Roger Stone believes an indictment from Robert Mueller is imminent

The Republican hatchet man says Mueller will likely find some "extraneous crime"

By Taylor Link

Published May 20, 2018 1:01PM (EDT)

Roger Stone looks like a dead man walking. The political strategist and hatchet man for the Republican Party has become a target in the special counsel's investigation into Russian election interference. And Stone sees the writing on the wall. He told Chuck Todd on "Meet the Press" Sunday that he was ready for a possible indictment.

“I am prepared should that be the case,” Stone said. “But I think it just demonstrates, again, this was supposed to be about Russian collusion, and it appears to be an effort to silence or punish the president’s supporters and his advocates.”

Stone insisted Sunday that there was no evidence of collusion and that any indictment brought by special counsel Robert Mueller will likely not relate to his actions during the 2016 presidential election.

“It is not inconceivable now that Mr. Mueller and his team may seek to conjure up some extraneous crime pertaining to my business, or maybe not even pertaining to the 2016 election,” Stone added. “I would chalk this up to an effort to silence me.”

Stone repeatedly denied he had any interaction with Russia or WikiLeaks prior to the leak of hacked emails a month before the election. Like many interviewers before him, Todd singled out some tweets written by Stone in 2016 that implied he had advanced knowledge of the WikiLeaks dump.

""Wednesday @HillaryClinton is done. #Wikileaks," one tweet from Oct. 1 said.

"Libs thinking Assange will stand down are wishful thinking. Payload coming #Lockthemup," another tweet from Oct. 5 said.

Stone responded to this evidence by telling Todd he had no special knowledge of the content or date the emails would be released. Stone said that any claims he made in October 2016 were based on public comments made by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

"All anyone has to do is follow Assange's tweets and set a google alert for Assange" in order to successfully predict when new emails would drop, Stone said.

While Stone appeared confident in his assertions, he did sidestep one question pertaining to Assange and WikiLeak's relationship with Russia. The U.S. government has accused WikiLeaks of being a cutout of the Kremlin, so Todd asked Stone if this characterization was fair. Stone responded by answering a different question, "I never predicted the disclosure of John Podesta's emails."

This denial, however, contradicts claims Stone made on the "Alex Jones Show" in October 2016.

"Now, an intermediary met with [Assange] in London recently -- who is a friend of mine and a friend of his, a believer in freedom. I am assured that the motherlode is coming Wednesday," Stone said, as reported by CNN's KFILE. It wouldn't be an October surprise if I told you what it was, but I have reason to believe that it is devastating because people with political judgment who are aware of the subject matter tell me this. So right now, you see a terrible scrambling by the Clintonites to attempt to discredit Assange, to try to soften the blow."

Regardless of whether Stone knew or did not know of WikiLeaks' involvement with the hacked emails ahead of time, the political operator seems poised for a criminal indictment. The Russia investigation has already produced 22 indictments as of May 2018 and many more may be coming down the pipeline.

Rep. Adam Schiff, who helped lead the Democrats in the House's investigation into Russian meddling, appeared on "Meet the Press" following Stone's interview. Schiff did not take Stone's assertions to heart.

"Roger Stone is known for a lot of things. Candor isn’t really one of them," Schiff told Todd on Sunday. "Either his testimony before our committee was untrue, or his public statements are untrue. Both cannot be fact because they’re inconsistent with each other. We were never allowed to find out which was the case in our committee."

Schiff noted that the probe in the House was tainted by congressmen trying to aid the president by obstructing any real investigative work. Schiff indicated that Mueller did not have to deal with the likes of Reps. Devin Nunes and Trey Gowdy, so his investigation will likely sniff out any deception from Stone or other people affiliated with the Trump campaign.

Stone, meanwhile, has not tried to hide his contempt for Mueller and his probe. On "Meet the Press" Stone said at least eight of his associates have been interview or, as he put it, "terrorized" by Mueller.

It appears Stone's interview invigorated President Trump, who sent out a series of tweets Sunday morning lambasting the investigations into Russian meddling.

Watch the full interview with Stone below:


By Taylor Link

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