Roger Stone, a former adviser to President Donald Trump, was indicted on Friday as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller‘s probe.
Stone was arrested by the FBI on Friday morning. He was charged with seven counts, including five counts of false statements, and one charge each for witness tampering and obstruction of an official proceeding.
The former adviser to Trump is the latest person in the president’s orbit to be indicted as part of Mueller’s probe, following former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, George Papadopolous, and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, among others. Stone briefly worked as an adviser to Trump’s presidential campaign and remained in contact with him since, according to reports and Stone’s own tweets.
In the indictment, authorities allege that Stone “told senior Trump campaign officials about materials possessed by” Organization 1, WikiLeaks, which published a trove of emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign in the lead up to the 2016 presidential election.
Stone, according to the indictment, allegedly told the Trump campaign officials about the “timing of future releases.”
Mueller previously indicted more than a dozen Russian nationals and companies in connection to the DNC email hack.
It also alleges that a “senior Trump campaign official was directed to contact Stone about any additional releases and what other damaging information Organization 1 had regarding the Clinton campaign” shortly after a batch of DNC emails were dumped in July 2016.
According to the indictment, after an October 2016 release of emails, “an associate of the high-ranking Trump campaign official” told Stone “well done.”
“FBI. Open the door.”
— CNN (@CNN) January 25, 2019
Watch exclusive CNN footage of the FBI arresting longtime Trump associate Roger Stone. Stone has been indicted by a grand jury on charges brought by special counsel Robert Mueller. https://t.co/5QHKDB2mfA pic.twitter.com/UeKo7CmXWo
The indictment also suggests that Stone misled lawmakers who had their own investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
There had been speculation late last year that Mueller’s team was zeroing in on whether the former Trump adviser had advance knowledge of the WikiLeaks dumps. In the past, he has said he did not know when the emails were going to be made public, but other statements Stone made led people to speculate he did.
Stone is expected to make an appearance in federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida today, according to reports.
You can read all of Stone’s indictment here.
Update 8:38am CT, Jan. 25: In an appearance on Fox News, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said that the arrest of Stone has nothing to do with Trump or the White House.
Sarah Sanders on Roger Stone arrest: "This has nothing to do with the President, certainly nothing to do with the White House." https://t.co/sLnryaabkT pic.twitter.com/y6GS9ARN9I
— The Hill (@thehill) January 25, 2019
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