January 25, 2019

"[Roger] Stone, a self-described dirty trickster who began his career as a campaign aide for Richard M. Nixon and has a tattoo of Nixon on his back..."

"... has long maintained that he had no connection to Russia’s attempts to disrupt the 2016 presidential election. He sometimes seemed to taunt American law enforcement agencies, daring them to find hard evidence to link him to the Russian meddling campaign. His brash behavior made him less of a subject of news media scrutiny than other current and former aides to President Trump — like the character in a whodunit who readers immediately dismiss as too obvious to have committed the crime. But the special counsel’s investigators spent months encircling Mr. Stone...."

From "Roger Stone, Adviser to Trump, Is Indicted in Mueller Investigation" (NYT).

I looked back in my archive to see if I'd ever written about Roger Stone. I see I wrote about Donald Trump firing him, which happened all the way back in August of 2015. The Trump campaign's statement about the firing was:
"We have a tremendously successful campaign and Roger wanted to use the campaign for his own personal publicity. He has had a number of articles about him recently and Mr. Trump wants to keep the focus of the campaign on how to Make America Great Again."
At the time, I wrote:
So "Roger wanted to use the campaign for his own personal publicity," that's the kick in the ass the campaign wants to give to a man who sought a somewhat graceful exit? Well, then, give it to us Roger. Use your moment in the sun and dish the dirt on Donald.

Or... perhaps one of the better candidates is reaching out for Stone.  There are so many candidates, and perhaps Stone is good enough to feel the demand. I don't remember his name, but I see he's been around a while. Here's a Politico article from just before the debate: "Donald Trump’s debate ‘dirty trickster’/Roger Stone is just one of many behind-the-scenes figures to influence the GOP debate." That does have a whiff of Roger-is-using-the-campaign-for-his-own-personal-publicity about it.
Whether game-changing moments emerge on camera and how they play online will depend on a cast of lesser-known characters who have shaped the rules of the forum, worked to influence what the moderators and debaters say on stage, prepped the candidates and have their finger on the button of the social media conversation.
Stone is perhaps the most important of them. He got his start in big-time politics as a college student on Nixon’s Committee to Re-elect the President, and he publicly embraces his image as a dirty trickster, including cooperating with a 2008 New Yorker profile by Jeffrey Toobin titled, “the Dirty Trickster.”

In the profile, Trump calls his once and future adviser a “stone-cold loser” and suggests Eliot Spitzer should have sued Stone for a stunt in which the operative allegedly called Spitzer’s aged father, claimed the elder Spitzer was being investigated for loans made to his son’s political campaigns, and threatened him with arrest if he refused to cooperate with an imaginary subpoena. He has a tattoo of Nixon’s face on his back.

Is Stone taking my 3-year-old advice and finding a new moment in the sun where he can dish the dirt on Donald?

ADDED: I see that a few days before the 2016 election, in a post titled "Did Donald Trump become a candidate for President because his friend Bill Clinton urged him to do it?", I quoted this from Maureen Dowd:
Roger Stone, author of “The Clintons’ War on Women” and a longtime confidant of Trump’s, claims that Bill urged Trump to get in the race and told him he thought he could get the nomination. “That’s why the people with the tinfoil hats are convinced the whole thing is a setup,” Stone says. “Bill can’t help himself from giving advice. He loves the game. He’s the great kibitzer.”

134 comments:

Charlie Currie said...

Process crimes. It's always process crimes. That's all Mueller can come up with for the millions he's spent looking for Russians.

rehajm said...

...and has a tattoo of Nixon on his back?

Florida Man.

Browndog said...

Goes on Tucker Carlson Wednesday, says he will never bear false witness against the President to get Mueller off his back, arrested a day and a half later by the Stasi.

Nice country we have here.

rehajm said...

Yes. Process crimes. The criticism the witch hunt can’t shake. There are crime cimes- felonies we know occurred. Private servers, FBI leakers. But I give you process crimes says the witch hunt.

Ann Althouse said...

Does anyone love Roger Stone? He seems like the least sympathetic person out there.

Charlie Currie said...

"Look out kid
Don't matter what you did
Walk on your tip toes
Don't tie no bows
Better stay away from those
That carry 'round a fire hose
Keep a clean nose
Watch the plain clothes
You don't need a weather man
To know which way the wind blows..."

Bob Boyd said...

"He seems like the least sympathetic person out there."

Yeah, but let's not forget who's characterizing him. Nick Sandmann held that title just a couple days ago.

Birches said...

Nothing substantial, but at least the press will be fantasizing about Trump impeachment instead of threatening hs students.

Bob Boyd said...

A Nixon tattoo is the new white hood.

David Begley said...

When does the DOJ send a team of armed FBI agents to the Two Front Doors of CBF’s house to arrest her for perjury?

Same for Comey, Brennan, Clapper, Power, McCabe and Strzok.

Karen of Texas said...

"The two men have remained close, though, speaking often by telephone." You know this how, NYT? Proof, please.

"...taken credit for helping unearth scandals about Democratic politicians." Can't have this, can we, the partisan hack. How dare he unearth Democrats.

I hope his day in court unleashes a treasure trove of Wiki secrets that will have the Dems cursing Mueller 24/7/365 for giving him a platform to air dirty laundry.

alanc709 said...

Same day CNN does a series on "Trump, Our Greatest President"

David Begley said...

If I was the federal magistrate who had to make the bail decision I’d release him. This person sees major drug dealers and serious criminals daily. The contrast is stark.

Breezy said...

So CNN was there to film the whole early morning arrest... How did that come to be?

Browndog said...

A lot of right wingers says Roger Stone is a scum bag. Same thing they said about Manafort. I read as much, and stay as informed as anybody, and have yet to see any factual basis for it.

Must be the smirking.

That, or they are making excuses for Mueller's witch hunt to continue, in hopes Mueller can rid them of the biggest scum bag--Trump.

John henry said...

Watch "get me roger stone" on netflix.

Great documentary bio of stone.

Among other things I learned that he may be the one who gave the fake ANG documents to Dan rather.

Very well done

John Henry

Bob Boyd said...

"So CNN was there to film the whole early morning arrest... How did that come to be?"

Good question. They could have just told him to turn himself in.

John henry said...

In the meantime pdjt just nominated 51 federal judges Thursday.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/trump-nominates-51-judges-at-once-enough-to-fill-1-3rd-of-all-court-vacancies

John Henry

John henry said...

By indicting Stone confirms no Russian collusion.

Democrats hardest hit

John Henry

rehajm said...

The fixers- guys like stone and manafort and meuller and podesta, they do dirty work. The nature of their work makes them unlikable scum to everyone except who they work for.

Bob Boyd said...

"By indicting Stone confirms no Russian collusion."

Explain

John henry said...

Browndog,

In the documentar, Roger Stone himself says he's a scumbag.

He is proud of it and tells us that's how he makes his living

John Henry

chillblaine said...

What a hoot. Some of these wizened political hacks are so amusing, like Stone. One guy that America has one too many of, Lanny Davis, noticed he's Michael Cohen's attorney. You all remember Davis? He was observed by staff at the National Archives, "stuffing archives in his socks." Spicy.

John henry said...

Precisely, Rehajm

John Henry

David Begley said...

I’d indict Stone for that Nixon tattoo. Bad taste and bad judgment!

Browndog said...

You all remember Davis? He was observed by staff at the National Archives, "stuffing archives in his socks." Spicy.

Wrong Clintonite.

iowan2 said...

NBC is laying all of this out, like it is some big revelation. Bruce Hayden and others here have thoroughly parsed all of the evidence 6 to 12 months ago. Lies about his contacts? Yes, but Stone amended those statements when he in fact remembered long ago events. This is nothing but PR for Mueller showing he is still out here. I'll wait for our in house investigators at Althouse to winnow through all this chaff to see if something that was not already part of the public record has surfaced.

roesch/voltaire said...

I wonder if the email Mueller has was found in the Russian emails about to be released?

Christy said...

Sid Blumenthal. Sleazier than Stone?

Chil, Bill Clinton’s national security adviser Sandy Berger stole documents from the National Archives in 2003 by sneaking them out in his socks. Don't go spreading fake news, or lying. It reflects badly on your mother.

Unknown said...

> Does anyone love Roger Stone?

i love his Omerta

gadfly said...

Althouse asks: "Does anyone love Roger Stone? He seems like the least sympathetic person out there."

Donald Trump must love him because he made middle-of-the-night calls to his fired campaign manager in 2016.

Those nocturnal chats and other contacts between the man who now occupies the Oval Office and an infamous political trickster have come under intensifying scrutiny as special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation bores into whether Stone served as a bridge between Trump and WikiLeaks as the group was publishing hacked Democratic emails.

Jerome Corsi loves Roger Stone because Reger got him a $15,000 per month "job" at Infowars as a payoff for something. But this whole indictment may be simply a gambit to get information about Corsi or to get former Stone assistant Andrew Miller (who is obviously loyal to Stone) to cease resisting a session before Mueller's grand jury to give testimony about his knowledge on campaign finance violations.

Temujin said...

chillblaine-

That was Sandy Berger who was caught stuffing classified docs into his pants and socks and walking them out of the National Archives. He was Bill Clinton's Deputy National Security Advisor. Nothing to see here...move along.

Ray - SoCal said...

Clinton’s dude had a lot of Stone types, no indictments.

Browndog said...

Early morning military style raid complete with CNN cameras to arrest an old man charged with process crimes.

That's OK, though--he's a scumbag. Oh, and that tattoo!

Bob Boyd said...

Can you look at that tattoo and honestly tell me that isn't facecrime?

Unknown said...

Recall Mueller put the redhead russian "spy lady" and manafort in solitary confinement for many months.

There is a capricious system you should fear.

Prosecutors abuse people

Who could like them?

Other than Kamala Harris, the Chosen One.

Ralph L said...

Stone's first wife, Anne, ran for mayor of the People's Republic of Alexandria, VA, in the late 80's and failed. Then she started a Republicans for Abortion group that went nowhere. They split soon after.

I believed until Summer 2016 that Trump was the Clintons' tool to disrupt the Republican nomination process.

Ajnal said...

"key passage in Roger Stone indictment: he “was contacted by senior Trump campaign officials to inquire about future releases” of stolen information by Wikileaks"

traditionalguy said...

Does anyone love Roger Stone is probably not the best question. Does Roger Stone earn any respect is a better question. The man is an out front confrontationalist. He earns his respect by his fearlessness of the Political Game Thugs. Netflix made a Netflix movie about Roger, which is worth the watching.

Speaking of movies, the Mueller Gestapo had a CNN camera crew pre-positioned to go live at 6:00 AM as their Military Raid was enacted soley to create visuals for TV meant to defame an innocent American Citizen. They were frantic this AM demanding the viewers think that the Feds only arrest bad people who commit very serious CRIMES. It was like watching The Onion.

alanc709 said...

Thank god they brought a SWAT team, you know how violent those process crimne takedowns can be.

Mike Sylwester said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
iowan2 said...

Those nocturnal chats and other contacts between the man who now occupies the Oval Office and an infamous political trickster have come under intensifying scrutiny as special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation bores into whether Stone served as a bridge between Trump and WikiLeaks as the group was publishing hacked Democratic emails.

Gadfly you are well read on the subject. Maybe you could explain to those not up to speed, exactly what crime all of these communications, IF TRUE, will be used to indict President Trump, or what crime the campaign committed.
I'll hang up a listen.

John henry said...

Blogger Ralph L said...

I believed until Summer 2016 that Trump was the Clintons' tool to disrupt the Republican nomination process.

I would not doubt the Clinton's thought he was. I would not doubt that he was happy to let the Clinton's think he was and that they could, somehow, control him.

But DJT and now pdjt will never be anyone's tool.

He is kind of like the Woody Harrelson character in "White men can't jump" You remember him, "The Chump"

John Henry

Mike Sylwester said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mike Sylwester said...

Roger Stone, Michael Caputo say they were targets of US setup involving Russian national

.... In a Washington Post report Sunday [in June 2018], Stone claims that he met with a man in May 2016 who offered dirt on Trump's 2016 rival, Hillary Clinton. However, the man, who identified himself as Henry Greenberg, said he wanted Trump to pay $2 million for the damaging information and therefore was shut down, according to Stone. ...

Both Stone and Caputo have suggested that the man, who has periodically used the name Henry Oknyansky, was used by U.S. officials who were hostile to Trump. Records reviewed by the Post show he is a Russian national who has claimed to work as an FBI informant.

In a 2015 court filing related to his immigration status, Greenberg said he had provided information to the FBI for 17 years. ....

Greenberg initially denied that a meeting took place in text messages with the Post, but he later did acknowledge one took place. He further said that the demand for money came not from himself but a Ukrainian friend he identified as Alexei, who claimed to have been fired from the Clinton Foundation. ...

John henry said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
John henry said...

Or, for that matter, Paul Newman in The Hustler.

In all three cases they were gravely misunderestimated.

Misunderestimated = mistakenly underestimated.

I just realized that "The Hustler" and White Men Can't Jump" was basically a remake of "The Hustler"

John Henry

Ajnal said...

BREAKING NEWS: HILLARY CLINTON HAS NOT BEEN ARRESTED.

Wince said...

From CNN...

A number of law enforcement vehicles with silent sirens flashing pulled in front of Stone's home on a darkened Ft. Lauderdale street just after 6 a.m. Friday morning.

About a dozen officers with heavy weapons and tactical vests fanned out across Stone's lawn.

Law enforcement shined a flashlight into Stone's front door before one officer rapped against it, shouting, "FBI. Open the door."

Seconds later, the agent shouted, "FBI. Warrant."

A floor light turned on and moments later, Stone appeared in the front entryway. He confirmed who he was to law enforcement.


What's a "silent siren flashing"?

Very Dylanesque...

Wince said...

Blogger Ann Althouse said...
Does anyone love Roger Stone?

That's setting the bar kinda high, don't you think?

Kevin said...

From what I can tell he's accused of crimes that didn't exist before the investigation. This is another Martha Stewart special.

And another reason why if you are ever being questioned by police or prosecutors you should say absolutely nothing, ever, no matter how innocent you are.

rcocean said...

Another process crime. Trump needs to pardon him and Flynn.

chillblaine said...

Ouch. I stand corrected.

rcocean said...

As Clinton would say: Everyone lies about E-mails. No big whoop.

And i think Roger Stone is a moron.

rcocean said...

Roger stone or Scaramucci (Sp) - who's more unlikable? you make the call!

Trump sure knows how to pick 'em.

Bob Boyd said...

What's a "silent siren flashing"?

That's when an irresistibly beautiful girl, without a word, just shows you her tits.

Ralph L said...

I'm surprised that ALL Mueller could find were process crimes. Perhaps a judge secretly limited his subpoena powers.

mccullough said...

Mueller is a scumbag. Arresting an old man in a raid is low.

Anthrax Bob. Still thinks he’s a good guy. He was W and Obama’s water boy. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s handmaiden.

narciso said...

Davis is the attorney along with Chertoff for firtash the dodgy Ukrainian, as such he helped him dodge an extradition request from austria.

iowan2 said...

Secret Raid. The only people that knew were the cops and CNN. Only those with a critical need to know.

Go ahead, convince me this is being done in the name of Justice

narciso said...

Bulger bob, and aipac Bob as well, hes like a character from the black list.

John said...

process crimes

Does that roughly translate to "it's not a crime when my side does it?"

As someone mentioned above there is no crime if you just keep your mouth shut. Why did he talk?

Michael said...

Roger Stone picked up Blackwell's work and produces an annual best and worst dressed list. Stone wears bespoke in the English style. Borderline fop.

cacimbo said...

Vox explains that Stone contacted "Corsi, regarding getting in contact with Assange."

I don't understand.Is speaking with Assange now a crime?

narciso said...

Only when it comes to the Clinton's, when you compromise programs and personal you get pulitzers for that.

Bob Boyd said...

"I don't understand.Is speaking with Assange now a crime?"

Yup. It's called Obstruction of Hillary.

John said...

Is speaking with Assange now a crime?

No.

FBI: Did you talk to Assange?
Stone: I don't have to answer any of your questions.

No crime.

FBI: Did you talk to Assange?
Stone: No! Never! Assange who?

Crime.

It's really just that simple.

traditionalguy said...

The gaggle of propaganda bimbettes are now stressing how serious a CRIME lying to Congress is. And they presume Rodger did that because he testified to a Committee last year and it is simply assumed that his saying that he did not collide is a LIE.

And next, if he pleads Not Guilty, that will be another lie and therefore an Obstruction of Justice. The show must go on.

narciso said...

Whereas no prosecutor would go after Hillarys multiple violations of statute, says James comey.

narciso said...

Right because Clapper comey and brennan are in jail right?

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Ajnal said...
"key passage in Roger Stone indictment: he “was contacted by senior Trump campaign officials to inquire about future releases” of stolen information by Wikileaks"


And we all know its a federal crime to ask/discuss/wonder what WikiLeaks might release next, right? This indictment is a damned Dagwood of a ham sandwich, if you know what I mean. If speculating about WikiLeaks is a crime what is paying a British spy for Russian oppo called?

chickelit said...

Ann Althouse said...Does anyone love Roger Stone? He seems like the least sympathetic person out there.

Soap opera women love to loathe Stone. Only Trump draws more scorn. I'd say Mueller has his finger on the button of those women.

John said...

And we all know its a federal crime to ask/discuss/wonder what WikiLeaks might release next, right?

It's a crime to lie about it. You have to know that. They should have just said, "On advice of counsel I decline to answer any of your questions."

narciso said...

The predicate for this investigation, rhetorical?

buwaya said...

If one were wondering whether Trump or anyone on that side of politics has any control of the FBI or the DOJ, or whether these institutions as institutions have been cowed into political neutrality, well, here is your answer.

Leaving aside anything else, instead of sending two agents in privacy to knock on Mr. Stones door and take him in, as would be reasonable under the circumstances, here we have these agencies putting on a partisan circus, openly cooperating with the propaganda system.

Your "deep state" exists, it is still out of your control, and it is not on your side. Indeed, the blatant message here, obviously, is to demonstrate just that. In your face.

robother said...

The Clinton-urging-Trump-to-get-in-the-race thing has the whiff of reality. (The subtle point Iowahawk is making--reality is far more shamelessly outrageous than fiction.) Bill Clinton loves the "just spitballing here" aspect of politics, is by all accounts naturally good at it.

The fact that he ends up totally screwing his humorless by-the-numbers wife's chances of being President is what elevates this to only in reality level of incredulity.

ga6 said...

"Recall Mueller put the redhead russian "spy lady" and manafort in solitary confinement for many months."

Solitary and early morning raids with long guns and cameras. Hmm, perhaps the rumor that Wray and Co have hired an architect to draw up plans for a copy of the the Lubyanka (but with central air) somewhere east of the tidal basin, perhaps in Rock Creek Park are true..

buwaya said...

You cannot reform this system into some congruence with its civics-textbook form.

Your civics textbooks are obsolete, they do not describe your system as it actually exists. That entire world view is so out of date that, well, what analogy to use?

Its as if ones view of European politics still assumed that the Habsburgs were in power. That China was still ruled from the Quing court, by its eunuchs.

narciso said...

Well they'll put on roosevelt island opposite the Watergate like in winter soldier.

Bruce Hayden said...

"Process crimes. It's always process crimes. That's all Mueller can come up with for the millions he's spent looking for Russians."

This is scary stuff. Guy goes on TV telling how he is being bankrupted by the bogus Mueller investigation, and a couple days later is indicted for 7 process crimes manufactured by that very same investigation. Dawn raid, violating DoJ rules (that don't seem to apply to Mueller's team) by intentionally leaking to the press. They made their point - Be scared. Be very scared.

Love how the indictment essentially pretends to give credence to the Cloudstrike claim that the DNC server was hacked by the Russians without actually claiming it. Because, of course, it wasn't the Russians that did it, but rather their server was dumped internally. . Cloudstrike was a DNC contractor that refused to let the FBI actually look at the server. Instead, they said "trust us - we have worked with the FBI before". Cleverly, knowing all this, the indictment merely said that Cloudstrike had said that the Russians had hacked the DNC, and not that they actually had (pretty much everyone here, except for Inga maybe, knows by now that it was an inside job). If Mueller and his team of highly politicized investigators truly were interested in Justice, they would have started with indicting Cloudstrike for lying to the FBI about the hacking of the DNC email server, then making the server unreadable and unrecoverable (and, of course, done the same with Crooked Hillary's server - note, the DNC was at that time under operational control by the Clinton campaign (they were supplying the money that it operated on) and thus, the Cloustrike statements were essentially statements by the Clinton campaign). It was extraordinarily brazen, by the Mueller team, to start out the Stone indictment with a recitation of an example of lying to federal investigators and obstructing justice that they were intentionally studiously ignoring. As I said above: Be Afraid. Be very afraid.

Known Unknown said...

If I were Stone, maybe I would've given them a bit of a shoot out first.

You know, for the cameras.

buwaya said...

Your bureaucracy enjoys impunity. It may, under great stress, give up a few persons for pro-forma punishment, but as collective bodies they will do as they will, or as they are directed by the actual authority they recognize.

The interesting question is who they are receiving direction from. Its certainly not from the constitutional chain of command.

buwaya said...

These cases, where the very structure of government overruled the legitimate ruler, or overawed him, is quite common in Chinese history. The court or the bureaucracy would run amuck. It usually marked the decadent phase of a given dynasty, and foretold its end.

ga6 said...

How about a new meme? Gestapo Mueller.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_M%C3%BCller_(Gestapo)

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

It's a crime to lie about it. You have to know that. They should have just said, "On advice of counsel I decline to answer any of your questions."

Yep. He likely thought he was being helpful, trying to prove his contacts were routine. He got some dates wrong in first interview and, like Corsi, asked to amend his testimony after refreshing his memory. It is petty of Mueller to demand a guilty plea first and then let them amend. I don't think a jury will find Stone guilty. My comment above was a push-back against comments here and by asshats like Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) that "discussing WikiLeaks" in and of itself is somehow evidence of Trump guilt, and his ridiculous tying the 7/27/17 public statement by Trump ("Russia, if you're listening...") to the hack of Podesta. Mueller is running a shitshow.

StephenFearby said...

Our Blog Mistress wrote:

"...He has a tattoo of Nixon’s face on his back.

So, instead of Roger Stone having to pull down his pants to moon you with his backside, he only has to pull up his shirt and expose his Tricky Dick.

Putting this in timely context:

Daily Mail 24 January 2019


People with tattoos have more sexual partners and more mental health issues, study declares

Adults with tattoos were more likely to be diagnosed with a mental health issue or a sleep disorder

They were more likely to engage in 'risky' behavior including smoking and having gone to jail

Polls have shown that around 40 percent of people between ages 18 and 29 have at least one tattoo

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-6628921/People-tattoos-sexual-partners-mental-health-issues-study-finds.html

Bay Area Guy said...

I wouldn't say I love Roger Stone. He's a bit too colorful and a bit too sleazy for me. "Love" is too strong a word.

However:

1. His book on the Trump 2016 campaign is excellent and definitive.

2. The documentary about him "Get Me Roger Stone" is also excellent.

3. He's done a very good job of exposing Republicans who talk the talk, but are mostly allied with the global elites.

4. He's written highly provocative and interesting books about Watergate and JFK murders from a conspiratorial bent, that definitely should be on the table, even if one doesn't buy his conspiracy theories.

5. After all is said and done, Mueller and his hounds are still butt hurt over the DNC and Podesta emails that helped sink Hillary's campaign. Sad!

Bob Boyd said...

The dramatic early morning raid with swat team and news cameras is in line with one of the main goals of the Mueller Investigation, to make an example of anyone who helped an outsider take over the Republican Party and win the Presidency.

readering said...

I wonder if he'll flip.

buwaya said...

Mueller doesn’t have “hounds”.
These were officers and agents of the FBI and I assume, also the DOJ.
I do not see how an investigator can of his own accord direct the form of an arrest.
This was designed and permitted by others in those institutions.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

It's illegal to do oppo-research on the Clintons.

If Seth Rich had anything to do with it - the media and the FBI do not care.

narciso said...

Um I think he bit too hard on the fusion supplier chaff on cruise, but on balance.

buwaya said...

Here, again, it is a terrible mistake to personalize.
The Gestapo was the Gestapo because it was a structure built to operate as the, well, Gestapo. It was not just the arm of its chief or its political masters.

Your executive agencies are entities in themselves, collective bodies full of like-minded people selected over decades in large part because they are like minded. All of that leadership that has been forced out of the FBI since 2017, they were not “bad apples”, they were mostly people who had risen to the top of a system, through display of the qualities that system values.

buwaya said...

Mueller had to go to someone in some other organization and request an arrest in a given form.
That is, if it was Mueller himself who directed that part.
That person in charge of the arrest, many levels up from the people on the street, had to agree with Mueller.

Much more likely it was someone else entirely that directed the form of the arrest, as these things are compartmentalized, but towards the same political ends. It is systems, not persons.

narciso said...

Well that's why the two minute hate on Whitaker, why there are songs to rosenstein.

Chuck said...

The Daily Caller, on how a CNN producer guessed that Friday morning might be the time of the long-expected Roger Stone indictment and arrest a la Manafort:

https://dailycaller.com/2019/01/25/cnn-films-roger-stone-arrest-mueller/

Bruce Hayden said...

"Your executive agencies are entities in themselves, collective bodies full of like-minded people selected over decades in large part because they are like minded. All of that leadership that has been forced out of the FBI since 2017, they were not “bad apples”, they were mostly people who had risen to the top of a system, through display of the qualities that system values."

Part of the problem appears to have been created by Mueller, himself, in his previous incarnation as FBI Director. He apparently instituted an Up Or Out policy, where senior field agents either had to come to DC to finish their careers, or else were forced into early retirement. The result appears to have been that the honest ones left, and the political ones went to DC and ultimately ended up controlling the agency. Comey, his protégé, followed in his shoes, when he took over. It was interesting because they were both outsiders - DoJ prosecutors taking over from FBI insiders. Last time that happened, Nixon was impeached, at partially through the actions of Deep Throat, who turned out to have been an FBI insider who had been passed over by Nixon for an outsider, for the Directorship, in order to clean up the agency after J Edgar Hoover, who had run the agency for decades as a private fiefdom with the incriminating files that his agents had collected for him on everyone in DC with any real power during that time.

n.n said...

So, the objective is to avoid investigating actual collusion, spying, and interference, to indulge in prosecutorial discretion, and to hunt others who are politically convenient.

Earnest Prole said...

Run, don’t walk, to see Get Me Roger Stone, a documentary that’s been running on Netflix.

Yancey Ward said...

Ms. Althouse,

You should take the time to read the indictment because this part of the Stone's claims are, in fact true even though it is implied that it is not:

"has long maintained that he had no connection to Russia’s attempts to disrupt the 2016 presidential election."

The indictment makes it clear that they have Stone on some perjury before the House Intelligence Committee, and they definitely have him dead to rights on witness tampering. However, the indictment also makes it abundantly clear that Stone had literally nothing at all to do with colluding with the Russian government- none at all.

Crimso said...

Forgive me if I have misunderstood this, but what does this have to do with Mueller? Mueller didn't indict anyone, he does not have that power, does he? Weren't Stone's alleged crimes for testifying to a House committee? Is the connection that Mueller presented the evidence to a grand jury and sought the indictment? Not clear to me, as I have not read the actual indictment, and IANAL.

Gk1 said...

This should be interesting as I think people have been lying to the House with impunity for years from Eric Holder to Sally Yates up to and including Roger Stone. Yet this is another process crime that has nothing to do with Russian collusion so I can't pretend to care. Zzzzzz.

Yancey Ward said...

I would warn people to not defend Stone here- he definitely tampered with witnesses- they have him dead certain on that- you can take my word for it, but you can also read the indictment.

However, yes- these are all process crimes related to the investigation, and some of the charges are improper, in my opinion. The biggest error in the indictment is the claim that Stone lied when asked about whether he had any written communications relating to the parameters of the House Intelligence Committee's investigation- those parameters described an investigation into Russian interference in the election. Stone replied that he did not, and the indictment makes it very clear that Stone was, in fact, telling the truth as he knew it- all of his contacts were with people contacting Julian Assange and Wikileaks- that isn't Russian Collusion because no one has demonstrated the Russians gave Wikileaks the e-mails. Mueller attempts to shoe-horn the Russians into the indictment, but is forced to rely on the DNC itself for that connection- something that won't fly in a proper court setting because it isn't evidence- it is hearsay.

Political junkies like me will remember Stone's tweets from the 2016 campaign. Political junkies like me will also remember that Stone was full of shit the entire campaign. He constantly over-promised the political effect of the releases, and the indictment makes it clear why he was overpromising- he never got anything from Wikileaks- not a single thing- the texts and e-mails cited in the indictment make is 100% clear that Wikileaks never cooperated with Stone's requests a single time. Indeed, my respect for Assange went up a lot as I read the indictment- he just went about his business and paid no attention to Stone inquiries.

Known Unknown said...

"https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-6628921/People-tattoos-sexual-partners-mental-health-issues-study-finds.html"

Something something correlation causation.

John henry said...




PHIL OCHS


In many a time, in many a land,
With many a gun in many a hand,
They came by the night, they came by the day,
Came with their guns to take us away

With a knock on the door, knock on the door.
Here they come to take one more,
One more.


Back in the 60s I thought Phil Ochs was singing about other countries. I didn't realize how prophetic he was about US fascists (progressives)

John Henry

Ficta said...

Bill Clinton won the presidency twice because Ross Perot split off the lower middle class/working class Republican vote. (Yes, I've heard the arguments against this statement, but I'm not convinced by them). I believe that Trump was Clinton's plan to engineer a similar third party candidacy to get Hilary elected, but instead of losing the primary and going third party, Trump won.

Chuck said...

Yancey Ward;
You make some interesting points. I very much enjoy your posts. And, a part of me is happy that Stone has no intention to accept a plea, but instead will go to trial. Like Manafort. I love criminal trials; even more than civil trials. And there are some very good (along with a few weird) US District judges in the DC district.

A Roger Stone criminal trial should be spectacular viewing.

Drago said...

Mueller is getting as much out there as possible prior to Barr taking office, precisely as predicted.

Yancey Ward said...

Stone was repeatedly trying to get Wikileaks to give him the e-mails prior to their release- that was the instruction given to the intermediary. Assange never once complied with the requests- we only learned the content on the dates Wikileaks published them, and they only published them on the dates they had already publicly preannounced the dumps- Stone never once got so much as a private date for a public dump of material.

Where Stone lied to the House Committee was when he claimed to never have written such communications to Person 1 and Person 2 dealing with Wikileaks- Mueller has him on those charges- he cites from the communications themselves, so we know they exist. He also lied about written communications with a senior Trump Campaign official who is probably Steve Bannon. This senior official congratulates Stone for apparently knowing what everyone else knew about the Wikileaks dumps in October of 2016. I almost suspect Bannon was being sarcastic because the dump didn't really do any damage to Clinton- the e-mails were pretty underwhelming and uninteresting.

Yancey Ward said...

Ficta is correct- Clinton and the media were building Trump up to run as an independent after losing the nomination. They never once thought Trump could actually win the nomination, and they certainly never expected him to win the election. Karma is a bitch.

Rabel said...

"Does anyone love Roger Stone? He seems like the least sympathetic person out there."

Michael Avenatti says hello.

Yancey Ward said...

The stunning thing to me is again this- why tell lies like this? None of the underlying activity is illegal or even improper. How many journalists weren't trying to get an inside scoop on what Wikileaks had on Clinton's Campaign? How many wouldn't have published such a scoop if they had managed to get it?

The more I see this, the more I suspect people aren't nearly as smart as I think they are, or lying itself is some sort of personal reward I just don't understand. The truth here couldn't have harmed Roger Stone or Donald Trump, or any of Stone's compatriots caught up in this. You really should read the replies made by Person 2 in the text/e-mails cited in the indictment- Person 2 was telling Stone all along that the lies were stupid- he did so at least three different times in the communications. Stone should have listened to this person.

Rabel said...

Mueller has to know that the pre-dawn SWAT raids against non-violent indictees have a Gestapo-like quality. Yet, he persists.

Who's next?

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Vlad Mueller.

You never fuck with the Clinton Crime family.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

CNN was ready and waiting. How creepy?

narciso said...

that's how he rolls, ask Stephen hatfill and the late bruce ivins, so the daisy chain runs from whoever assuange was in contact with, to credico to stone and alex jones, perhaps ted malloch somewhere down the line,

narciso said...

but the first part of the chain, relies on crowdstrike's attribution, to make the grishejnko connection, as to why give Schiff the benefit of the doubt,

buwaya said...

"How many journalists weren't trying to get an inside scoop on what Wikileaks had on Clinton's Campaign?"

Pretty much all of them weren't trying. For sure not a single one with any affiliation to the MSM was looking for dirt on Clinton. Indeed, probably not a single "professional" reporting on US politics. All those on the other side were freelancers, amateurs and eccentrics like Stone.

johns said...

Yancey Ward, thanks for your comments. i apologize for not reading the indictment, but regarding Stone's lies, Mueller has the Stone's communications, but does he also cite the actual statements by Stone that are the basis for the lying charge? Maybe there is some ambiguity there.

FullMoon said...

What's a "silent siren flashing"?

Very Dylanesque...


Well, it sure ain't the of Chimes of Freedom

narciso said...

look squirrel:

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/24/elliott-broidy-republican-fundraiser-hacked-emails-1124067

John said...

The more I see this, the more I suspect people aren't nearly as smart as I think they are, or lying itself is some sort of personal reward I just don't understand.

I bet it's mostly arrogance and ego. They (especially Manafort) think they are so much smarter than everyone else they can talk their way out of anything. There is a youtube video by a law prof about not talking to the authorities. In it he states that no suspect has ever talked himself out of anything, ever, in the history of the world. So just STFU.

FullMoon said...

On First48 crime show, cops loaded up two assault vehicles and several cars with swat guys and detectives . Went to murder suspects' hideout(grandmas house) and busted in with plenty of noise and activity.

Nobody home. CNN was not there, but First48 camera crew covered for them.

Couple of weeks later, two cops knock on door where the suspect is staying, arrest him without incident.



Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Good news! The Clinton Crime Family endures.

Terry McClinton to run for president. We cannot escape the Clintons - ever.

WhoKnew said...

A pre-dawn raid with guns drawn? In FLORIDA? Where do they think they are, Wisconsin?

John said...

The more I see this, the more I suspect people aren't nearly as smart as I think they are, or lying itself is some sort of personal reward I just don't understand.

And obviously the alternative explanation is that they are in fact working for Russian intelligence and trying desperately to hide that fact. That would explain it, would it not?

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

All these corrupt deep-staters were drooling at the prospect of a Hillary Clinton presidency. The slush-fund tax payer d-jerking party was going to be incredible.

EsoxLucius said...

I actually rode on a bus with Roger Stone. In 1990, Stone was trying to buoy his good friend Richard Nixon's spirits up for another political run, and he filled a bus from Washington to Nixon's New Jersey home with Young Republicans. I went along not to cheer up the ex-President but to meet the man. Roger talked the entire four hours up and back, not about Nixon but himself. He bragged about eating human flesh with Idi Amin, dirty tricks with Reagan, and too many other things to elaborate here. It was interesting meeting Nixon four years before his death, but I'm sure it was worth eight hours of humble-bragging. Because of his wife-swapping imbroglio in the 80's, he couldn't run for dog catcher, but he had all the narcissism of an elected official. So to answer your question, Professor Althouse, he is like every other creature of Washington and loved by no one but himself.

Gospace said...

Ann Althouse said...
Does anyone love Roger Stone? He seems like the least sympathetic person out there.


And why should this matter to the justice system? As David Begley said...
When does the DOJ send a team of armed FBI agents to the Two Front Doors of CBF’s house to arrest her for perjury?

Same for Comey, Brennan, Clapper, Power, McCabe and Strzok.


Even the blind can see the different treatment the FBI is giving Democrats vice Republicans.

Wince said...

NYT: He sometimes seemed to taunt American law enforcement agencies, daring them to find hard evidence to link him to the Russian meddling campaign.

With this indictment Stone seems vindicated on that score, no?

Drago said...

The Witness Tampering nonsense is a nice touch by Muellers team of dem henchmen.

Now he can go to a LLR Chuck-approved lefty activist judge to go full Soviet/East-German-Stasi on Stone and isolate him in solitary confinement with limited outside contacts.

Similar to what they are doing with Manafort.

Meanwhile, illegal alien murderers/rapist/assaulters of children are given sanctuary and are released and allowed to disappear.

Seeing Red said...

Is this the guy who was released on his own recognizance?

Morsie said...

What is it about the US and these ludicrous arrests of people being charged with non violent crimes.In any other civilized society he would have been approached and invited in to be charged.This would have occurred with a minimum of fuss. Instead there is a para military operation.Unbelievable

chickelit said...

That 2016 Althouse post has comments by Shiloh. Ever notice how that guy always shows up here every 4 years before general elections? Rhetorical. Then, after every election — poof! — gone. Happened in 2008, 2012, 2016.

Here’s a prediction: Our good little buddy will appear again in 2020. Will he support whichever Dem runs? Rhetorical.