FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., (Reuters) – A longtime ally of U.S. President Donald Trump was arrested yesterday for lying to Congress about the 2016 campaign’s efforts to use stolen emails to undercut his Democratic rival in the latest arrest of the Special Counsel probe into possible election manipulation.
Roger Stone, a 66-year-old self-proclaimed Republican “dirty trickster,” declared himself innocent hours after a large team of FBI agents raided his home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
He is one of the closest Trump associates to be charged in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia to help win the election.
Mueller said in court papers that Stone shared with multiple members of the Trump campaign team advance knowledge he had of a plan by WikiLeaks to release senior Democrats’ emails.
Some political analysts say the emails, which highlighted disputes among Democrats, contributed to Trump’s stunning defeat of election rival Hillary Clinton.
The charges mark the first time the Trump campaign has been publicly tied to WikiLeaks by Mueller’s team and add to pressure on the president as the newly installed Democratic majority in the House of Representatives plans to step up investigations of him.
“Greatest Witch Hunt in the History of our Country! NO COLLUSION!,” Trump wrote on Twitter following Stone’s arrest, using his most common denunciation of the Mueller probe.
Stone was charged with seven criminal counts including obstruction of an official proceeding, witness tampering and making false statements. He is due to be arraigned in federal court in Washington on Tuesday.
The charging documents included new details about Trump aides’ alleged activities, including an incident in which a senior campaign official “was directed to contact Stone about any additional releases and what other damaging information” WikiLeaks had about the Clinton campaign.
The construction of that sentence does not make clear who gave that order to a senior campaign official, but raises the possibility the order came from Trump himself.
Mueller spokesman Peter Carr declined to comment on who gave that order. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
If Trump did give the direction, he would have engaged in a conspiracy to violate federal hacking statutes, said Paul Rosenzweig, a lawyer who worked on the Whitewater investigation into former President Bill Clinton.
“You are directing Stone to take possession of what he knows to be stolen materials,” said Rosenzweig, now a fellow at the R Street Institute think tank.
Former federal prosecutor Barbara McQuade said that if Trump gave the direction, it could be evidence the president participated in a conspiracy to defraud the United States by interfering with the fair administration of elections.
Harry Sandick, another former federal prosecutor, said: “We would need to know more facts to determine if a crime were committed, such as what the president knew, when he knew it and what his intent was if he gave the instruction.”
Legal scholars are divided about whether a sitting president can be indicted. Many believe the remedy for criminal activity would be impeachment.
