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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCosplaying Supervillain Roger Stone Meets Robert Mueller's Real-Life Feds - Rick Wilson
Stone lied to the Special Counsel because he trusted WhatsApp, which is a grandpa mistake of the first order.
Rick Wilson
01.25.19 4:40 PM ET
There were two ways Roger Stones morning arrest could have played out.
The first scenario is the one Roger rehearsed in his mind a hundred times; his attorney would have been notified well in advance, giving Americas number one parody cartoon supervillain time to assemble some typically foppish confection: perhaps a purple morning coat, spats, hand-tooled lemur-skin calf boots, a jaunty top hat, a monocle, and an exotic cravat tied in a knot typically used only in vigorous German fesselspiele games. He would stride toward the waiting federales with a louche swagger, his bejeweled walking stick in hand. He would smile for the assembled cameras and toss off some bon mot that communicated both searing contempt and breezy insouciance.
Instead, a second, real-world scenario obtained. A frowzy, shocked Roger Stone woke to the sound of FBI, WARRANT! OPEN THE DOOR! in the predawn hours. The FBI may not be getting paid, but that didnt stop them from rolling hard on Stones lair, arresting him, and booking him into the Broward County jail. Stern but polite FBI agents arrested Stone on seven counts of lying to Congress and Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
Two things must have rankled Stone most. First, a CNN stringer was on the scene to a provide video of the raid. Second, Stone appeared in court handcuffed and shackled clad not in one of his usual dandy-lad getups, but rather in a plain blue Polo shirt. Just wait until Roger gets issued prison Crocs and a polyester-blend jumpsuit that doesnt match his spray tan.
Stone is charged with obstruction, making false statements, and witness tampering. Sorry, Trump fans; one of your heroes is about to either die in prison or flip on your cult leader. These charges, narrowly and surgically crafted, are enough that even a fairly slow jury would send Roger up the river long enough that a 66-year old man faces slim odds of coming out alive. The indictments draw yet another line of communication between Trumps campaign (and likely Trump personally) and the efforts of Russia to elect Donald Trump, in this case via Stones relationship with GRU affiliate Wikileaks. The indictment is full of dumb, damning details.
All of Trump world seems to forget that Mueller has all the receipts, phone records, emails, text messages, metadata, and financial records. Stone lied to the Special Counsel because he trusted WhatsApp, which is a grandpa mistake of the first order. Stone lied in Congress because he believed that the House Republicans would sit on his transcript and he would never be held to account. Those lies met with the hard reality that elections have consequences. Donald Trump incinerated 40 GOP House seats, and so the Democratic majority shared the transcript the GOP had suppressed with Mueller. It wasnt partisan; they had evidence of Stone committing multiple crimes in the form of lying to Congress.
more
https://www.thedailybeast.com/roger-stone-welcome-to-the-barrel-cosplaying-supervillain-meets-robert-muellers-real-life-feds?ref=home
kentuck
(111,111 posts)Many have questioned the manner in which the FBI handled the raid, with so many agents and rifles on the scene.
I think they made a statement to those that needed it.
catbyte
(34,546 posts)OMG, that is the most perfect descriptive paragraph I've read in a while. He's wicked good.
MaryMagdaline
(6,859 posts)JHB
(37,166 posts)...what they spent their careers doing: attacking us and feeding the Republican base (the same one that are Trump's biggest fans).
The unofficial NeverTrumper motto is: Make Dogwhistles Great Again.
MaryMagdaline
(6,859 posts)Stargazer09
(2,132 posts)MaryMagdaline
(6,859 posts)Ligyron
(7,645 posts)Gives Charles Pierce a run for his money and yet he's a Puglican.
dchill
(38,626 posts)Um, yeah. Turns out evidence IS partisan. Republicans sit on it. Democrats provide it. Ergo....
Nitram
(22,971 posts)Kurt V.
(5,624 posts)catbyte
(34,546 posts)Churchill when asked about his support for Josef Stalin, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." These are extraordinary, weird times.
Kurt V.
(5,624 posts)catbyte
(34,546 posts)Kurt V.
(5,624 posts)catbyte
(34,546 posts)This scene makes me think that's how it would go if POtuS were ever to be interviewed by Mueller & associates in person.
AllyCat
(16,267 posts)I reject the media frame that 45 lost 40 seats.
lindysalsagal
(20,795 posts)Stone acolyte Jacob Engels, Pizzagate hoaxer Jack Posobiec, greased-ham cosplayer Dan Bongino, Bonginos handmaiden John Cardillo, and the usual cast of thousands raced to their fainting couches, declaring that the Deep State Gestapo was upon us. Trump Twitter ragebots always ready to scream Lock her up have suddenly discovered compassion and a love of due process and delicate treatment for those in the legal system.
As the famous (and sometimes infamous) Ray Harding, then chairman of New Yorks Liberal Party, once told me in the late '90s, The only two people who believe Roger Stones bullshit are Roger Stone and that fucking moron Trump.
Scurrilous
(38,687 posts)Buckeyeblue
(5,505 posts)Either 45 needs to pardon him quickly or he will talk. He has just watched Manafort go down in as blaze of mediocrity. There is no way someone has pompous as Stone gets a jury to side with him. If he has something to bargain with, he better use it.