President Donald Trump's adviser Roger Stone has been in the headlines quite a bit this month. After adamantly denying allegations that he talked to Russian hacker Guccifer 2.0 during the 2016 election, as well as surviving a serious hit-and-run incident last week (which he believes may have been connected to his involvement in the case), Stone is now again receiving attention. This time, it is because FBI Director James Comey admitted that he was familiar with Stone during his congressional testimony on Monday.
It is unclear whether Comey was referring to reports that Stone is under investigation or Stone's various public statements. Stone said earlier this year that he had "communicated with" Julian Assange (which he says occurred through an intermediary and was "perfectly legal"). He also discussed that he had material on Hillary Clinton that he planned on publishing before the election, and interacted with Guccifer 2.0 over Twitter (Stone claims that his interactions with Guccifer 2.0 occurred after the DNC emails were leaked).
Stone tweeted that Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta would have "time in the barrel" — just before the chairman was hacked. Stone said that was a reference to an article he was in the process of writing at the time. According recent report by CNN, Stone also discussed, on multiple occasions, having backchannel communications with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Stone told the Times that his alleged collusions with Russia was "a scandal with no evidence."
"There is still not an iota of proof that anyone on the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians," he said.
During an interview with Charlie Rose of "CBS This Morning" on Tuesday, Stone cited the erroneous information given about weapons of mass destruction and the use of torture during the Iraq War as a counter to the credibility of Comey's recent testimony. After Rose told Stone that the FBI hadn't been involved in that process, Stone clarified that he was referring to "the intelligence services, the deep state, as a group." He also argued that "to think that our intelligence community has not been politicized would be naive." When asked if he believed President Barack Obama had wiretapped Trump Tower during the 2016 election, Stone responded, "I think it is certainly possible and I think we're going to find out."
On Monday, Stone reiterated on Alex Jones' show InfoWars that he is "anxious to rebut allegations that I had any improper or nefarious contact with any agent of the Russia State based on facts not misleading and salacious headlines. Claims of Russian influence or collusion in the Trump Campaign by the Intelligence Community are backed up by ZERO evidence."
He added, "As I told the Times I am willing to appear voluntarily if the committee isn’t looking for the headline of issuing a subpoena."
Stone did not reply to requests for comment when Salon mentioned it was writing a story about him earlier today.
Though Trump's claim is unsubstantiated, Trump adviser Roger Stone says it’s "certainly possible" Trump Tower was wiretapped. WATCH: pic.twitter.com/MIhPA2MYrQ
— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) March 21, 2017
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