell his car. “It has had a negative financial impact on my family,” he said. “I still have some work. I’m eating a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.”
Stone said his family has security concerns because he has a constant stream of threats. “It’s very dangerous to be me these days,” he said
And, he said, he has legal bills. He said he needs to raise $2 million for his legal defense fund. He declined to say how much he’s raised for the fund, but both in his news conference and his lunch speech he repeatedly gave the name of his legal defense fund’s website.
He repeated his complaints about the way he was arrested, with 29 agents and 17 vehicles. He said two of the vehicles were armored, and there was a helicopter and an amphibious craft in the canal behind his home off Las Olas Boulevard.
He opened the door to the sight of agents with assault weapons, he said.
None of that was necessary, Stone said, because he wasn’t a flight risk and wouldn’t have tried escape by water because he can’t swim well.
And he said didn’t present any threat to the agents who arrested him because he doesn’t have any weapons in his home — explaining that in Florida a person can’t have a gun and a medical marijuana card. (Stone is a longtime promarijuana activist.)
Presidential friendship
Stone, who’s known the president for decades, said there is “substantial evidence that I was targeted because of my long relationship with Donald Trump.”
He said he hasn’t spoken to Trump in a “long time, a couple of years.” He also said that he’s spoken to Trump since he became president. Trump was inaugurated in January 2017.
Stone said the president is doing a fantastic job as president and said his recent State of the Union address was “Reagan-esque in both its delivery and content.” He said it’s “entirely possible that he would ride off into the sunset and go down as one of our greatest presidents.”
He said he’s confident he’ll be vindicated, but expressed skepticism that he can get a fair trial in Washington, D.C., where people voted overwhelmingly for Hillary Clinton for president in 2016.
He issued several broadsides against Clinton and labeled the Clinton Foundation as “a slush fund for grifters.”
Bezos scandal
Stone said he had no involvement in the National Enquirer getting text messages and salacious photos of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos — even though he knows Michael Sanchez, the brother of Bezos’ girlfriend. “He’s a friendly acquaintance.”
Stone said Sanchez called him two weeks ago to ask if he thought there was any chance the U.S. or foreign governments could have had a role in hacking Bezos’ phone. Stone said he found it “highly implausible” that U.S. national security agencies were involved.
Attracted audience
The Tiger Bay Club attracts a range of speakers from both political parties, and usually gets 40 to 60 people at its meetings, President Howard Appell said. He attributed the crowd of about 100 on Wednesday to Stone’s notoriety.
Appell declined to assess the veracity of Stone’s statements. “I don’t judge anybody. I just bring the people.”
Vicki Corrao of West Boca, a member of the Tiger Bay Club, said she’s a registered Democrat and not a fan of Trump — but found Stone thought-provoking. “He’s a showman just like Trump.”
Some of her friends didn’t agree. While at lunch, she posted a picture of Stone on her Facebook page — and immediately got negative feedback: “Picture of a felon,” “Why are you supporting that criminal?” and “Thought he was in jail.”
Bob Ralston of Boca Raton left with three signed copies of Stone books.
“We were lucky to listen to an erudite man who was unjustly accused by liberals,” he said. “He’s now a victim of ruthless liberal politics.” Fantasy 5: 10-17-22-32-35 Mega Millions: 15-32-39-50-65-7-x3