Roger Stone, a longtime aide, and confidant of President Donald Trump was arrested early Friday morning by the FBI after being indicted on charges he lied to Congress and obstructed the House Intelligence Committee's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Stone, Trump’s longtime political adviser who served briefly on his presidential campaign, was arrested by the FBI at his home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. after he was charged on seven counts of obstruction, false statements to Congress and witness tampering. Stone appeared in handcuffs before a Florida magistrate Friday and was released on a $250,000 bond.
The indictment alleges that in the summer of 2016 Stone told senior Trump campaign officials he knew WikiLeaks had information that might damage the prospects of Trump’s rival in the presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton. WikiLeaks, referred to as “Organization 1” in the indictment, released the DNC emails on July 22, 2016, after which an unidentified senior Trump campaign official allegedly “was directed’’ to contact Stone about other damaging material.
Mueller has not charged Stone or any member of the Trump campaign with a conspiracy to defraud the United States by tampering in the election, as the special counsel did in the case of Russians accused of email hacking. But the alleged line of communication between the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks could represent criminal activity along those lines, legal analysts said.
Stone is scheduled to appear in court in Florida later on Friday.
