Roger Stone, the political operative and close friend of President Donald Trump who was arrested on Friday due to a seven-count indictment filed by special counsel Robert Mueller, told ABC's George Stephanopolous that he is considering cooperating with authorities in the Trump-Russia investigation.
"That's a question I'll have to determine after my attorneys have some discussion," Stone told the "This Week" anchor on Sunday, according to ABC News. "If there is wrongdoing, I know of none, but if there is, I would testify honestly."
Later during the interview, Stephanopolous asked Stone if he had "ever had any conversations with the president during the campaign or since the campaign about Russia or the Mueller investigation?"
Stone denied any wrongdoing: "None whatsoever. Categorically... Zero. Zero."
The former Trump adviser insisted that he was a victim of law enforcement aggressiveness rather than a potential criminal who may have undermined the rule of law during the 2016 contest between Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
"I think the way I was treated on Thursday is extraordinary. I think the American people need to hear about it," Stone told Stephanopolous.
He also claimed that the shock and awe tactics used by the FBI agents who arrested him was "an attempt to poison the jury pool." This aggressive response to being arrested was foreshadowed when Stone spoke to reporters outside a courthouse in Fort Lauderdale on Friday and said that he had been "falsely accused."
Trump has also taken an aggressive stance toward the criminal justice system in light of the criminal charges against Stone, which included accusations that he had lied to the Senate Intelligence Committee, obstructed justice and engaged in witness tampering.
"Greatest Witch Hunt in the History of our Country! NO COLLUSION! Border Coyotes, Drug Dealers and Human Traffickers are treated better. Who alerted CNN to be there?" Trump tweeted on Friday.
On Saturday, the president tweeted that "if Roger Stone was indicted for lying to Congress, what about the lying done by Comey, Brennan, Clapper, Lisa Page & lover, Baker and soooo many others? What about Hillary to FBI and her 33,000 deleted Emails? What about Lisa & Peter’s deleted texts & Wiener’s laptop? Much more!"
Later that day Trump posted a pair of tweets which argued, "CBS reports that in the Roger Stone indictment, data was 'released during the 2016 Election to damage Hillary Clinton.' Oh really! What about the Fake and Unverified 'Dossier,' a total phony conjob, that was paid for by Crooked Hillary to damage me and the Trump Campaign? What about all of the one sided Fake Media coverage (collusion with Crooked H?) that I had to endure during my very successful presidential campaign. What about the now revealed bias by Facebook and many others. Roger Stone didn’t even work for me anywhere near the Election!"
He later added, "WITCH HUNT!" Stone seemed to reinforce that message with an Instagram post on Saturday which characterized the Mueller probe into him as a "nothingburger."
Shares