Ryan Nicol
Roger Stone came to Boca Raton Wednesday to once again proclaim his innocence as he faces down an indictment from Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
Stone appeared in South Florida to speak at the Gold Coast Tiger Bay Club. The appearance had been scheduled for months, well before Stone was indicted on obstruction, lying and witness tampering charges.
Those charges did not cover a potential criminal conspiracy with the Russians to obtain emails from the Democratic National Committee or Hillary Clinton ally John Podesta. Stone has been vocal denying involvement in any sort of conspiracy.
But he was just as categorical when asked Wednesday if he had, in his long political career, ever acquired information that’s been obtained by a foreign entity.
“No,” Stone said bluntly.
Stone also repeated allegations that CNN was tipped off to his arrest. CNN was at Stone’s home the morning of the arrest. CNN officials say grand jury activity the day before hinted that something might be going down regarding Stone, so they staked out the house just in case.
But Stone says he isn’t buying it, even filing a motion in court Wednesday morning to have Mueller reprimanded.
“I think it’s abundantly clear from the video camera, which I sent to the Senate and House Judiciary Committees, that CNN showed up 15 minutes before the FBI,” Stone asserted.
“They set up their camera 10 minutes before the FBI arrived. That would have to be the shortest stakeout in American history. This is the greatest coincidence since the Reichstag fire.”
Stone also alleged that CNN was given an early copy of his indictment, but those claims were denied by the network.
Asked whether there was any situation where he would accept a plea deal, Stone seemed reticent but didn’t rule it out completely.
“Not that I see at this time,” Stone said.
Stone also denied having anything to do with the National Enquirer’s investigation into Jeff Bezos‘ affair with former TV anchor Lauren Sanchez.
Bezos says the National Enquirer threatened to blackmail him with racy photos not yet released. Sanchez’ brother, Michael, has been pegged as a possible source of texts confirming the fling. While Stone says he has spoken to Michael Sanchez about the episode, he says he had nothing to do with the leak of those texts.
“I know Michael Sanchez only casually through a mutual friend,” Stone said.
“He called me two weeks ago to ask whether it was plausible that the national security apparatus under this administration had somehow obtained Jeff Bezos’ text messages or Lauren Sanchez’ text messages.”
Stone added, “I said I thought that was a highly implausible use of the national security apparatus. That would be illegal. I don’t think they’d carry it out if they did get such an order. I doubt they did get such an order. I really don’t think this is political.”
The longtime Donald Trump booster also stood by previous comments that Trump may be a one-term President by choice, as he could decide against running for re-election in 2020.
“I thought it entirely possible that he could ride off into the sunset and go down as one of our greatest presidents,” Stone said.
“To this day, I don’t believe he ran for President to be someone. He ran for President to do something. And therefore, if he feels he’s done it at the end of four years, I think it’s conceivable.”
