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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">619 main hard to save</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">what is the last refuge of scoundrels? [// 720 perry --> drollinger]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/alex-jones/while-praising-roger-stones-newfound-religiosity-alex-jones-casually-mentions-he-has" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;" helvetica="Helvetica" light="Light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px">Media Matters</a><span style="" helvetica="Helvetica" light="Light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">: While praising Roger Stone’s newfound religiosity, Alex Jones casually mentions he has beaten people to death.</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/06/these-christians-are-pushing-back-against-roger-stone-and-michael-flynns-toxic-maga-fundamentalism/">https://www.alternet.org/2022/06/these-christians-are-pushing-back-against-roger-stone-and-michael-flynns-toxic-maga-fundamentalism/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">is this guy he threat to kill dog?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/04/proof-congressional-republicans-subvert-election/">https://www.alternet.org/2022/04/proof-congressional-republicans-subvert-election/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>a <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">recording made by a disgruntled election conspiracist is the strongest evidence yet that operatives in Donald Trump’s orbit summoned supporters to Washington on January 6 for the express purpose of coercing lawmakers into overturning the 2020 election.</span></b></font></div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">News broke late Tuesday afternoon, whereupon this <a href="https://nyti.ms/3jBVarO" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">bombshell</a> of a story was promptly buried under an avalanche of other news.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The main characters aren’t household names, but this story is every bit as important as the earlier revelation that Donald Trump, Jr, was pushing a detailed </span><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/08/politics/donald-trump-jr-meadows-text/index.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">plan for a coup</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> to his father’s chief of staff before the election had even been decided. </span><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">And it’s even more important than the late-breaking news tha</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">t Sen. Mike Lee talked up Trump lawyer John Eastman’s plan for <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/15/politics/read-mark-meadows-texts-mike-lee-chip-roy/index.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">a procedural coup</a> in late November.</span></b></font></p><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">The star of the secret recording is Jason Sullivan, one-time aide to dirty trickster and longtime Trump confidante Roger Stone.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sullivan told the <b>Times</b> he was invited to speak by a group of anti-vaccine activists, who were planning a permitted event in the capital on J6. (By amazing coincidence, Stone was scheduled to speak at an <a href="https://twitter.com/CCDHate/status/1346894921467363332?s=20&t=3KrNB5xzrAznUD_IoTbpBw" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">anti-vax event</a> on the afternoon of J6, an engagement he missed, for reasons that are surely of great interest to the J6 committee.)</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The call was made a week before the insurrection.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Sullivan repeatedly urged the other callers to intimidate the lawmakers who were meeting to certify the election. He told them they needed to make them feel like the people were “breathing down their neck.”</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>“If we make the people inside that building sweat and they understand that they may not be able to walk in the streets any longer if they do the wrong thing, then maybe they’ll do the right thing,” Sullivan said.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>“We have to put that pressure there.”</b></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">This recording was made by a woman named Staci Burk, a former school board official turned election conspiracist. Burk filed an anonymous affidavit supporting one of Trump lawyer Sidney Powell’s many election conspiracy theories. Whereupon heavily armed paramilitary operatives calling themselves the </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">1st Amendment Praetorian (1AP)</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><a href="https://arizonaagenda.substack.com/p/she-spread-election-conspiracies?s=r" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">moved into her home</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> for several weeks, ostensibly to guard her. Burk told the </span><em style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Times</em><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> a 1AP member joined the call, and she made the recording because the armed men were making her feel unsafe. Members of 1AP were in the capital during the insurrection and members of the group have been subpoenaed by the J6 committee.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>This recording partially corroborates previous claims by Ali Alexander, another one of Roger Stone’s associates. He said he schemed with members of the Congress to gather a crowd to pressure lawmakers into overturning the election during the certification ceremony.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a video made before the insurrection, Ali Alexander claimed that he and US Reps. Mo Brooks, Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar “schemed up putting maximum pressure on Congress while they were voting.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The video circulated on social media but was later deleted. The plan was to “change the hearts and the minds of Republicans who were in that body, hearing our loud roar from outside,” Ali Alexander said.</b></font></p><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Sullivan call proves there was an inside-outside game on J6.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The inside game was the procedural coup devised by John Eastman that was unfolding inside the Capitol on J6 as GOP legislators raised spurious claims of election fraud to overturn a free and fair election.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The outside game was the mob deliberately assembled in order to pressure legislators to go along with Trump’s illegal scheme.</font></p><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">an ah 7 22</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body css-listicle-body-2657622634"><div class="body-description"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Co-founded by multimillionaire conspiracy theorist <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/08/09/the-big-money-behind-the-big-lie" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">Patrick M. Byrne</a>
— the former Overstock.com CEO who aggressively promoted the false
claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump —
the America Project is a far-right MAGA group that describes its
mission as “election integrity.” But critics of Byrne and<b> America
Project advisers like <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Roger Stone and Michael Flynn</span> </b>have been stressing
that their real goal is voter suppression and voter intimidation. And
Byrne is obviously willing to spent a lot of his money to suppress
votes: Byrne, according to The Guardian, says he has donated almost $3
million to the America Project’s <span class="rm-stats-tracked">Operation Eagles Wings drive</span>.guk</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The
Guardian’s Peter Stone reports that the America Project “has begun a
self-styled ‘election integrity’ drive </b>to train activists in election
canvassing and poll-watching, sparking fears from voting rights
watchdogs about voter intimidation.” According to Peter Stone, the
American Project’s Operation Eagles Wings drive is focusing on “eight
states,” including Arizona, Michigan and Pennsylvania, which Trump lost,
plus Texas and Florida, which he won.”</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Byrne is among the MAGA Republicans who has been the target of a <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/mojo-wire/2021/08/patrick-byrne-dominion-defamation/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">defamation lawsuit</a>
from Dominion Voting Systems</b>. In late 2020, Byrne promoted the false
claim and bogus conspiracy theory that Dominion’s voting equipment was
used to steal votes from Trump and give them to now-President Joe Biden.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The
events that followed the 2020 presidential election were unprecedented
in U.S. history. Trump was first U.S. president to lose an election by
over 7 million votes, falsely claim that he didn’t, and try to overthrow
the democratic election results — and he did all that with the help of
Byrne, veteran GOP operative Roger Stone, former National Security
Adviser Flynn and others who have promoted the Big Lie. Flynn is so
nakedly authoritarian that after Trump lost the election, he urged him
to <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-should-declare-martial-law-michael-flynn-retweeted-his-now-banned-account-1654226" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">declare martial law</a> in order to stay in the White House. </font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>“Voting
rights advocates have voiced sharp criticism of Operation Eagles Wings,
calling it a ‘sham,’ given the roles of Stone, Flynn, Byrne and others,
and warning that it could lead to voter harassment at the polls and
suppress legitimate votes,</b>” Peter Stone reports in a Guardian article
published on July 7. “To lead the fledgling operation, the America
Project recruited <a href="https://www.citybiz.co/article/247880/tim-meisburger-appointed-as-the-director-of-election-integrity-for-the-america-project/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">Tim Meisburger,</a>
an ex-Trump official in the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Meisburger left the agency abruptly under a cloud in mid-January 2021
after a video surfaced of him falsely informing staffers that the
Capitol attack was mostly peaceful except for ‘a few violent people’ and
that ‘several million’ people were demonstrating peacefully for
election reforms.”</font></p><p><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Guardian reporter adds, “Overall, the
America Project has boasted that its total funding is greater than $8m,
including donations from Byrne, the ex-chief executive of Overstock.”</font></b></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sean
Morales-Doyle, acting director of the voting rights program at New York
University Law School’s <b>Brennan Center for Justice, i</b>s vehemently
critical of the America Project and its Operation Eagles Wings drive.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Morales-Doyle
told The Guardian, “Michael Flynn and Roger Stone have repeatedly
proven themselves to be enemies of democracy…. While it is not clear
what exactly they will ask their election reform activists to do, their
claimed pursuit of ‘election integrity’ is a sham, aimed instead at
undermining public faith in our elections and setting the stage for
future attempts to subvert the will of the people. The conspiracy
theories they espouse would be laughable if they weren’t so dangerous.”</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Peter
Stone notes that Flynn and Roger Stone “were in the vanguard of Trump
loyalists promoting falsehoods about Joe Biden’s 2020 win.”</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“In
mid-December 2020, for instance, Flynn suggested on the conservative
network Newsmax that Trump could use the military to ‘rerun the
elections’ in several key states that Trump falsely claimed were rigged —
and a few days later, he attended a White House meeting with Trump,
Byrne and other allies, where more wild schemes were discussed,” Peter
Stone notes. “(Roger) Stone spoke at a pro-Trump rally on 5 January, and
the next morning, was at the Willard Hotel, which Trump loyalists had
used as a base for plotting ways to overturn the election, accompanied
by several Oath Keeper bodyguards — some of whom participated in the
Capitol assault and now face criminal charges.”</font></p></div>
</div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: medium;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3 22 an doozy plan</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/03/roger-stone-install-donald-trump/">https://www.alternet.org/2022/03/roger-stone-install-donald-trump/</a></font></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">====</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/03/donald-trump-john-eastman-crimes/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.alternet.org/2022/03/donald-trump-john-eastman-crimes/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">roger knew</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">trms jamie said judge asked 1/6 comm to weigh in on crimes b/c has to decide if eastman has atty -cli priv, but crime negates</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></div><div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3 22</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Self-proclaimed political "dirty trickster" Roger Stone always portrays himself as the savviest, shrewdest, smartest operator in whatever room he's in. That's why it's curious that Stone, who years ago thought it was a good idea to have disgraced former president Richard Nixon's face tattooed on his back, would agree to allow a Danish documentary film crew follow and record him for two years leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.rawstory.com/new-roger-stone-footage-january-6/" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">This article was authored by Tim Evans.</a><br /></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2022/roger-stone-documentary-capitol-riot-trump-election/?itid=hp_special-topic-1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">report</a> in today's Washington Post details what that video crew saw and heard. It's not helpful to Stone's pronouncements that he had nothing to do with former President Donald Trump's attempts to overturn the legitimate election results.</font></p><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">From the report: "As a mob ransacked the Capitol on<b> Jan. 6, 2021, Roger Stone,</b> Donald Trump’s longest-serving political adviser, hurried to pack a suitcase inside his elegant suite on the fifth floor of the Willard hotel. He wrapped his tailored suits in trash bags, reversed his black face mask so its “Free Roger Stone” logo was hidden, then slipped out of town for a hastily arranged private flight from Dulles International Airport.</font></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I really want to get out of here,” Stone told an aide, as they were filmed at the hotel by a Danish camera crew for a documentary on the veteran Republican operative. Stone said he feared prosecution by the incoming attorney general, Merrick Garland. “He is not a friend,” Stone said.</font></b></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Washington Post reporters reviewed more than 20 hours of video filmed for the documentary, “<a href="https://www.theark.dk/?itid=lk_inline_enhanced-template" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">A Storm Foretold</a>,” which will be released later this year. The footage, along with other reporting by the Washington Post, provides the most comprehensive account to date of Stone’s involvement in the former president’s effort to overturn the election and in the rallies in Washington that spilled over into violence on Jan. 6.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone privately coordinated<strong> </strong>post-election protests with prominent figures, and in January he communicated by text message with leaders of far-right groups that had been involved in the attack on the Capitol, the footage shows. The filmmakers did not capture conversations between Stone and Trump, but on several occasions, Stone told them or his associates that he remained in contact with the president.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Stone has denied having any involvement in the Capitol riot. "</b>Let me stay this as categorically as I can. Any claim, assertion, implication or otherwise any accusation that I either knew about or was involved in any of the illegal acts in Washington, D.C. on January 6 is categorically false. There is no evidence to the contrary and an honest investigation will prove that," he <a href="https://www.rawstory.com/roger-stone-2653493931/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">told Newsmax</a> last year.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Stone steadfastly has refused to give testimony or provide evidence to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack</b>.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Last week, he sued members of the panel to try to block them from using a subpoena to obtain his telephone records. On the day of the attack, as he packed his bags, Stone told the filmmakers the riot was a mistake and would be “really bad” for the pro-Trump movement.</span></font></p><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On the eve of the 2020 election, however, he seemed to welcome the prospect of clashes with left-wing activists. In a recorded conversation,<b> as an aide spoke of driving trucks into crowds of racial justice protesters, Stone said: “Once there’s no more election, there’s no reason why we can’t mix it up. These people are going to get what they’ve been asking for.”</b></font></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone declined the Washington Post's requests for an interview.</font></p></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">an 11 21</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Infamous "dirty trickster" political operative and decades-long Trump ally Roger Stone, along with far right wing extremist Alex Jones are two of the latest five people subpoenaed by the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack.</b></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/22/politics/roger-stone-alex-jones-subpoenas-january-6/index.html?utm_term=link&utm_source=twcnnbrk&utm_medium=social&utm_content=2021-11-22T22%3A18%3A54" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">CNN</a> describes the five being subpoenaed as "former President Donald Trump's allies directly involved in planning 'Stop the Steal' rallies."</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump spokesperson Taylor Budowich, along with Dustin Stockton and Jennifer Lawrence, "key players in the Stop the Steal' movement after the election," were also subpoenaed.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson</b> (D-MS) in <a href="https://january6th.house.gov/news/press-releases/select-committee-subpoenas-individuals-involved-planning-and-organizing-rallies" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">a statement</a> said: "The Select Committee is seeking information about the rallies and subsequent march to the Capitol that escalated into a violent mob attacking the Capitol and threatening our democracy. We need to know who organized, planned, paid for, and received funds related to those events, as well as what communications organizers had with officials in the White House and Congress. We believe the witnesses we subpoenaed today have relevant information and we expect them to cooperate fully with our effort to get answers for the American people about the violence of January 6th."</font></p></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div></div><div><p><b><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></b></p><p><b><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">11 21</font></b></p><p><b><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></b></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">florida's 13<span style="line-height: 0; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; top: -0.5em;">th</span> Congressional District received a major bombshell in May when Rep. Charlie Crist, a former Republican turned Democrat, announced that he is <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/elections/2021/05/04/charlie-crist-declares-another-run-for-florida-governor/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">running for governor</a> (a position he held in the past) and is hoping to unseat Gov. Ron DeSantis</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> if he wins the Democratic nomination. Meanwhile, on the GOP side, far-right Republicans in that district are engaged in a wild congressional primary battle to determine who will run against the Democratic nominee, whoever that turns out to be. And an article by Daily Beast reporters Zachary Petrizzo and Will Sommer, published on November 17, describes some of the ways in which that R</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">epublican primary has <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/murder-plot-claims-a-dog-bite-and-roger-stone-inside-floridas-craziest-race?ref=scroll" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">become a total circus</a>.</span></font></p><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">The far-right Republican congressional hopefuls in Florida's 13<span style="line-height: 0; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; top: -0.5em;">th</span> Congressional District have included <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/578522-trump-endorsed-candidate-leading-gop-field-to-replace-crist-in-florida-poll" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Anna Paulina Luna</a>, Amanda Makki and William Braddock, who dropped out of the race. Luna and Braddock both have had plenty of baggage. One of the controversies surrounding Luna involves her dog Gunner, who bit a nine-year-old child. <b>Luna has alleged that Braddock wanted to <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/06/15/florida-congressional-candidate-accuses-rivals-of-murder-plot/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">hire a hit squad</a> to have her killed.</b></font></p><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Luna has been <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2021/09/14/trump-endorses-anna-paulina-luna-in-gop-primary-for-pinellas-house-seat/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">endorsed by former President Donald Trump</a>, but not everyone in MAGA World likes her.</b> Petrizzo and Sommer report that <b>Luna's foes include veteran GOP operative and Trump ally Roger Stone and his wingnut associate Lara Loomer, who describes Luna as "Anna Paulina Lunatic."</b></font></p><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">No stranger to controversy herself, Loomer has been slamming Luna because of her dog's attack on a nine-year-old. Loomer wrote, "She needs to put her dog on a leash. They say people are a lot like their animals, and in this case, Anna and her dog are both CRAZY AND OUT OF CONTROL. Those b*tches both need to HEEL."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Stone, meanwhile, dressed as Luna on Halloween, which was the self-described "dirty trickster's" way of mocking her.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a court filing, Luna said of ex-candidate Braddock, "I do not feel safe, and I am currently in fear for my life from Mr. Braddock."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Braddock eventually dropped out of the race," Petrizzo and Sommer explain, "but in her court filings about the alleged murder plot, Luna also mentioned primary rival Amanda Makki and potential candidate and <b>Stone friend Matt Tito</b> as being involved in some sort of alliance with Braddock to foil Luna. Both candidates were angered by being mentioned in the filing, telling Politico in June that they had no connection to Braddock."</font></p><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Beast reporters continue, "Tito, who has not officially entered the race yet, was further incensed in July when, he said, Luna got him kicked out of a Tampa conference for Turning Point USA because of their rivalry. In Tito's telling, Luna allegedly asked TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk to have him removed."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>READ: </strong><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/11/lincoln-project/" target="_self" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;"><strong>'Biden delivered': Devastating Lincoln Project ad mocks 'so-called builder' Trump on 'infrastructure week'</strong></a></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tito, interviewed by the Beast, said of Luna, "She got me kicked out of a TPUSA event and lied to Charlie Kirk."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>If Tito enters the race, which he says is "likely," Stone may become his adviser. </b>Tito told the Beast, "I mean, listen — this is a complete mess. Somehow, someway, Luna got Trump's endorsement."</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></p></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.salon.com/2021/01/29/florida-mans-arrest-on-2016-election-charges-suggests-russia-probe-may-have-survived-bill-barr/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.salon.com/2021/01/29/florida-mans-arrest-on-2016-election-charges-suggests-russia-probe-may-have-survived-bill-barr/</a></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></div><div style=""><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Florida man's arrest on 2016 election charges suggests Russia probe may have survived Bill Barr</b></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Indictment of a Roger Stone-connected operative may signal that Robert Mueller's spinoffs are still bearing fruit</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">By ROGER SOLLENBERGER</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">PUBLISHED JANUARY 29, 2021 5:59AM (EST)</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br /></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Florida man Douglass Mackey, a notorious white nationalist and right-wing social media troll, was arrested this week on charges of conspiring with others to deprive citizens of their right to vote ahead of the 2016 election</b>, the Department of Justice announced on Wednesday.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br /></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"According to the allegations in the complaint, the defendant exploited a social media platform to infringe one of the most basic and sacred rights guaranteed by the Constitution: the right to vote," Nicholas McQuaid, acting Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division, said in a press release. "This complaint underscores the department's commitment to investigating and prosecuting those who would undermine citizens' voting rights."</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br /></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">It also suggests that the Russia investigation, at least in part, survived the tenure of former Attorney General Bill Barr.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br /></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>According to the complaint, Mackey's Twitter account had nearly 60,000 followers, and in February 2016 the MIT Media Lab ranked him 107th in its list of the most influential personalities ahead of the election, higher than NBC News and Stephen Colbert</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 51);">. Prosecutors say that in the months before the election, Mackey collaborated with unnamed co-conspirators to encourage Hillary Clinton supporters to cast votes via text messages or social media — which are not viable or legal voting methods in any state.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br /></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The conspiracy charge against Mackey, who was arrested in West Palm Beach, could indicate that the Justice Department has been probing a broader network. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Three of his co-conspirators were identified by HuffPost reporter Luke O'Brien, who wrote an in-depth 2018 profile of Mackey:<b> white nationalist financier Jeff Giesea; conspiracy theorist Mike Cernovich,</b> who has ties to onetime national security adviser turne<b>d QAnon hero Michael Flynn; </b>and Jack Posobiec, a far-right provocateur with ties to neo-Nazi groups and longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone. The pro-Trump group, who called themselves "MAGA3X," fueled the <b>Pizzagate</b> social media campaign that smeared Hillary Clinton and other Democratic leaders in the run-up to the 2016 election.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br /></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Notably, both Stone and Flynn came under the focus of former special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into the weaponization of social media in 2016</b>. Flynn had repeatedly shared content from the Russian-linked account @TEN_GOP, which shared disinformation to tens of thousands of followers under the auspices of the Tennessee Republican Party. </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br /></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Stone, a misinformation mastermind, also imprinted on the Trump campaign the importance of social media. <b>Just this summer, Facebook wiped more than 100 Facebook and Instagram accounts and pages that Stone and unnamed associates had used to push disinformation related to the 2016 election, as well as to Stone's criminal trial.</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br /></div><div style=""><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">One arm of Stone's social media work in 2016 was an effort to suppress the Black vote</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, w<b>hich is also specified in the charges against Mackey</b>. Mueller had questioned and subpoenad Stone's associates who helped orchestrate his social media campaigns.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br /></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Former President Trump's efforts to block Mueller — or even fire him — have been well documented. In anticipation of possible acts of executive sabotage, the special counsel's office in the course of its work spun off a number of investigations to other divisions, primarily the Southern District of New York. As one of Barr's first acts in office, he appointed his own special prosecutor, <b>Connecticut U.S. attorney John Durham, to investigate the origins of the Russia probe</b> — and potentially pursue charges against FBI agents and Obama administration officials. Barr has long been suspected of spearheading a secret effort to suppress evidence and snuff out ancillary investigations, and after Mueller submitted his final report, congressional Democrats requested the attorney general's communications regarding the spinoff cases.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br /></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Considering all this, it seems possible, even likely, that the Mackey indictment indicates that some Russia-related inquiries have survived Barr's efforts to uproot them. Investigative journalist Marcy Wheeler proposed another, deeply ironic possibility: The charges could have stemmed from Trump's efforts to undermine the 2020 election and reverse his defeat.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br /></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">About a week after the election, Barr, under pressure from Trump, took the unprecedented step of authorizing prosecutors to pursue election fraud cases ahead of the Electoral College vote. It's possible, Wheeler suggests, that if one of those prosecutors had ahold of evidence from prior investigations, Barr's authorization could have allowed that prosecutor to prioritize the Mackey case and bring an indictment — which would be a prodigious case of cosmic payback. </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br /></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br /></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">ROGER SOLLENBERGER</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Roger Sollenberger is a staff writer at Salon. Follow him on Twitter @SollenbergerRC.</div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/07/roger-stone-aide/">https://www.alternet.org/2021/07/roger-stone-aide/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>r<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">oger Stone associate Kristin Davis is behind a new column blaming Women for America First for being behind the organizing of the "Stop the Steal" rally and saying that Stone had nothing to do with it, reporter Nancy Levin discovered Sunday.</span></b></font></div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Writing in a conspiracy theory publication, Davis explained that all Stone did was stand outside his hotel with an entourage waiting for a car to pick them up.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I booked Roger to speak at the Rally to Save America the night prior and was led to believe by Women for America First that he was supposed to speak the following afternoon on January 6th, at a rally they organized which featured President Donald J. Trump. After a completely peaceful rally on January 5th, which attracted thousands of brave American patriots, we woke up the next morning expecting to attend the rally at the Ellipse," the column read.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"However, despite Women for America First promoting Stone as a speaker and insisting that they were sending a transport for Mr. Stone and our team to the Willard Hotel, the escort never came," the piece continued. "As we were waiting, the staff at the Hotel Willard asked anyone congregating in the lobby to stay out of the cold to step outside in order to adhere to COVID-19 guidelines set forth by the Mayor of Washington, D.C. <b>A simple walk outside, which lasted mere minutes, is the first part of the dishonest conspiracy theory by the mainstream media and Democrat (sic) elected officials that Mr. Stone was somehow organizing the insurrection, or had some sort of advance knowledge of what was going to happen later that day."</b></font></p><p style=""><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Raw Story has never reported that Stone was part of the organizing of the event, but those members of the Oath Keepers militia who were working as the security for Stone<a href="https://www.rawstory.com/justice-indict-oath-keepers/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;"> are accused of being linked to the plotting of violence</a>.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/three-individuals-affiliated-oath-keepers-indicted-federal-court-conspiracy-obstruct" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Justice Department filings showed Jessica Watkins</a> saying to allies that the task "sounds like a sweet gig," meaning the guarding of Stone.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Looks like we might be security for Roger Stone, if we end up rolling with the Oath keepers(sic)," Watkins texted Donovan Ray Crowl on Jan. 1. Crowl texted back later that day saying, it "should be fun."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Crowl was cited for believing that <a href="https://www.rawstory.com/oath-keeper/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">there would be a "literal war"</a> in the United States on Jan. 6.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/19/oath-keepers-boss-quoted-trump-before-capitol-riot.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Crowl's lawyer said</a> in the court documents that his client wasn't doing anything other than security on Jan. 6, but other messages prosecutors got showed that the Oath Keepers were coordinating with "30-40" people during the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Watkins and Crowl were both indicted on charges of conspiracy, conspiracy to injure an officer and destruction of government property.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone appears to be denying that he and the security had discussed anything outside of their work for him.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Women for America First was behind the rally, according to permits requested from the Parks Service.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">See the screen capture of the excerpt from Nancy Levin:</font></p><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/06/roger-stone/">https://www.alternet.org/2021/06/roger-stone/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1/6 charges?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/04/roger-stone-2652623444">https://www.alternet.org/2021/04/roger-stone-2652623444</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div><div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A super PAC allied with infamous right-wing dirty trickster and <a href="https://www.rawstory.com/2020/02/this-is-not-how-words-work-trump-after-ranting-that-roger-stone-will-be-exonerated/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">convicted felon Roger Stone</a> is threatening to torpedo Republicans' Senate majority if they don't help <a href="http://rawstory.com/2020/11/trump-vows-he-will-never-concede-in-11-pm-conspiracy-filled-rant/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">President Donald Trump steal the 2020 presidential election</a>.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/roger-stone-tied-group-threatens-gop-if-trump-goes-down-so-does-your-senate-majority" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">The <em>Daily Beast</em> reports</a> that Stone-allied Committee for American Sovereignty is encouraging its supporters in Georgia to write Trump's name in place of voting for Sens. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) and David Perdue (R-GA) in January's senate run-off elections.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The goal of doing this, the group argues, is to somehow force Republicans to not recognize the results of the 2020 election and keep Trump in power.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"If we can do this, we have a real chance at getting these RINO senators to act on the illegitimate and corrupt election presided over by a Democrat party that is invested in the Communist takeover of Our Great Nation," the group explains on its website. "We will not stop fighting for you, the American Patriot, against the evils of Socialism and inferior Religions."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich tells <em>The Daily Beast </em>that he's worried about GOP voters turning out in the Peach State after watching Trump narrowly lose the state to President-elect Joe Biden.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The anger over the secretary of state's incompetence and the governor's failure to lead could mean that Republicans just stay home," he said. "I think there's a very big problem with getting Republicans to turn out."</font></p><div class="around-the-web" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="from-your-site__headline" style="font-weight: 700; text-transform: uppercase;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLES</font></div><ul class="around-the-web__list" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block; width: 589.446px; list-style: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><li class="from-your-site__item"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/11/georgia-senate/" class="from-your-site__link" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; 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background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a class="social-author__name" href="https://www.alternet.org/author/brad-reed" data-type="text" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.4; display: inline; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; position: relative;">Brad Reed</a> <a class="social-author__name" href="https://www.alternet.org/author/raw-story" data-type="text" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.4; display: inline; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; position: relative;">Raw Story</a></font></div><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body css-listicle-body-2649028790" style="margin-top: 10px; -webkit-box-orient: vertical; margin-bottom: 15px; display: -webkit-box; text-overflow: ellipsis; line-height: 23px; -webkit-line-clamp: 3; overflow: hidden; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body-description"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A super PAC allied with infamous right-wing dirty trickster and <a href="https://www.rawstory.com/2020/02/this-is-not-how-words-work-trump-after-ranting-that-roger-stone-will-be-exonerated/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">convicted felon Roger Stone</a> is threatening to torpedo Republicans' Senate majority if they don't help <a href="http://rawstory.com/2020/11/trump-vows-he-will-never-concede-in-11-pm-conspiracy-filled-rant/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word;">President Donald Trump steal the 2020 presidential election</a>.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></p></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">an 1020 ...</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman">Undermining the Convictions</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></h3><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Finally, beyond using the power of his office to pursue Trump's perceived enemies, Barr has deployed the Justice Department to help Trump's convicted friends. It was the final step in wiping the Russia investigation from the history books altogether. But Barr's manipulations also have profound implications for the rule of law.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">When Mueller closed up shop in 2019, then-U.S. Attorney Liu (whose office supervised the McCabe investigation) assumed control of several special counsel prosecutions and earlier referrals, including cases against Roger Stone and Mike Flynn. </span><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">But after Liu failed to get McCabe indicted, Barr replaced her with his old friend and confidant, Timothy Shea (JD, Georgetown '91) — just as the Justice Department was finalizing its sentencing recommendation in </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Stone</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">'s case.</span></b></p><p style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In 2017, Stone had lied to the House Intelligence Committee about his role concerning Trump campaign contacts with Russia. Then he threatened a witness who was going to expose him. A jury deliberated for about seven hours before convicting Stone on all seven counts of lying to Congress and witness tampering.</span></p><p style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">As Shea replaced Liu in the District of Columbia U.S. attorney's office, career prosecutors handling Stone's case filed a brief that followed federal sentencing guidelines recommending seven to nine years in prison. Immediately, Trump tweeted that Stone's plight was "horrible," "unfair," and a "miscarriage of justice." Hours later, an official at Justice Department headquarters said that the DC office's recommendation was "extreme" and "excessive" and that a new memorandum would outline the government's revised position.</span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Defending the rule of law, four of the federal prosecutors who signed the sentencing memorandum resigned immediately from the case. Jonathan Kravis (Yale, JD, '04) — one of Stone's prosecutors at trial — resigned from the Justice Department altogether.</b> That left Shea and his assistant who was newly assigned to the Stone case to file a revised memorandum asserting that the government's previously recommended sentence "could be considered excessive and unwarranted."</p><p style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">The following day, Trump congratulated Barr for "taking charge" of the Stone case, "which perhaps should not even been brought."</span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Defenders of the rule of law fought back.</b> Appearing on national television, the former chief of the criminal fraud section of the Justice Department, Andrew Weissmann (JD, Columbia, '84) — an appointee of President George H. W. Bush — said he could think of no instance where he had even heard of the attorney general reaching into a single criminal case to weigh in on a sentencing submission. Former Attorney General Eric Holder (JD, Columbia, '76) called Barr's direct intervention "unprecedented, wrong, and ultimately dangerous."</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"Public confusion was the objective, because it led to public indifference"</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The most damning criticism came from Donald Ayer (JD, Harvard, '75), who had served as President George H. W. Bush's deputy attorney general and Barr's boss at one point. On Feb. 17, 2020, Ayer wrote in <em>The Atlantic</em>:</p><p style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"All of this conduct — including Barr's personal interventions to influence or negate independent investigations or the pursuit of criminal cases, and his use of the department's resources to frustrate the checks and balances provided by other branches — is <b>incompatible with the rule of law </b>as we know it…</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"</span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Ayer concluded: "Bill Barr's America is not a place that anyone, including Trump voters, should want to go. It is a banana republic where all are subject to the whims of a dictatorial president and his henchmen. To prevent that<b>, we need a public uprising demanding that Bill Barr resign immediately, or failing that, be impeached."</b></p><p style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Trump and Barr were undeterred.</b> </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Trump attacked Stone's judge,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> <b>Amy Berman Jackson (JD, Harvard, JD '79), calling her "the Judge that put Paul Manafort in SOLITARY CONFINEMENT, something that not even mobster Al Capone had to endure."</b> That was another Trump lie. Prison officials had made the decision about Manafort's federal housing. But Barr did not defend Jackson against Trump's attack, and the</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Judicial Code of Conduct prevented her from defending herself.</span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Instead, Barr gave an interview during which he sent Trump a message — the tweets were making it "impossible" for him to do his job. Since then, Barr's view of his job has become even clearer: obliterate all trace of the Russia investigation. Mike Flynn became a stunning example of Barr's methods.</p><h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Moving to Drop Charges After a Guilty Plea</h3><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">On Dec. 1, 2017, Flynn pled guilty to lying to the FBI about his conversations with the Russian ambassador during the presidential transition and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. On Dec. 18, 2018, he again acknowledged his crimes in open court. Judge Emmett G. Sullivan (JD, Howard Univ., '71) did not hide his disgust.</span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"[Y]ou lied to the FBI about three different topics, and you made those false statements while you were serving as the national security advisor, the President of the United States' most senior national security aid. I can't minimize that," the judge said. "Two months later you again made false statements in multiple documents filed pursuant to the Foreign Agents Registration Act. So, all along you were an unregistered agent of a foreign country, while serving as the national security advisor to the President of the United States. I mean, arguably, that undermines everything this flag over here stands for. Arguably, you sold your country out."</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">But after Barr became attorney general two months later, he appointed the U.S. attorney in St. Louis, Jeff Jensen (JD, St. Louis Univ., '98), to review Flynn's case. In June 2019, Flynn retained new a lawyer — Sidney Powell (JD, North Carolina, '78), a far-right conspiracy theorist. Powell wrote directly to Barr, urging him to conduct an internal review and throw out Flynn's conviction. A week later, Trump congratulated Flynn for retaining Powell, tweeting that she was a "GREAT LAWYER."</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Shortly before the July 2019 trial at which Flynn was supposed to be a cooperating witness against his former business associate, he suddenly became uncooperative and prosecutors did not call him to testify.</b> Powell then asked Judge Sullivan to nullify Flynn's conviction on the grounds that prosecutors had engaged in misconduct — claims that the judge rejected. As Flynn's sentencing approached in early January 2020, prosecutors withdrew their earlier recommendation of probation and urged Flynn's incarceration for as long as six months.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>As with Roger Stone, things then changed abruptly and mysteriously in Flynn's favor.</b> And as with Stone, Barr and his confidant, interim US Attorney for the District of Columbia Timothy Shea, made it happen. On May 7, Shea's office took the unprecedented step of moving to drop all charges against Flynn. Shea alone signed the motion with no line prosecutors joining. It included no affidavits or declarations supporting its many new factual allegations. No motion to vacate the government's prior, contrary filings and representations accompanied the filing.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>The defenders of the rule of law stepped forward again.</b> One of Flynn's prosecutors withdrew from the case and Judge Sullivan invited amicus briefs on the unusual motion. Then he assigned a former federal judge to oppose the Justice Department's move and to determine whether Flynn should be found in criminal contempt for lying to the court when he had pled guilty — twice.</p><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Flynn's attorney sought a writ of mandamus in the District of Columbia circuit court of appeals. That, in turn, forced Judge Sullivan to hire an attorney, Beth Wilkinson (JD, Virginia, '87), to answer the mandamus petition. The circle was complete: A judge defending the rule of law now needed his own lawyer to defend himself.</span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In her brief on Judge Sullivan's behalf, Wilkinson wrote, "It is unprecedented for an Acting U.S. Attorney to contradict the solemn representations that career prosecutors made time and again, and undermine the district court's legal and factual findings, in moving on his own to dismiss the charge years after two different federal judges accepted the defendant's plea."</p><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">What began in March 2019 with Barr's false spin and outright lies to assuage a president's obsession with the Russia investigation had exploded into a multidimensional<b>assault on the rule of law itself</b>. No limiting principle has guided Barr's abuses, but he has encountered resistance. Individually and together, attorneys — especially litigators — have stepped forward:</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">More than 1,000 former federal prosecutors from Republican and Democratic administrations signed an open letter stating that, but for the fact that Trump was a sitting president, Mueller's proof would have led to Trump's indictment for obstruction of justice</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In connection with Roger Stone's sentencing, more than 2,600 former prosecutors and other DOJ attorneys from Republican and Democratic administrations signed an open letter condemning Barr for "interference in the fair administration of justice</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">," "openly and repeatedly flouting" the fundamental principle of "equal justice under law," and calling on Barr to resign. They wrote, "Governments that use the enormous power of law enforcement to punish their enemies and reward their allies are not constitutional republics; they are autocracies."</span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>The president of the New York State Bar Ass'n issued a statement saying, "The intervention by senior Department of Justice officials in the sentencing of Roger Stone is an assault on a bedrock principle of the rule of law</b> — the apolitical administration of justice. Our nation was founded on the principle that everyone must be treated equally in the eyes of the law…"</p><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">More than 2,000 former Justice Department officials from Republican and Democratic administrations signed an open letter stating that Barr had "once again assaulted the rule of law" in seeking the dismissal of Flynn's case.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> "Attorney General Barr's repeated actions to use the Department as a tool to further President Trump's personal and political interests have undermined any claim to the deference that courts usually apply to the Department's decisions about whether or not to prosecute a case," they wrote.</span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Judge Sullivan and the appeals court received numerous amicus briefs supporting the district court's exercise of judgment when deciding whether to accept the government's motion to dismiss the federal criminal charges against Flynn. Filings in support of the judge came from former federal judges, former Watergate prosecutors, legal scholars, and the New York City Bar Ass'n.</p><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">ABA President Judy Perry Martinez issued a statement declaring, "Public officials who personally attack judges or prosecutors can create a perception that the system is serving a political or other purpose rather than the fair administration of justice. It is incumbent upon public officials and members of the legal profession, whose sworn duty it is to uphold the law, to do everything in their power to preserve the integrity of the justice system</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">."</span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">What's next? Federal judges enjoy lifetime tenure that prevents Trump from purging the bench of his perceived judicial enemies. But Trump and his key Senate enabler with a law degree, Sen. Mitch McConnell (JD, Kentucky, '67), have boasted about filling federal judgeships at a brisk pace. Those judges must demonstrate their independence. With their actions, they have a unique opportunity to reaffirm that "equal justice under law" and "no one is above the law" are not empty platitudes, but guiding principles of our democracy.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Pundits often understate Barr's conduct as violating "norms." It is more accurate to say that he and Trump are at war with the rule of law.</b> Federal judges and litigators throughout the country have become first-responders in the fight. The front lines have formed in courtrooms throughout the country, but lawyers away from the immediate field of battle are also making a difference.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">So which side are you on?</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In this war, there are no bystanders.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">This article appears in the Fall 2020 issue of Litigation – The Journal of the Section of Litigation of the American Bar Association.</p></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div></div><div><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/roger-stone/roger-stone-antifa-and-black-lives-matter-thugs-are-going-be-clubbing-people-suburbs">https://www.mediamatters.org/roger-stone/roger-stone-antifa-and-black-lives-matter-thugs-are-going-be-clubbing-people-suburbs</a></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Roger Stone: Antifa and Black Lives Matter “thugs” are going to be “clubbing” people in the suburbs to suppress voting</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">09/18/20 4:25 PM EDT</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">roger Stone continues to lay the groundwork for Trump to declare martial law</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">09/18/20 1:26 PM EDT</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/roger-stone/roger-stone-continues-lay-groundwork-trump-declare-martial-law">https://www.mediamatters.org/roger-stone/roger-stone-continues-lay-groundwork-trump-declare-martial-law</a></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">---</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/warning-left-wing-coup-trumpist-media-prep-their-audience-election-unrest">https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/warning-left-wing-coup-trumpist-media-prep-their-audience-election-unrest</a></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx many</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Warning of a left-wing coup, Trumpist media prep their audience for election unrest</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">WRITTEN BY MATT GERTZ</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">PUBLISHED 09/18/20 10:25 AM EDT</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CitationMolly Butler / Media Matters</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nearly 5 million people were watching on Tuesday night as a Fox News host who claims that white supremacy is a hoax and a former speechwriter for President Donald Trump who was fired for speaking at a white nationalist conference spun out a wild-eyed conspiracy theory portraying mail-in voting as a sinister Democratic cabal’s coup attempt. </font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tucker Carlson opened the segment by telling his viewers that Democrats were promoting mail-in voting not as a way to boost safe turnout during a pandemic, but because “they want the uncertainty over the outcome of the election, so they can manipulate the results.” His guest, Revolver News’ Darren Beattie, then explained that “a very specific type of coup called the color revolution” is “unfolding before our eyes.” </font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A color revolution, Beattie explained, is “a regime change model favored by many in our national security apparatus, particularly against Eastern European countries to overthrow target regimes that they don't like.” (They were actually peaceful protests that toppled despots in places previously dominated by the Soviet Union.) And now, he claimed, that model is being applied to the United States, with “color revolution professionals” deliberately generating election fraud in order “to use lawfare in order to overturn the 2020 election.”</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Right-wing media figures generally push a baseline level of apocalyptic rhetoric about the purported predations of progressives. But Trumpist media have reached a dangerous fever pitch over the last week or so, even by that standard. With polls showing Trump trailing former Vice President Joe Biden following the party conventions and the election only weeks away, commentators like Carlson are preparing their audiences to treat a Trump defeat as a left-wing coup -- and encouraging the president toward an authoritarian response.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Their deranged statements are fed by -- and fuel -- the president’s own unhinged remarks. Trump has portrayed himself as “saving the world from a radical left philosophy that will destroy this country.” He describes his political opposition as supporters of “angry mobs,” “far-left fascism,” and “left-wing cultural revolution” so dangerous that he has even endorsed extrajudicial executions. And all the while, he’s been openly claiming that he could not possibly lose a fairly held election, and that any defeat would be the result of a Democratic election fraud conspiracy.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Carlson’s show is the most prominent vehicle fearmongering about a Democratic coup, but it is not the only one. A new special from The Blaze TV’s Glenn Beck is titled “CIVIL WAR: The Way America Could End in 2020,” and it details how “the Left is grooming us for an Eastern European-style color revolution this election.” His complex plot sprawls over three chalkboards and features mail-in voting as a vector for “something dangerous happening in November if we don’t act now.” (Beck praised Carlson during the program for the way he has been “putting the puzzle pieces together.”) The Trumpist publication The Federalist has offered up a similar “coup” theory. </font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The right-wing “coup” talk is the natural result of their demagoguery and dehumanization of the political opposition. Months ago, Trumpist media figures began warning that civilization itself was on the ballot in the fall, with Trump standing as the only thing preventing the left from making America “unrecognizable.” That type of rhetoric has only escalated, producing ever-more-inflammatory claims about what Trump’s defeat might mean to the safety and security of his supporters.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Over the last week or so alone:</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Carlson described Black Lives Matter as “poison” that “we have to fight” because “if we’re going to survive as a country, we must defeat this.”</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wall Street Journal columnist Bill McGurn explained that he bought a gun in case “100 or 200 people bent on violence” show up in his suburb. </font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fox’s Laura Ingraham and the pro-Trump podcaster Joe Rogan baselessly attributed the massive western wildfires to left-wing arsonists, blasting false rumors circulating on social media to millions of viewers and listeners. </font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fox contributor Dan Bongino claimed that “we're watching the greatest nation in the history of sentient beings collapse in front of our face.”</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fox host Sean Hannity said that U.S. cities have become “war zones” and that there is a “war on police now.”</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And Charlie Kirk, a frequent Fox guest and head of the Trumpist youth group Turning Point USA, warned on his podcast that if Trump loses, leftists seeking “bloodthirsty revenge” will “come for us all. They will come for your children.”</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some are taking their hatred of the left to lawless, authoritarian conclusions. </font></p><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Roger Stone, a longtime confidant of the president, said during an appearance earlier this month on far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ Infowars network that if Trump were to lose (illegitimately as a result of voter fraud, of course), he should try to retain power by having federal agents seize purportedly tainted ballots, using martial law or the Insurrection Act to carry out widespread arrests, and nationalizing state police forces.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fox’s Mark Levin, meanwhile, has also urged Trump to consider invoking the Insurrection Act -- but he argued that it would be needed if he wins. “He will have to use it to put down the enemy,” Levin explained on his radio show last week. </font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The enemy is antifa, the enemy is Black Lives Matter, and the enemy is anybody that is going to use rioting, arson, looting, violence against our country to try to overthrow our country,” he added. “Those are traitors. That's treasonous.”</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Extremist violent rhetoric is nothing new for right-wing media. Glenn Beck made it a staple of Fox News during President Barack Obama’s first term. Before the midterm elections, Fox warned its audience members that they needed to vote for Republicans to protect themselves from being killed by Democratic mobs. </font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But this sort of demagoguery can come with a heavy price. Beck’s rhetoric inspired an attempted domestic terror attack against one of his regular targets that ended with a firefight with law enforcement. And in the days before the 2018 midterm elections, a Trump superfan sent bombs to leftist leaders whom Fox commentators had attacked.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There’s still six weeks to go before the election. How will this spate of violent rhetoric end?</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">IN THIS ARTICLE</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Voter Fraud and Suppression</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Voter Suppression</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Related</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fox News fuels Trump’s dangerous Portland “law and order” strategy</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">07/21/20 3:52 PM EDT</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Desperate Trumpists say civilization is on the ballot as Biden lead grows</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">06/24/20 11:06 AM EDT</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">How Tucker Carlson became the Fox host Trump listens to the most</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">07/08/20 </font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></p><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></p><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">------</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p></div><div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></font></font></font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">omfg</font></font></font></font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">wi scotus, roger coup</font></font></font></font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/the-gop-is-staging-chaos-on-the-way-to-a-coup/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/the-gop-is-staging-chaos-on-the-way-to-a-coup/</a></font></font></font></font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">d a wamo</font></font></font></font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></div><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Two news stories story that almost speak for themselves without the need for commentary.</b></font></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>First, the 4-3 conservative majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court has made a <a title="bizarre, nonsensical ruling" href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/09/wisconsin-supreme-court-absentee-ballots-green-party.html?scrolla=5eb6d68b7fedc32c19ef33b4" target="_blank" rel="external nofollow noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">bizarre, nonsensical ruling</a> that will throw Wisconsin’s entire election into disarray for no good reason.</b></font></font></font></font></p><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; position: relative; line-height: 1.7; overflow: hidden; background: rgb(245, 245, 245); border: none !important;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Then the Wisconsin Supreme Court stepped in. On Thursday afternoon, by a 4–3 vote divided along partisan lines, the court issued a strange, cryptic <a title="order" href="https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/7205779/Hawkins-v-WEC-order.pdf" target="_blank" rel="external nofollow noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">order</a> that could throw the election into chaos. The conservative majority directed the Wisconsin Elections Commission to turn over a massive amount of information it did not actually have. These justices then halted the mailing of more absentee ballots while they consider nullifying every ballot that has been printed or mailed and forcing the state to start over. Their stunning eleventh-hour intervention could force election officials into an impossible position: either comply with the court’s order or violate both state and federal law.</font></font></font></font></p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Essentially, the Green Party failed to submit proper documents in Wisconsin. They refused to state reasons, or to seek redress in a timely manner. Then they asked the state at the last minute to place the Green Party on the ballot, anyway, despite the fact that hundreds of thousands of ballots had <em style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">already</em> gone out to voters.</font></font></font></font></p><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; position: relative; line-height: 1.7; overflow: hidden; background: rgb(245, 245, 245); border: none !important;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>A responsible court would have rejected this challenge for two reasons: Hawkins and Walker waited an unreasonably long time to bring it, and it has no plausible legal basis. </b>But instead of dismissing the case, the <a title="infamously irresponsible" href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/05/wisconsin-supreme-court-strikes-down-stay-at-home-order.html" target="_blank" rel="external nofollow noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">infamously irresponsible</a> court ordered the commission to reveal who has requested absentee ballots, who has been mailed a ballot already, and when these ballots were mailed. It also demanded to know <span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">who</span> requested the ballots to be printed, implying the existence of some conspiracy to rush them out. In the meantime, the conservative majority effectively shut down the state’s election machinery, suspending the printing of more absentee ballots. Its order suggests that four justices are seriously considering a decision in favor of the Green Party.<b> Such a ruling would compel the state to throw out every existing ballot and begin the entire, grueling, monthslong process anew.</b></font></font></font></font></p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">There is no plausible rationale for the decision, and no way to implement it in a manner that won’t throw the election into chaos. The Wisconsin Supreme Court was made very well aware of this, and the conservative Koch-purchased majority choose this course of action, anyway. Nor was the cynical Green Party <a title="acting alone" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/wisconsin-ballot-green-party/2020/09/11/797aa4d2-f44a-11ea-bc45-e5d48ab44b9f_story.html" target="_blank" rel="external nofollow noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">acting alone</a>:</font></font></font></font></p><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; position: relative; line-height: 1.7; overflow: hidden; background: rgb(245, 245, 245); border: none !important;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hawkins suggested in an interview that Trump supporters had helped the Green Party ticket with its legal claim before the state Supreme Court. The party’s petition was filed by attorneys from the <b>Milwaukee-based von Briesen & Roper law firm, which has a history of representing Wisconsin Republicans.</b></font></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“You get help where you can find it,” Hawkins told The Washington Post when asked whether Republicans had financed the legal action. “They have their reasons and we have ours.”</font></font></font></font></p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">If the presidential election is at all close, everything may hinge on the outcome in Wisconsin. And if Wisconsin is beset by legal challenges from thousands of voters casting legally received ballots prior to a court order demanding that <em style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">different</em> ballots be sent, even if those ballots go out later than the legally mandated deadline, you have a recipe for a chaos of litigation that will ultimately only be resolved by Justice Roberts of the Supreme Court.</font></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s pardoned felonious close advisor and Russia-Wikileaks conduit <b>Roger Stone just told Alex Jones that Trump <a title="should seize total power in a coup" href="https://www.mediamatters.org/roger-stone/roger-stone-calls-trump-seize-total-power-if-he-loses-election" target="_blank" rel="external nofollow noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">should seize total power in a coup</a> should he lose the election:</b></font></font></font></font></p><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; position: relative; line-height: 1.7; overflow: hidden; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: none !important;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Roger Stone is making baseless accusations of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election and is urging Donald Trump to consider several draconian measures to stay in power, including having federal authorities seize ballots in Nevada, having FBI agents and Republican state officials “physically” block voting under the pretext of preventing voter fraud, using martial law or the Insurrection Act to carry out widespread arrests, and nationalizing state police forces.</font></font></font></font></p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We know that Trump listens to Stone as the closest person he still has in his orbit to <a title="his beloved Roy Cohn" href="https://www.npr.org/2018/01/07/576209428/president-trump-called-for-roy-cohn-but-roy-cohn-was-gone" target="_blank" rel="external nofollow noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">his beloved Roy Cohn</a>, and cares enough about him to have sprung him out of jail. And he’s recommending this course of action:</font></font></font></font></p><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; position: relative; line-height: 1.7; overflow: hidden; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: none !important;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Beyond Nevada, Stone recommended that Trump consider several actions to retain his power. Stone recommended that Trump appoint former Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA) as a special counsel “with the specific task of forming an Election Day operation using the FBI, federal marshals, and Republican state officials across the country to be prepared to file legal objections and if necessary to physically stand in the way of criminal activity.”</font></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Stone also urged Trump to consider declaring “martial law” or invoking <a title="the Insurrection Act" href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/insurrection-act.html" target="_blank" rel="external nofollow noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">the Insurrection Act</a> and then using his powers to arrest Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook, “the Clintons” and “anybody else who can be proven to be involved in illegal activity.”</b></font></font></font></font></p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Even if Trump doesn’t actively take any of these measures–and there is a <a title="great deal of evidence that he might" href="https://washingtonmonthly.com/2020/07/18/expect-trump-to-use-dhs-stormtroopers-to-stop-people-from-voting-and-plan-accordingly/" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">great deal of evidence that he might</a>–right-wing groups may well take some of these matters into their own hands.</font></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The context for all of this upheaval is that conservatives know they have lost the argument and the culture. The nation’s greatest problems, from police racism to inequality to climate change to the pandemic itself, simply do not lend themselves to conservative “solutions.” Conservatism itself would have to change to adapt to the moment, and it is unwilling to do so.</b></font></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Meanwhile, the Right is losing the culture wars, evangelicals are declining as a percentage of the population, and older social conservatives are aging out of the electorate, replaced by young progressives</b>. White supremacists know that whites are declining as a percentage of the population, Black Lives Matter is broadly popular, and the country is also slowly coming to grips with some of the consequences of toxic masculinity. Universal healthcare, taxing the rich and even previously radical solutions like an income floor funded by taxes on Wall Street speculation are increasingly mainstream.</font></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">And finally, they know that the consequence of McConnell’s brinksmanship and Trump’s norm destruction is that Democrats are increasingly unafraid to actually wield power and govern in a way that finally maximizes majoritarian power: eliminating the filibuster, adding states to the union, bypassing the Electoral College, changing the composition and size of the courts, enacting broad voter rights and gerrymandering reforms, and much else. If they do, the conservative movement as it currently exists may not be able to hold national power again–not because the Democrats staged a coup, but rather because they simply undercut the apartheid structures that prevented the voice of the majority from being heard and implemented into law.</font></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The conservative response to all this is to create as much chaos as possible, with a view toward seizing power in a coup–thereby short-circuiting the consequences of failing to secure the legitimacy of popular will.</b></font></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Republican Party has become the Chaos Party. And it will take all citizen hands on deck to resist them, overwhelm them at the ballot box, and move the country forward in a stable and more progressive direction.</font></font></font></font></p></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></font></font></font></div></div><div><div class="at-below-post addthis_tool" data-url="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/gop-operative-says-hes-building-system-to-dispatch-protesters-where-ballots-are-counted/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/hhs-official-who-manipulated-cdc-reports-on-19-has-deep-russian-ties-report/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/hhs-official-who-manipulated-cdc-reports-on-19-has-deep-russian-ties-report/</a></font></font></font></font></div><div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During Trump’s impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate, Trump denounced the impeachment as “phony” — and he was also highly critical of the Russia investigation.</font></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The <a href="https://www.wkbw.com/news/local-news/caputo-reacts-to-mueller-report-all-the-haters-can-go-to-hell" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Mueller report</a> says of Caputo, “In the spring of 2016, Trump campaign advisor Michael Caputo learned through a Florida-based Russian business partner that another Florida-based Russian, Henry Oknyansky — who also went by the name Henry Greenberg — claimed to have information pertaining to Hilary Clinton. Caputo notified Roger Stone and brokered communication between Stone and Oknyansky. Oknyansky and Stone set up a May 2016 in-person meeting.”</font></span></font></font></font></p></div></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></font></font></font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.wkbw.com/news/local-news/caputo-reacts-to-mueller-report-all-the-haters-can-go-to-hell</font></font></font></font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[change story on whether he was at mtg in fla w/ stone and end russ fla guy?</font></font></font></font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></font></font></font><div class="published" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; vertical-align: middle; font-style: italic; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Apr 18, 2019</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><div class="last-updated" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; vertical-align: middle; font-style: italic; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="accent">and last updated</span> <span class="last-updated-date" data-bsp-plugin="Module47602">8:22 PM, Apr 18, 2019</span></div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="Page-body ArticlePage-articleBody" itemprop="articleBody" data-bsp-plugin="Module32418" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 30px; transition: all 0.4s ease 0s; left: 0px; clear: both;"><div class="RichTextArticleBody" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="RichTextArticleBody-body" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p>BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — A local political consultant is speaking out after the release of Robert Mueller's investigation on Thursday.</p><p>Michael Caputo was called to testify about his role in President Donald Trump’s campaign. Now, Caputo is listed in the <a class="Link" href="https://www.wkbw.com/news/national/countdown-to-the-mueller-report" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.4s ease 0s;">nearly 500-page report</a>.</p><p>“In the spring of 2016,” the report reads, “Trump Campaign advisor Michael Caputo learned through a Florida-based Russian business partner that another Florida-based Russian, Henry Oknyansky (who also went by the name Henry Greenberg), claimed to have information pertaining to Hilary Clinton. Caputo notified Roger Stone and brokered communication between Stone and Oknyansky. Oknyansky and Stone set up a May 2016 in-person meeting.”</p><p>“He had a very brief meeting with the guy and told him to hit the road,” says Caputo.</p><p>The meeting listed in the report is the reason that Caputo was questioned by both Robert Mueller and lawmakers in both the House and the Senate.</p><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The report points to “contradictory recollections” as to whether Caputo was actually at the meeting, which is something he strongly denies.</span></p><p>“The FBI and the Mueller investigation knows for a fact that the meeting was in Florida and I was in Trump Tower in New York City,” says Caputo.</p><p>At the end of the day, Caputo says he is ready to move forward.</p><p>“I really don’t care because I’m completely vindicated and my family is moving on from here and all the haters can go to Hell,” says Caputo.</p></div></div></div></span></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div><div><div class="el__leafmedia el__leafmedia--sourced-paragraph" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254);"><p class="zn-body__paragraph speakable" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><cite class="el-editorial-source" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; font-feature-settings: " kern="kern" text-rendering="text-rendering" optimizelegibility="optimizelegibility">washington (CNN)</cite>Conservative political provocateur Roger Stone met in May 2016 with a <b>Russian who offered damaging information about Hillary Clinton in exchange for $2 million,</b>Stone and former Trump campaign communications official Michael Caputo told CNN on Sunday.</font></p></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph speakable" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px; background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The meeting was first reported by<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-associate-roger-stone-reveals-new-contact-with-russian-national-during-2016-campaign/2018/06/17/4a8123c8-6fd0-11e8-bd50-b80389a4e569_story.html?utm_term=.899b53d865e8" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease 0s;"> The Washington Post</a>.</font></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph speakable" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone and Caputo say the meeting was part of a larger effort by law enforcement to set up the Trump campaign, citing records suggesting that the man Stone met with is a Russian national who has claimed to be an FBI informant.</font></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px; background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>In letters to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes obtained by CNN, lawyers for Caputo and Stone say Caputo arranged a meeting between Stone and the Russian man who called himself Henry Greenberg.</b></font></div><ul class="cn cn-list-hierarchical-xs cn--idx-5 cn-zoneAdContainer" data-layout="list-hierarchical-xs" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style: none; background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254);"><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px; background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://cdn.cnn.com/cnn/2018/images/06/17/hon..nunes.6-15-18[6].pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease 0s;">Caputo's lawyer writes</a> that his client facilitated the meeting through his Russian business partner. Greenberg told Caputo he "had information about Hillary Clinton he wanted to provide to the Trump campaign," the letter says.</font></div><div class="zn-body__read-all" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Caputo and Stone did not disclose the meeting to congressional investigators, but it has become a focus in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into the Trump campaign, according to the Post.</font></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the letters to Nunes, the two political operatives assert that they were transparent in their testimony before the committee, despite not disclosing the meeting with Greenberg.</font></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Caputo told CNN he communicated with Greenberg by phone, and while he recognized that Greenberg had an accent, Caputo "assumed he was a US citizen."</font></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"It was May 2016," Caputo added. "Nobody was talking about Russia, collusion, etc."</font></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Caputo said he now believes the Russian who met with Stone was an FBI informant because "the OSC (Office of Special Counsel) knew more about it than I did." He added that it was not until prosecutors informed him that Greenberg was Russian that he learned the man he had spoken with in 2016 was not a US citizen.</font></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I was under the understanding that he was an American citizen of Russian descent," Caputo said. "I had no reason to believe that, I just assumed it."</font></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The letter from Caputo's lawyer states that during his testimony with the House Intelligence committee, he "answered all questions with candor and to the best of his recollection."</font></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">However, Caputo's lawyer wrote that during his interview with the special counsel, which took place more than a month ago, <b>"his recollection was refreshed regarding one brief interaction with a Russian national in May of 2016."</b></font></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"In the course of his interview with the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, this specific contact was not discussed since at the time of this interview, Mr. Caputo had simply forgotten about this brief encounter in 2016," the letter states.</font></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Caputo's lawyer relayed that he would be willing to brief the committee on the matter.</font></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In his letter to Nunes, <a href="https://cdn.cnn.com/cnn/2018/images/06/17/greenberg.letter.-.6.15.18.final[7].copy.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease 0s;">Stone's lawyer similarly called the testimony "entirely truthful," </a>adding that Stone "feels obligated" to disclose the meeting because of "information brought to his attention after his appearance."</font></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The letter states Greenberg approached Stone "wearing a Trump MAGA hat and T-shirt and spoke with what was possibly a Russian accent."</b></font></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Prior to meeting, Mr. Stone did not know anything about Mr. Greenberg, including his background or nationality. At the meeting, Mr. Greenberg proudly showed Mr. Stone photos of Mr. Greenberg and friends at several South Florida Trump rallies," the letter states.</font></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone's lawyer described the encounter as a "one-time, 20-minute interaction" and stated that Greenberg offered Stone the "non-specific, damaging Clinton information" in exchange for a $2 million payment from Trump, but that Stone declined.</font></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone told CNN he was disclosing the meeting now because "Mr. Caputo only brought this to my attention recently."</font></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He also said he never discussed the meeting with the Trump campaign, nor anyone else, adding that it was "so ludicrous that I forgot about it."</font></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">California Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said Stone's testimony "appears inaccurate or deliberately misleading" and that the offer to Caputo "could not plausibly have escaped his recollection." Schiff called for the committee to provide the special counsel investigation with transcripts of their interviews and knocked the Republicans who control the panel.</font></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The truthfulness of many of our witnesses has been difficult to ascertain, which is why I have urged the committee to make the transcripts available to special counsel Mueller for a determination whether any witnesses committed perjury before our committee," Schiff said. "The majority's unwillingness to do so demonstrates that protecting the President remains its paramount objective, even when it means shielding witnesses who may have testified before us untruthfully."</font></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">President Donald Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, told CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday that he doubts Trump knew about Stone's meeting.</font></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I doubt it. I certainly didn't know about it. It's news to me," he said.</font></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Greenberg, who the Post said sometimes went by the name Henry Oknyansky, had difficulties with the American immigration system, and spent two years in the custody of immigration services before returning to Russia. In 2015 court filings related to his immigration status cited by Stone and Caputo, Greenberg claimed that he worked as an FBI informant for 17 years.</font></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">However, Greenberg denied he was acting on the FBI's behalf when he met with Stone, according to the Post, and the court filing the newspaper obtained said his work with the FBI halted sometime after 2013.</font></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The letters from the two political operatives' lawyers mention a text exchange after the meeting with Greenberg and say Stone's impression was that the meetup had been a waste of time and he viewed Greenberg as "a nut."</font></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The exchange was obtained and published by the Post.</font></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"How crazy is the Russian?" Caputo asked.</font></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Wants big &$ for the info- waste of time," Stone replied.</font></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Caputo then texted, "The Russian way. Anything at all interesting?"</font></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"No," Stone said.</font></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">An FBI spokeswoman and a spokesman for Mueller's office declined to comment to the Post.</font></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">The meeting with Stone reportedly took place a few weeks after former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos was told about Russian dirt on Hillary Clinton and two weeks before senior members of the Trump campaign met with Russian nationals -- including a lawyer with ties to the Kremlin -- in Trump Tower.</font></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Greenberg initially denied Stone's account of the meeting but later changed his story, giving the Post a brief description of the meeting that matched Stone's depiction in part.</b></font></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">While Stone told the Post that Greenberg was alone for the meeting, Greenberg relayed that he was accompanied by a Ukrainian man only identified as Alexei. Greenberg told the Post that Alexei was fired from the Clinton Foundation. He also denied he asked for money, saying played a limited role in the meeting and left it to Alexei to talk with Stone while he sat at a nearby table.</font></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone told CNN he had never heard of Alexei, nor was this person present at the meeting.</font></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Clinton Foundation also told the Post that they had never hired someone with the first name Alexei.</font></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A news release from Caputo following the Post story states that in his meeting with the Special Counsel's Office, he "noted the Mueller team knew far more than he did about the Greenberg approach."</font></div><ul class="cn cn-list-hierarchical-xs cn--idx-43 cn-zoneAdContainer" data-layout="list-hierarchical-xs" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style: none;"><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After his meeting with Mueller, Caputo investigated Greenberg, the release said, and he put the information he found into<a href="http://www.democratdossier.org/" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease 0s;"> a dossier</a> online.</font></div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">The disclosure of the meeting comes a month after <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/18/politics/russia-informant-trump-campaign/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease 0s;">multiple reports</a> that the FBI dispatched a confidential source to speak with at least two advisers to Trump's presidential campaign after the bureau obtained evidence that the aides had ties to Russia. The revelations have prompted <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/18/politics/trump-campaign-informant/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s ease 0s;">Trump to accuse the FBI</a> of spying on his campaign and trying to frame him.</font></div></ul></div><p class="zn-body__paragraph zn-body__footer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.375; background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CNN's Clare Foran, Manu Raju and Eli Watkins contributed to this report.</font></p></ul></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">hg had been fbi informant but says not at time to roger mtg; both caputo and roger deny contact w/ russ 9at least roger did) until text msg refresh memories [video cnn]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/08/heres-what-the-senate-intel-report-tells-us-about-trump-and-roger-stones-39-phone-calls-during-the-2016-election/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/08/heres-what-the-senate-intel-report-tells-us-about-trump-and-roger-stones-39-phone-calls-during-the-2016-election/</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></div><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">on August 18, the Senate Intelligence Committee released its bipartisan report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. One of the things addressed in the report is Donald Trump’s phone conversations with veteran GOP operative Roger Stone during the election — and according to an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/19/us/politics/trump-stone-investigation.html" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">August 19 article</a> by New York Times reporter Julian E. Barnes, the Senate Intelligence report sheds even more light on those interactions than the Mueller report and Stone’s criminal trial.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Barnes notes that <b>according to court records, Stone and Trump had 39 phone conversations from March-November 2016 — one of which Barnes describes as “an intriguing phone call, on October 6, 2016, to Mr. Trump.”</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">“According to the Senate report,” Barnes explains, “Mr. Stone received a call that afternoon from a number belonging to an aide to Mr. Trump, who regularly used others’ phones to make calls. The topic of the conversation was not known, Senate investigators wrote, but they noted that Mr. Stone was focused on a potential WikiLeaks release.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The Senate Intelligence Committee’s report concludes, “It appears quite likely that Stone and Trump spoke about WikiLeaks."</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">in October 2016, WikiLeaks published hacked Democratic e-mails that had been stolen by Russians.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Barnes points out that in its report, the Senate Intelligence Committee “laid out a range of evidence that Mr. Stone was focused on WikiLeaks. He and Mr. Trump had spoken a few days earlier, on September 29, also on the aide’s phone. Another campaign aide, Rick Gates, witnessed it and told investigators that the two men discussed WikiLeaks. After that call, Mr. Trump told Mr. Gates that ‘more releases of damaging information would be coming.’”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Times reporter also notes that Stone “said the Senate conclusion that he had discussed WikiLeaks with the president was based solely on testimony by Mr. Gates and Mr. Trump’s former lawyer Michael D. Cohen. Mr. Stone called their testimony tainted by agreements with prosecutors to answer their questions.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Stone has insisted that he did not know that people connected to the Russian government were behind the stolen Democratic e-mails </b>that WikiLeaks published in October 2016 — and that he never discussed WikiLeaks with Trump. Barnes, notes, however, “The Senate report made clear that WikiLeaks, at least, ‘very likely’ knew the e-mails were coming from Russian intelligence, and that Mr. Stone knew about the most critical WikiLeaks release before it happened.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone is among the many Trump associates who has faced criminal charges: he was convicted of charges ranging from witness tampering to lying to Congress and sentenced to 40 months in federal prison by Judge Amy Berman Jackson, a Barack Obama appointee. But Trump commuted Stone’s sentence in July, saving him from the prison sentence he was about to begin.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Barnes notes that the Senate Intelligence Committee “rejected Mr. Trump’s statement to prosecutors investigating Russia’s interference that he did not recall conversations with his long-time friend, Roger J. Stone Jr., about the e-mails, which were later released by WikiLeaks.”</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the Mueller report, former special counsel Robert Mueller concluded that the 2016 Trump campaign’s interactions with Russians — however questionable — did not rise to the level of a full-fledged criminal conspiracy. And Barnes points out that the Senate Intelligence report does not accuse Trump of lying. But Barnes also points out that the report “laid out extensive contacts between Trump advisers and Russians” and “detailed even more of the president’s conversations with Mr. Stone than were previously known, renewing questions about whether Mr. Trump was truthful with investigators for the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, or misled them.”</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></div></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div><div><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/gop-operative-says-hes-building-system-to-dispatch-protesters-where-ballots-are-counted/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/gop-operative-says-hes-building-system-to-dispatch-protesters-where-ballots-are-counted/</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>r<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">epublican political operative Ali Alexander, who previously went by the name </span><a href="https://www.dailydot.com/debug/ali-alexander-kamala-harris/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Ali Akbar</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, is floating the possibility of revamping a 2018 effort to discredit mail-in and absentee voting ahead of the 2020 presidential election.</span></b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br /></span></font></div><div class="mce-content-body" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><div class="layout-constrain--narrow" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 47.2222em; padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em; line-height: 1.5;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to a 2018 <a title="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/10/29/trump-cernovich-milo-yiannopoulos-richard-spencer-alt-right-2018-221916" href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/10/29/trump-cernovich-milo-yiannopoulos-richard-spencer-alt-right-2018-221916" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Politico report</a>, the night before the 2016 election, a PAC advised by Alexander received a <b>$60,000 donation from hedge-fund billionaire Robert Mercer</b>, the pro-Trump billionaire. Alexander has associated with far-right figures including<a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/new-right-activists-pivot-backwards-share-laughs-with-unite-the-right-demonstrator/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;"> Unite the Right white supremacist attendee Matt Colligan</a>, and made a habit of noting when members of the media he criticizes are Jewish, <a title="https://observer.com/2018/10/robert-mercer-bankrolled-pac-ali-alexander/" href="https://observer.com/2018/10/robert-mercer-bankrolled-pac-ali-alexander/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">according to</a> <a href="https://observer.com/2018/10/robert-mercer-bankrolled-pac-ali-alexander/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">The Observer.</a></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">In a <a href="https://www.pscp.tv/AliScopes/1rmxPYNWWoVKN" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Periscope broadcast</a> uploaded Monday—viewed 51,000 times as of Friday morning—Alexander claimed he planned to revamp a November 2018 effort called “Stop the Steal” and create a digital text-messaging database that would dispatch supporters of President Donald Trump to places where ballots are being counted as well as the offices of state election officials around the country if their “physical presence is needed.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">” Alexander emphasized that his intention is that the protests would be peaceful and suggested that anyone who attends such protests with intentions of being violent would not be considered part of his cause.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">“In the next coming days, we’re going to build the infrastructure to stop the steal,” Alexander said. “What we are going to do is we’re going to bypass all of social media. In the coming days, we will launch an effort concentrating on the swing states, and we will map out where the votes are being counted and the secretary of states. We will map all of this out for everyone publicly and we will collect cell phone numbers so that way if you are within 100 mile radius of a bad secretary of state or someone who’s counting votes after the deadline or if there’s a federal court hearing, we will alert you of where to go. <b>We’re going to bypass all of Twitter, all of Facebook, all of Instagram, OK? We’re going to bypass it all.”</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“We will camp out if we need to,” Alexander added. ”We will have tents. We will have water. We will have electrolytes. We will have vitamin D, C, and A. We will have <b>zinc.</b> </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">We will have sandwiches. We will have everything so that patriots can oversee the supposed people in our republic who are tasked with counting our votes, not making it. Counting our votes, not making new votes.”</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Right Wing Watch attempted to reach Alexander by text message and Twitter direct message for comment on this story and in hopes Alexander would produce proof that his claimed database was being built. (Alexander has a <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/right-wing-activist-puts-a-price-on-disinformation/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">history of making dubious claims</a>.) We did not receive a response prior to publication.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">One America News Network personality and <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/splc-investigation-far-right-oann-anchor-jack-posobiecs-rise-tied-white-supremacist-movement" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">far-right collaborator</a> Jack Posobiec, who operates in the same digital space as Alexander, <a href="https://archive.is/mNYyb" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">tweeted</a> Monday: “#StopTheSteal 2020 is coming…”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Right Wing Watch </span><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/roger-stone-is-scheming-another-brooks-brothers-riot-in-florida/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">reported in 2018</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"> about an effort orchestrated against a ballot recount in the Florida race for U.S. Senate between Republican Rick Scott and Democrat Bill Nelson by associates of GOP operative and self-described “</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"><a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-stone/trump-adviser-roger-stone-self-proclaimed-dirty-trickster-guilty-on-all-charges-idUSKBN1XP1VT" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">dirty trickster</a>” Roger Stone.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> In a burst of protests reminiscent of the chaos during the 2000 presidential election recount in Florida, pro-Trump activists from around the country descended into Florida to protest and spread disinformation alleging that recount procedures were part of a Democratic plot to commit voter fraud. That election ultimately triggered <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/417294-scott-defeats-nelson-in-florida-senate-race-after-bitter-recount-fight" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">two recounts and a wave of legal battles</a>; Scott narrowly defeated Nelson by a fraction of a percent. <b>In 2018, Alexander <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/roger-stone-is-scheming-another-brooks-brothers-riot-in-florida/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">said</a> he was recruiting people experiencing homelessness and followers of the QAnon conspiracy theory to fill spots at protests.</b></span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">In this week’s broadcast, Alexander claimed that the election is being <b>“raped and raided”</b> by Democrats, and accused Republican leaders and pro-Trump voices of sitting idle.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">“I’m watching a bunch of grifters, MAGA grifters, pretend like they’re going to stop the steal. Are they going to stop the steal?” Alexander said. “What are these grifters doing online, tweeting, to stop the steal? What have they done in the past? Not a damn thing.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Alexander said his announcements were spurred by comments Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg <a href="https://www.axios.com/zuckerberg-facebook-election-axios-on-hbo-c719ad86-8ab8-43d6-a491-620dc16a3a3d.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">made to Axios</a> about his platform’s policies to deter political candidates from declaring a premature election victory</b>. Zuckerberg said that Americans may not know who the next president will be on election night, a <a href="https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2020/be-patient-on-election-night-2020-counting-the-returns-will-take-time/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">likely scenario</a> due to expected increases in mail-in and absentee voting due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and that Facebook would try to moderate against the organizing of civil unrest on its platform.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">“One of the things that I think we and other media need to start doing is preparing the American people that <b>there’s nothing illegitimate about this election taking additional days, or even weeks to make sure that all of the votes are counted,” Zuckerberg told Axios</b>. “In fact, that might be important to make sure that this is a legitimate and fair election.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The new Facebook <a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2020/09/additional-steps-to-protect-the-us-elections/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">policy statement</a> includes the following measure: “If any candidate or campaign tries to declare victory before the final results are in, we’ll add a label to their posts directing people to the official results from Reuters and the National Election Pool</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.”</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> It also states that Facebook will label content “that seeks to delegitimize the outcome of the election or discuss the legitimacy of voting methods, for example, by claiming that lawful methods of voting will lead to fraud.”</span></font></p></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/08/heres-what-the-senate-intel-report-tells-us-about-trump-and-roger-stones-39-phone-calls-during-the-2016-election/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/08/heres-what-the-senate-intel-report-tells-us-about-trump-and-roger-stones-39-phone-calls-during-the-2016-election/</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></div><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">on August 18, the Senate Intelligence Committee released its bipartisan report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. One of the things addressed in the report is Donald Trump’s phone conversations with veteran GOP operative Roger Stone during the election — and according to an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/19/us/politics/trump-stone-investigation.html" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">August 19 article</a> by New York Times reporter Julian E. Barnes, the Senate Intelligence report sheds even more light on those interactions than the Mueller report and Stone’s criminal trial.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Barnes notes that <b>according to court records, Stone and Trump had 39 phone conversations from March-November 2016 — one of which Barnes describes as “an intriguing phone call, on October 6, 2016, to Mr. Trump.”</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">“According to the Senate report,” Barnes explains, “Mr. Stone received a call that afternoon from a number belonging to an aide to Mr. Trump, who regularly used others’ phones to make calls. The topic of the conversation was not known, Senate investigators wrote, but they noted that Mr. Stone was focused on a potential WikiLeaks release.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The Senate Intelligence Committee’s report concludes, “It appears quite likely that Stone and Trump spoke about WikiLeaks."</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">in October 2016, WikiLeaks published hacked Democratic e-mails that had been stolen by Russians.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Barnes points out that in its report, the Senate Intelligence Committee “laid out a range of evidence that Mr. Stone was focused on WikiLeaks. He and Mr. Trump had spoken a few days earlier, on September 29, also on the aide’s phone. Another campaign aide, Rick Gates, witnessed it and told investigators that the two men discussed WikiLeaks. After that call, Mr. Trump told Mr. Gates that ‘more releases of damaging information would be coming.’”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Times reporter also notes that Stone “said the Senate conclusion that he had discussed WikiLeaks with the president was based solely on testimony by Mr. Gates and Mr. Trump’s former lawyer Michael D. Cohen. Mr. Stone called their testimony tainted by agreements with prosecutors to answer their questions.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Stone has insisted that he did not know that people connected to the Russian government were behind the stolen Democratic e-mails </b>that WikiLeaks published in October 2016 — and that he never discussed WikiLeaks with Trump. Barnes, notes, however, “The Senate report made clear that WikiLeaks, at least, ‘very likely’ knew the e-mails were coming from Russian intelligence, and that Mr. Stone knew about the most critical WikiLeaks release before it happened.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone is among the many Trump associates who has faced criminal charges: he was convicted of charges ranging from witness tampering to lying to Congress and sentenced to 40 months in federal prison by Judge Amy Berman Jackson, a Barack Obama appointee. But Trump commuted Stone’s sentence in July, saving him from the prison sentence he was about to begin.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Barnes notes that the Senate Intelligence Committee “rejected Mr. Trump’s statement to prosecutors investigating Russia’s interference that he did not recall conversations with his long-time friend, Roger J. Stone Jr., about the e-mails, which were later released by WikiLeaks.”</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the Mueller report, former special counsel Robert Mueller concluded that the 2016 Trump campaign’s interactions with Russians — however questionable — did not rise to the level of a full-fledged criminal conspiracy. And Barnes points out that the Senate Intelligence report does not accuse Trump of lying. But Barnes also points out that the report “laid out extensive contacts between Trump advisers and Russians” and “detailed even more of the president’s conversations with Mr. Stone than were previously known, renewing questions about whether Mr. Trump was truthful with investigators for the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, or misled them.”</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></div></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">stone lies about lying? will take credit for tricks/crimes he did not do to bolster rep? spread disinfo to comfuse cops/press?</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></div><div>wapo: <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/senate-intelligence-trump-russia-report/2020/08/18/62a7573e-e093-11ea-b69b-64f7b0477ed4_story.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/senate-intelligence-trump-russia-report/2020/08/18/62a7573e-e093-11ea-b69b-64f7b0477ed4_story.html</a></div><div><br /></div><div><div>no lnx</div><div><br /></div><div>National Security</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Trump’s 2016 campaign chair was a ‘grave counterintelligence threat,’ had repeated contact with Russian intelligence, Senate panel finds</b></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>By</div><div>Karoun Demirjian and </div><div>Ellen Nakashima</div><div>August 18, 2020</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">President Trump’s 2016 campaign chairman posed a “grave counterintelligence threat” due to his interaction with people close to the Kremlin</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">, according to a bipartisan Senate report released Tuesday that found extensive contacts between key campaign advisers and officials affiliated with Moscow’s government and intelligence services.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In its report, the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee states that <b>Trump’s then-campaign chair Paul Manafort worked with a Russian intelligence officer “on narratives that sought to undermine evidence that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. election,” including the idea that purported Ukrainian election interference was of greater concern.</b></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">It found that a Russian attorney who met with Manafort, along with the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., and his son-in-law Jared Kushner at Trump Tower in 2016, had “significant connections” to the Kremlin. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The information she offered them was also “part of a broader influence operation targeting the United States that was coordinated, at least in part with elements of the Russian government,” the report stated.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><b>But the panel also concluded that the FBI’s handling of Russian threats to the election was “flawed” and that the bureau gave “unjustified credence” to allegations about Trump’s Russia ties made in a dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele, “based on an incomplete understanding of Steele’s past reporting record.”</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Document: Read the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election]</div><div><br /></div><div>The Senate Intelligence Committee’s three-and-a-half year investigation stands as Congress’s only bipartisan examination of Russian interference in the 2016 election. The panel, significantly, agreed that the FBI overestimated Steel’s reliability and that Manafort and other aides exposed the campaign to undue Russian influence. <b>But its leaders were noticeably divided along party lines in how they interpreted the report’s significance, and several committee members — including its <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">acting chairman Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) — endorsed dissenting conclusions about Trump’s own culpability.</span></b></div><div><br /></div><div>The partisan divisions are a sign that the panel’s tome likely will not put to rest the political wrangling over how seriously to treat foreign interference in U.S. democracy as the country heads into its most divisive election in modern history.</div><div><br /></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“After more than three years of investigation by this Committee, we can now say with no doubt, there was no collusion,” a group of six panel Republicans, including Rubio, wrote in a statement<b> instead accusing the Democratic Party of coordinating with foreign actors to produce Steele’s dossier.</b></span></div><div><br /></div><div>“In 2016, the Democratic Party, using a series of arm’s length transactions, hired a foreign citizen to seek out dirt on a political opponent, provided by foreign sources,” the Republicans wrote, attacking the FBI for “sloppy work and poor judgment.”</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Five Democrat senators — including Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.</b>), the party’s 2020 vice-presidential nominee — asserted the report “unambiguously shows that members of the Trump Campaign cooperated with Russian efforts to get Trump elected.” Referring specifically to their findings on Manafort, the Democrats wrote, “This is what collusion looks like.”</span></div><div><br /></div><div><b>The intelligence committee’s vice chairman, Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), who did not sign onto the Democrats’ dissenting views, noted “a breathtaking level of contacts between Trump officials and Russian government operatives that is a very real counterintelligence threat to our elections,” and he encouraged “all Americans to carefully review the documented evidence of the unprecedented and massive intervention campaign waged on behalf of then-candidate Donald Trump by Russians and their operatives and to reach their own independent conclusions.”</b></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The committee’s past chairman Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), who oversaw the bulk of the investigation and also steered clear of the GOP’s dissent, struck a position in the middle.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“One of the Committee’s most important — and overlooked — findings is that much of Russia’s activities weren’t related to producing a specific electoral outcome, but attempted to undermine our faith in the democratic process itself,” he said in a statement. “Their aim is to sow chaos, discord, and distrust. Their efforts are not limited to elections. The threat is ongoing.</span>”</div><div><br /></div><div>Senate panel told Justice Dept. of suspicions over Trump family members’ Russia testimony</div><div><br /></div><div>Burr and Warner launched the committee’s probe before Trump’s inauguration in January 2017 and sustained the bipartisan investigation over the following three and a half years, even as other Congressional investigations into the same matter faltered along partisan lines. Since the Senate Intelligence Committee began its probe, former special counsel Robert S. Mueller III also released a 448-page report on Russian interference in the 2016 election — and Trump was impeached and acquitted after Democrats accused him of coercing Ukrainian leaders to interfere in the 2020 election.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Though the committee’s probe covers much of the same turf as Mueller’s investigation, it was different in nature. Mueller was running a criminal probe; the Senate committee was conducting an intelligence investigation — a distinction that helps to explain some of nuanced differences between their conclusions.</b></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">The Senate panel’s probe, which was mostly driven by the committee’s bipartisan staff, included more than 200 witnesses and considered evidence relating to Russian disinformation, Trump’s personal, business and campaign contacts with Russians and the transition period following the 2016 election.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">At one point, the document all but concludes that Trump aides were duped and manipulated by Russian interests they were too callow to understand.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><b>“Russian officials, intelligence services, and others” acting in concert with the Kremlin “were capable of exploiting the transition team’s shortcomings,” the report concluded. “Based on the available information, it is possible — and even likely — that they did so.”</b></div><div><br /></div><div>The report also presents a damning portrait of the Trump campaign’s hasty move in March 2016 to assemble a foreign policy team, asserting that it had recruited inexperienced people without thoroughly vetting them and thus potentially exposed itself to Russian influence.</div><div><br /></div><div>“Ultimately,” the committee wrote, “the foreign policy team exposed the Trump Campaign to significant counterintelligence vulnerabilities.”</div><div><br /></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The committee pointed to Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos, who attempted to secure a face-to-face meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin through “highly suspicious” contacts with people close to the Russian government. Ultimately, investigators concluded, Papadopoulos “was not a witting co-optee of the Russian the Russian intelligence services. The panel also found that while Russia seemed to show an interest in campaign adviser Carter Page, investigators “found no indication that Page had useful Campaign information for the Russian intelligence services to extract, nor meaningful influence for them to exploit.”</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">The committee did find however that</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"> Putin personally directed the 2016 hack-and-leak campaign targeting the Democratic Party, </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Clinton campaign. The anti-secrecy group</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> </span><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">WikiLeaks</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"> “actively sought and played a key role in the Russian campaign and very likely knew it was assisting a Russian intelligence influence effort,”</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"> the report stated, surmising that a Russian military spy agency, known as the GRU, transferred hacked emails to WikiLeaks likely because it offered a more effective platform for publicity than the GRU’s own methods.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Yet investigators could not “reliably determine the extent of authentic,<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> nonpublic </span>knowledge” Trump’s friend<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> Roger Stone</span> had about WikiLeaks’s coming releases and shared with the campaign.</b></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The panel noted that its investigation was hampered by several witnesses’ refusing interviews and to produce documents, citing Fifth Amendment rights that protect against self incrimination. These included </span><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Stone,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Manafort </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">and Rick Gates,</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> the campaign’s deputy chair at that time. The panel’s request to interview Julian Assange was rebuffed.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">The committee also outright accused Blackwater founder and Trump supporter Erik Prince of stonewalling its investigation, saying that it was “hampered by a lack of cooperation” and that his account of a controversial 2017 meeting in the Seychelles alongside a Russian official was “brief and deceptive.”</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The committee previously released other volumes detailing aspects of its inquiry. Those reports focused on U.S. election security, Russia’s use of social media in disinformation campaigns, the Obama administration’s response to the perceived threat in 2016 and the intelligence community’s joint assessment that Russia had interfered in an attempt to tip the scales in Trump’s favor.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Yet the panel’s effort to maintain a bipartisan approach has not saved it from partisan scrutiny. Last year, the panel came under fire from Senate Republicans after issuing a subpoena for Donald Trump Jr. to come in for a second round of testimony.</b></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">After his testimony, </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Trump Jr</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">. was one of several witnesses that the panel referred to the Justice Department for closer scrutiny over discrepancies between their testimony and that of Gates, the ex-deputy campaign chair who was a key witness in Mueller’s probe.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Earlier this year, Burr stepped aside as panel chairman after coming under scrutiny over stocks he sold in industries hit badly by the coronavirus pandemic. Rubio has been serving as acting chairman in his place.</span></div></div></div></div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" /></font></p><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">used racial slur n word?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">pod save noted not 1st pardon to cya cap wineberger iran contra (poppy?)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></div><div><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/roger-stone-the-man-trump-rescued/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/roger-stone-the-man-trump-rescued/</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></div><div><div class="mce-content-body" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><div class="layout-constrain--narrow" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 47.2222em; padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em; line-height: 1.5;"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump commuted the prison sentence of Roger Stone Friday, offering refuge to an ally who has espoused <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/who-is-roger-stone-and-why-does-trumps-justice-department-want-to-go-easy-on-him/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">violent rhetoric, bigotry, and conspiracy theories</a> and cozied up to violent hate groups and conspiracy theorists.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone is a close associate of the Proud Boys <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/proud-boys" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">hate group</a>, which has been responsible for <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/proud-boys-violence-a-pattern/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">multiple violent incidents</a> across the nation. He has recruited members of the group as <a href="https://www.wweek.com/news/2018/03/07/right-wing-provocateur-roger-stone-asked-proud-boys-for-protection-at-dorchester-conference-last-weekend/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">private security</a>, attending a political rally with a <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/roger-stone-and-sheriff-joe-surprise-attendees-of-rally-peppered-with-far-right-extremists/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">gaggle of its members</a> in 2018. The group has stayed loyal to Stone, with organization leaders attending Stone’s <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/far-right-activists-show-up-to-roger-stone-sentencing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">court appearances</a> in D.C. wearing pro-Stone swag. In a recent interview with some of the most prominent podcasters of the Qanon conspiracy theory, Stone spoke approvingly of the<b> QAnon </b>movement—which the <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/fbi-documents-conspiracy-theories-terrorism-160000507.html?soc_src=hl-viewer&soc_trk=tw" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">FBI considers</a> a domestic terrorism risk. During his appearance on the pro-QAnon show, Stone encouraged the associated movement, saying that he hoped ”Q” was real.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone is a longtime friend of President Donald Trump, and a longtime <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/06/02/the-dirty-trickster" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">GOP fixer</a> who has worked on behalf of former Presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush. In 2015, Stone worked as an early adviser and consultant to Trump’s presidential campaign. Although the duo formally parted ways with each other in August that year, Stone <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/get-me-roger-stone-tells-the-story-of-how-he-got-us-president-donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">continued to organize</a> for Trump throughout the entire campaign season and Trump’s first term. Stone teamed up with far-right conspiracy theorist shock jock Alex Jones as a media partner and co-organizer of <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/rnc-preview-mondays-alex-jones-roger-stone-america-first-rally/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">a rally</a> at the 2016 Republican National Convention that <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/alex-jones-rally-perfect-accompaniment-to-rncs-ugly-first-day/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">featured</a> what would become some of the highest profile pro-Trump voices of the Trump era, including Milo Yiannopoulos, Diamond & Silk, Ed Martin, and Kelli Ward.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">It was through Stone that Wikileaks and its founder Julian Assange is thought to have entered the Trump campaign orbit. Jones told listeners in late 2018 that Stone had originally contacted Assange as part of an <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/alex-jones-says-roger-stone-contacted-wikileaks-at-jones-behest-while-seeking-infowars-job/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">audition for a job</a> at Jones’ Infowars media outlet, although Jones is notorious for making false statements. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">During the 2016 election, Wikileaks published a trove of hacked emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager John Podesta—an event that is widely interpreted as </span><a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/wikileaks-hillary-clinton/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">having contributed</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> to Trump’s victory over Clinton—and fed </span><a href="https://www.vox.com/world/2016/11/8/13563750/wikileaks-2016-election-statement" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">conspiracy theories, disinformation, and smears</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> that cited the stolen communications. Private messages </span><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/roger-stones-secret-messages-with-wikileaks/554432/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">reportedly showed</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> that Stone was in contact with Assange and Russian military intelligence during that time. Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/nov/08/roger-stone-trial-steve-bannon-wikileaks-trump-2016" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">testified</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> that he saw Stone as an “access point” to WikiLeaks and Assange during the 2016 campaign.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After special counsel Robert Mueller was appointed to lead the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, Stone <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fbi-reveals-roger-stone-was-directly-communicating-with-julian-assange-2020-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">offered assurances</a> to Assange that he would be safe from prosecutors. But Stone <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/wikileaks-founder-charged-superseding-indictment" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">failed to protect</a> Assange from federal prosecution, or his own skin <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/trumps-last-man-standing-snarled-by-mueller-investigation-suspects-jerome-corsi-to-blame/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">for that matter</a>.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In February, Stone was <a href="https://apnews.com/3f25972591780e9750d6fc17bcff506b" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">sentenced</a> to more than three years in prison and two years of probation for lying to Congress, witness tampering, and obstructing the House Intelligence Committee’s Russia investigation. Federal officials originally recommended Stone serve seven to nine years in prison, but after <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1227122206783811585?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1227122206783811585&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.npr.org%2F2020%2F02%2F11%2F804888522%2Fdoj-to-revise-sentencing-request-for-roger-stone-following-trump-tweet" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">angry tweets</a> from Trump, the Department of Justice under Attorney General William Barr withdrew its recommendation and replaced it with a lesser one, prompting four DOJ employees to resign from the case in apparent protest.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Even then, Stone has sought to garner public sympathy and has begged Trump to come to his rescue. Stone repeatedly claimed he had been prosecuted for the fact he supported Trump’s presidential bid and claimed that going to prison would effectively serve as a death sentence for him.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Friday, just days before Stone was supposed to report to prison, Trump <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/10/politics/trump-stone-prison-clemency/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">commuted</a> Stone’s sentence. Stone <a href="https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/roger-stone-trump-clemency-grant" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">will not</a> go to prison, serve probation, or pay his ordered $20,000 fine. The news of Trump’s decision came after a <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/roger-stone/trump-commutes-roger-stones-sentence-following-concerted-campaign-fox-news-and-infowars" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">months-long campaign by Infowars and Fox News</a> to rationalize and excuse Stone’s criminal acts.</font></p><div class="at-below-post addthis_tool" data-url="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/roger-stone-the-man-trump-rescued/" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><div class="layout-constrain--narrow" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 47.2222em; padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="tags" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; border-top: 5px solid rgb(239, 243, 243); margin-bottom: 2em; padding-top: 1em;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; font-weight: 700;">Tags:</span> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/donald-trump/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Donald Trump</a> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/roger-stone/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Roger Stone</a></font></p></div></div></div><div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="outline: none;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/roger-stone/trump-commutes-roger-stones-sentence-following-concerted-campaign-fox-news-and-infowars">https://www.mediamatters.org/roger-stone/trump-commutes-roger-stones-sentence-following-concerted-campaign-fox-news-and-infowars</a></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no vid lnx</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Trump has commuted the prison sentence of his longtime confidant and friend Roger Stone </b>after Stone was convicted of lying to Congress and other crimes in what prosecutors said was a bid to protect Trump. Stone had been sentenced to 40 months in prison in February by a federal judge. Following legal wrangling over when Stone would have to report to prison, he was ordered to begin home confinement on June 26 and report to prison by July 14. He will now avoid serving any of his sentence in prison. </font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During a substantial portion of Stone’s legal proceedings, he was prohibited from publicly discussing his case because of several actions he took to undermine his prosecution, including posting a threatening image of the judge who oversees his case, Amy Berman Jackson, on social media. But in April, after Stone lost his bid for a new trial, the gag order was lifted.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the months leading up to Trump's announcement, Stone made a number of appearances at conservative media outlets where he disputed the verdict against him and pleaded for a pardon or a commutation. In recent days, Stone offered Trump an incentive to grant him clemency during several media appearances, saying that if Trump did so, he would be a more effective advocate for the president in the 2020 presidential election. </font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump’s commutation follows a two-pronged effort in conservative media to absolve Stone of responsibility for his crimes. Stone previously worked as a host at Infowars, which has sought to undermine the case against its former employee every step of the way. And the propagandists on Fox News who often have Trump's ear have been loudly calling for clemency for Stone for months, a gambit that clearly got the president’s attention as he repeatedly amplified their commentary on Twitter.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone was arrested in January 2019 and charged with seven federal crimes: five counts of lying to Congress, one count of obstructing an official proceeding, and one count of witness tampering. The charges arose from then-special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s interference in 2016 elections and focused on claims Stone made to Congress about his knowledge of plans by WikiLeaks to release hacked emails during the 2016 presidential campaign. As prosecutors alleged at trial, Stone’s lies to Congress were meant to shield Trump because the truth “would look really bad.”</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>In addition to being a confidant to Trump and a political “dirty trickster,” Stone has been a mainstay in conservative media, including working as a host in recent years for Alex Jones’ far-right conspiracy theory outlet Infowars. </b>That platform attempted to interfere with the trial proceedings against Stone. Before Stone was even arrested, Infowars was already conducting a publicity campaign to pin any WikiLeaks-related wrongdoing on conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi, who was also under investigation by the special counsel’s office and had also worked for Infowars but had fallen out of favor. </font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After Stone was arrested, he used his Infowars platform -- which he described as “vital” to his defense strategy -- to publicly litigate his case (he has since left the outlet). When Stone was hit with an expanded gag order after he posted an image to social media that seemed to threaten Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who was overseeing Stone’s trial, Infowars figures picked up the slack. Most notably was Infowars’ head Alex Jones, who repeatedly attempted to interfere with the administration of justice in Stone’s trial. </font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While jury selection was underway in Stone’s November trial, Jones, aided by Stone’s assistant Jacob Engels, attempted to out the identities of jurors during broadcasts of The Alex Jones Show while making wild allegations that the jurors were “minions” in a conspiracy against Stone. According to trial transcript, Jackson found that Jones’ actions put “the safety of all the people associated with this case, on both sides, and including, possibly, the jurors, at risk.” Also, before the jury even reached a verdict, Jones broadcast a message from Stone asking Trump to pardon him. Jackson asked prosecutors to brief the court on whether that action violated Stone’s gag order and prosecutors did include the incident in their sentencing memo that called for prison time for Stone. Jones has also claimed to have inside information about deliberations at the White House over whether Stone should be pardoned, claiming during his February 11 broadcast that it had already been decided that Stone would eventually receive one. Post-conviction, Jones continued his attacks on Jackson, in one instance telling her to “fill your hand, politically” -- a reference to picking up a firearm to use in a gun battle. </font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In addition to efforts by Infowars and other parts of conservative media, Fox News also waged a campaign to seek clemency for Stone.</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Hours after he was convicted of all the charges against him on November 15, Fox News host Tucker Carlson suggested that Stone should be pardoned, calling the outcome of the trial a “travesty.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">” According to reporting from The Daily Beast, the position of Carlson’s show “as a platform for pro-Stone messaging is potent enough that Trump allies who seek leniency for Stone have specifically sought to appear on the Fox News show in order to get the message to the president.” Sources close to the president told The Daily Beast that Trump watches segments about Stone on the show and discusses them with others. While Stone was under a gag order prohibiting him from discussing his case, he made an October appearance on Infowars in which he praised Carlson and other hosts at Fox News in general terms. </span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><br /></b></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>After Stone was sentenced on February 20, that night Carlson called for Trump to “pardon Stone immediately,</b>” while bemoaning the fact that “apparently there are people around the president telling him not to pardon Roger Stone or to wait until after the election.” After Stone’s gag order was lifted in April, one of his first stops was on Carlson’s show, where he claimed that going to prison would be “essentially a death sentence.” Other figures at Fox who have taken up Stone’s cause include Sean Hannity, Jesse Waters, Fox News contributor Mike Huckabee, Lou Dobbs, and Fox correspondent-at-large Geraldo Rivera. </font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The drumbeat on Fox News appeared to have worked, as the network’s coverage of Stone became fodder for the president’s Twitter account:</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Additionally, on June 27, Trump promoted an article calling for Stone’s pardon written by Tom Pappert at his conspiracy theory website National File. Pappert is a frequent Infowars guest host and his show is available for streaming at Infowars’ platform banned.video. </font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Judge Amy Jackson noticed the efforts by Infowars and Carlson on behalf of Stone and it influenced the course of the criminal proceedings. During a February 25 hearing for a motion from Stone for a retrial, “Jackson read the President's tweet attacking the Stone jury forewoman, as well as commentary from InfoWars' Alex Jones and Tucker Carlson from Fox News, to a federal courtroom, in deciding to hear testimony from jurors while protecting their identities after Stone asked for a retrial,” CNN reported.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone is the latest beneficiary of the Fox News pardon pipeline, which has been linked to more than a dozen clemency grants. Media Matters’ Matt Gertz has written extensively on the phenomenon in which “people accused of or convicted of federal crimes and their family members and lawyers have descended on the network over the past few years, using the president’s favorite programs to plead their case to him directly.”</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump’s commutation of Stone's sentence indicates a new chapter in the phenomenon: Not only will Fox News egg on Trump in capriciously wielding his clemency power -- often in support of his political allies -- but also in instances where the crime at hand was an effort to cover up the president’s own wrongdoing.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">---</font></p><h3 class="editorial-compact__title" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.33333; margin: 0px; fill: rgb(255, 255, 255) !important;"><span property="schema:name" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; outline: 0px; font-weight: normal; fill: rgb(255, 255, 255) !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">r<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/roger-stone/roger-stone-accepts-trumps-commutation-during-infowars-appearance-alex-jones" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; fill: rgb(255, 255, 255) !important;">oger Stone accepts Trump’s commutation during Infowars appearance with Alex Jones</a></font></span></h3><p class="dateline-compact" style="margin: 0.3rem 0px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; align-items: center; display: flex; letter-spacing: 2px; text-transform: uppercase; fill: rgb(255, 255, 255) !important;"><span class="dateline-compact__type" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; height: 1.5em; margin-right: 1em; width: 1.5em; fill: rgb(255, 255, 255) !important;"><svg viewbox="0 0 24 24" class="icon icon--article" aria-labelledby="icon-label--article"><font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman"><use xlink:href="#article" xmlns:xlink="xlink" /></font></font></svg></span><time datetime="2020-07-16T14:25:12-0400" style="box-sizing: border-box; fill: rgb(255, 255, 255) !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">07/16/20 2:25 PM EDT</font></time><time datetime="2020-07-16T14:25:12-0400" style="box-sizing: border-box; fill: rgb(255, 255, 255) !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">---</font></time></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">mma</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">inside the right-wing media campaign to rig the justice system in favor of Roger Stone and Donald Trump</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">02/12/20 5:07 PM EST</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tucker Carlson: Roger Stone’s arrest means anyone can be arrested just for supporting Donald Trump</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">02/20/20 9:37 PM EST</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alex Jones: Source involved in Roger Stone White House discussions says Trump will pardon him after sentencing</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">02/11/20 3:23 PM EST</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></font></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/07/did-roger-stone-really-find-jesus"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/07/did-roger-stone-really-find-jesus</font></a></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">nancy leT</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></div><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Regardless of what you think about the allegation that Roger Stone was the Trump campaign emissary to Wikileaks, no one would ever claim that he is anything but a despicable person. As the editors of the <em style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">National Review</em> <a title="wrote" href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/07/an-indefensible-commutation/" target="_blank" rel="external nofollow noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">wrote</a>, “No one would think of letting Roger Stone anywhere near any serious responsibility, and even the Trump campaign in 2016 had the sense to keep him at arm’s length.”</font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In case you aren’t familiar with his past, I suggest watching the documentary <em style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Get Me Roger Stone</em>, which is available on Netflix.</font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But now all of the sudden, Stone has found Jesus. Apparently while awaiting sentencing on his conviction for lying to investigators and witness tampering, he attended a Franklin Graham rally and became a Christian. After Trump commuted his sentence, Stone made an appearance on the Christian Broadcast Network and was interviewed by David Brody.</font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That was good enough for <a title="court evangelical" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/04/05/why-do-white-evangelicals-still-staunchly-support-donald-trump/" target="_blank" rel="external nofollow noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">court evangelical</a> Ralph Reed, who <a title="tweeted" href="https://twitter.com/ralphreed/status/1283461338371624960" target="_blank" rel="external nofollow noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">tweeted</a>, “I am grateful Roger Stone found faith in Christ and is free. His prosecution was an abuse of power. He should never have been charged.”</font></font></font></p><div class="alt_ad_block true_ad_free story-page-in-content-graph-4" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="alt_ad_msg" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 10px; background: rgb(234, 234, 234);"><div class="header" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 5px 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">AD REMOVED FOR SUBSCRIBED USER</font></font></div></div></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I am reminded of what theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer <a title="wrote" href="https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/423945-cheap-grace-means-grace-sold-on-the-market-like-cheapjacks" target="_blank" rel="external nofollow noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">wrote</a> about cheap grace.</font></font></font></p><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; position: relative; line-height: 1.7; overflow: hidden; background: rgb(245, 245, 245); border: none !important;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjacks’ wares. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices. Grace is represented as the Church’s inexhaustible treasury, from which she showers blessings with generous hands, without asking questions or fixing limits. Grace without price; grace without cost!</font></font></font></p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Roger Stone (and Donald Trump) are perfect examples of how a belief in cheap grace sets white evangelical Christians up to be easy prey for con men (<a title="and women" href="https://washingtonmonthly.com/2019/11/07/trump-hires-a-con-artist-to-provide-outreach-to-white-evangelicals/" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">and women</a>). All someone has to do is claim to have accepted Jesus as their savior and nothing else is required. Someone like Roger Stone is welcomed into the fold without ever having to name any of the despicable things they’ve done, much less be held accountable. They don’t have to commit to changing their ways or even say that they’ll try to be a better person.</font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At one point during his interview with Brody, Stone <a title="suggests" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHof2yfUuKM" target="_blank" rel="external nofollow noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">suggests</a> that he’s already changed because he isn’t interested in seeking vengeance against those who prosecuted and convicted him. That was right before he called them “satanic.”</font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I am personally someone who believes in redemption. But a spiritual encounter with God would, by nature, lead to a period of soul-searching, self-reflection, prayer, and humility—not an interview on national television that provides the opportunity to attack one’s opponents. Even Richard Nixon’s hatchet man, Charles Colson, had the good sense to devote himself to prison ministry after claiming to have found Jesus.</font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It is not my job to judge the state of Roger Stone’s soul. But I don’t ever want to be part of a religion that welcomes him with open arms—no questions asked.</font></font></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">an 720</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">F<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">rom the full Editorial Board of the</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trumps-commutation-of-roger-stones-sentence-is-an-unforgivable-betrayal-of-his-office/2020/07/10/f5cac3a4-c309-11ea-b4f6-cb39cd8940fb_story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Washington Post:</a></span></font></font></font></div><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; position: relative; line-height: 1.7; overflow: hidden; background: rgb(245, 245, 245); border: none !important;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">THERE ARE no doubt thousands of people in federal prison who deserved a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-says-hes-looking-at-pardoning-roger-stone-ahead-of-prison-term/2020/07/10/d1a1e5ea-c2b7-11ea-b4f6-cb39cd8940fb_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_1" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">presidential commutation</a> more than Roger Stone. But after President Trump’s intervention on Friday, Mr. Stone will serve none of his prison sentence. The president may have had the power to help his longtime friend. But that does not make it any less a perversion of justice — indeed, it is one of the most nauseating instances of corrupt government favoritism the United States has ever seen.</font></font></font></p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">***</font></font></font></p><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; position: relative; line-height: 1.7; overflow: hidden; background: rgb(245, 245, 245); border: none !important;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The United States is supposed to be a place in which laws apply equally to all. And while it never has — and never will — live up to that ideal in full, no modern president before Mr. Trump has so clearly renounced it. The president seems to be doing his best, within the confines of the U.S. constitutional system, to emulate the gangster leadership of Russian President Vladimir Putin, a man whose ruinous reign Mr. Trump has always admired. If the country needed any more evidence, Friday confirmed that the greatest threat to the Republic is the president himself.</font></font></font></p></blockquote><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">rww</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/longtime-trump-ally-roger-stone-i-certainly-hope-q-is-real/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: rgb(239, 243, 243); outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; display: block; padding-left: 40px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Roger Stone: ‘I Certainly Hope Q is Real’</font></a></font></font><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px; font-family: helvetica-light, " helvetica="Helvetica" light="light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" padding-left="padding-left" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">July 2, 2020 2:23 pm</font></font></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">mma 720</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/roger-stone/roger-stone-trump-pardon-me-so-i-can-be-more-effective-2020-campaigner-you" rel="bookmark" class="teaser__link" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; display: flex; outline: 0px;" /></font></font><div class="field field--name-extra-field-mmfa-replacement-primary-image field--type-extra-field field--label-hidden field__items" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/roger-stone/roger-stone-trump-pardon-me-so-i-can-be-more-effective-2020-campaigner-you" rel="bookmark" class="teaser__link" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; display: flex; outline: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></a><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/roger-stone/roger-stone-trump-pardon-me-so-i-can-be-more-effective-2020-campaigner-you" rel="bookmark" class="teaser__link" style="box-sizing: border-box; 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background: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; display: flex; outline: 0px;"><figure class="media media--image" role="group" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 1.5rem 0px 0px; width: 15rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></figure></a></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div></div><div class="teaser__content" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex: 1 1 0%; flex-direction: column; justify-content: center;"><h2 class="teaser__title" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 0.57143em;"><span property="schema:name" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Roger Stone to Trump: Pardon me so I can be a more effective 2020 campaigner for you</font></span></h2><p class="dateline-compact" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; align-items: center; display: flex; font-weight: 600; letter-spacing: 2px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span class="dateline-compact__type" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; height: 1.5em; margin-right: 1em; width: 1.5em;"><svg viewbox="0 0 24 24" class="icon icon--article" aria-labelledby="icon-label--article"><font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman"><use xlink:href="#article" xmlns:xlink="xlink" /></font></font></svg></span><time datetime="2020-07-01T11:13:27-0400" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">07/01/20 11:13 AM EDT</font></time></p></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/newly-released-fbi-documents-reveal-extent-of-roger-stones-direct-communications-with-julian-assange-report/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/newly-released-fbi-documents-reveal-extent-of-roger-stones-direct-communications-with-julian-assange-report/</font></a></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></div><div><div id="content-container" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">veteran GOP operative and long-time Donald Trump ally Roger Stone, who was sentenced to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/trump-associate-roger-stone-sentenced-3-years-4-months-prison-n1138516" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">three years in federal prison</a> in February for felonies that included witness tampering and lying to Congress, continues to vie for a <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/roger-stone-praying-pardon-prison" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">presidential pardon</a>. Meanwhile, FBI documents continue to offer insights on Stone’s past communications with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange: according to <a href="https://apnews.com/ce9a4541f903109079900528d9f0a9e7" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">FBI documents</a> made public this week<b>, Stone asserted in a 2017 direct message via Twitter that if prosecutors came for him, “I will bring down the entire house of cards.”</b></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Associated Press (AP) is reporting that FBI documents show that Stone sent that message weeks after former FBI Director Robert Mueller was appointed to head the Russia investigation. According to AP reporters Eric Tucker, Colleen Long and Michael Balsamo, the FBI records “reveal the extent of communications between Stone and Assange, whose anti-secrecy website published Democratic e-mails hacked by Russians during the 2016 presidential election, and underscore efforts by Trump allies to gain insight about the release of information they expected would embarrass Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.”</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">FBI records, according to AP, show that in a direct Twitter message sent in<b> June 2017, Stone “reassured Assange that the issue was ‘still nonsense’ and said, ‘As a journalist, it doesn’t matter where you get information — only that it is accurate and authentic.”</b></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Stone, AP reports, mentioned a 1971 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that paved the way for newspapers and magazines to publish the Pentagon Papers — documents about the Vietnam War that had been classified. The Trump ally, via Twitter, told Assange, “If the US government moves on you, I will bring down the entire house of cards. With the trumped-up sexual assault charges dropped, I don’t know of any crime you need to be pardoned for — best regards. R.”</b></font></font></font></p><div class="alt_ad_block true_ad_free story-page-in-content-graph-4" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="alt_ad_msg" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 10px; background: rgb(234, 234, 234);"><div class="header" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 5px 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">AD REMOVED FOR SUBSCRIBED USER</font></font></div></div></div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone, in that message, appeared to be referring to the Swedish government’s sexual assault case against Assange, which was dropped.</font></font></font></p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="cp-load-after-post" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /></font></font></font><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></font></p></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-align: center;"><div id="lightbox-inline-form-ae0a1a76-b06b-45e5-9d44-8cc41de9ef21" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" align="center"><div id="lightbox-inline-form-b00052c7-64de-4049-944f-8160479112fb" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="survey_container" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/survey-do-you-trust-donald-trump-to-be-honest-during-this-pandemic/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;" /></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div></div><div><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/survey-do-you-trust-donald-trump-to-be-honest-during-this-pandemic/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"><font color="#000000" /></a><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/survey-do-you-trust-donald-trump-to-be-honest-during-this-pandemic/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></a><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/survey-do-you-trust-donald-trump-to-be-honest-during-this-pandemic/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;" /><a href="https://www.alternet.org/survey-do-you-trust-donald-trump-to-be-honest-during-this-pandemic/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;" /><a href="https://www.alternet.org/survey-do-you-trust-donald-trump-to-be-honest-during-this-pandemic/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;" /><a href="https://www.alternet.org/survey-do-you-trust-donald-trump-to-be-honest-during-this-pandemic/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">==</a></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/survey-do-you-trust-donald-trump-to-be-honest-during-this-pandemic/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">420 jurors in danger?! judge nix new trial? flipbd</font></a></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/survey-do-you-trust-donald-trump-to-be-honest-during-this-pandemic/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">===</font></a></font></font></font></font></font></font></p></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/survey-do-you-trust-donald-trump-to-be-honest-during-this-pandemic/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">==</font></a></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/60-minutes/fiona-hill-tells-60-minutes-about-receiving-death-threats-after-she-was-targeted-roger"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.mediamatters.org/60-minutes/fiona-hill-tells-60-minutes-about-receiving-death-threats-after-she-was-targeted-roger</font></a></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">220 new</font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">note when trump targets, thugswarm or worse follows</font></span></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/roger-stone/roger-stones-right-wing-media-allies-grasp-straws-attacks-judge-amy-berman-jackson"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.mediamatters.org/roger-stone/roger-stones-right-wing-media-allies-grasp-straws-attacks-judge-amy-berman-jackson</font></a></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no docs</font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><br /></b></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p dir="ltr" style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Right-wing media figures who are attacking Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who recently sentenced Trump confidant and friend Roger Stone to prison, either don’t understand the basic mechanisms of the federal legal system or don’t want their viewers to.</b></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>On February 20, Jackson <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/20/politics/roger-stone-sentencing-hearing/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">sentenced</a> Stone to 40 months in prison after a jury <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/roger-stone-found-guilty-counts/story?id=67015102" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">convicted</a> him of seven charges <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">stemming from special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe,</span></b> including lying to Congress, obstructing an official proceeding, and witness tampering. Jackson, however, put a decision on hold about when Stone would report to prison while she considers a motion from Stone’s legal team for a new trial based on a claim that the jury foreperson was biased against Stone.</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A hearing was held on that topic on February 25 and Jackson has yet to rule, though <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/25/judge-rebukes-trump-roger-stone-jury-117442" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">according</a> to Politico she “appears headed toward dismissing the defendant’s motion for a new trial” after Stone’s legal team failed to make a convincing argument. In any case, Trump has signaled that he is receptive to calls from Stone’s right-wing media defenders to issue a pardon that would eliminate Stone’s prison sentence. According to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/02/25/roger-stone-received-fair-trial-attacking-jurors-undermines-our-service/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Seth Cousins</a>, who served on the jury, the foreperson actually “expressed skepticism at some of the government’s claims and was one of the last people to vote to convict on the charge that took most of our deliberation time.” Cousins also wrote that the foreperson “oversaw a rigorous process, slowing us down on several occasions and advocating for the rights of the defendant.” Still, Stone’s allies and Trump himself have waged a public campaign against the foreperson, including <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/25/judge-rebukes-trump-roger-stone-jury-117442" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">during</a> yesterday’s hearing. </font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>In addition to attacks on the foreperson, Stone defenders are launching attacks on Jackson herself, including baselessly calling into question her impartiality and even spreading falsehoods about how Jackson would conduct the post-conviction retrial hearing. </b></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">During his February 25 radio broadcast, Fox News host Sean Hannity <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/sean-hannity-launches-unhinged-attack-against-judge-roger-stone-trial" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">said</a>, “You had a political activist judge running the show, the same judge in the [Paul] Manafort case,”</span> before asking, “How is it these judges, lifetime appointments, they get away with murder?” Similarly, Fox News host Tucker Carlson <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/tucker-carlson/tucker-carlson-calls-judge-roger-stone-case-corrupt-dishonest-and-authoritarian-and" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">scandalized</a> the fact that Jackson “was appointed by Barack Obama” in order to call her “an openly partisan Democrat.” He also said that she is “a disgrace to the judiciary” and is “corrupt, dishonest and authoritarian.”</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It is a basic fact of our political system that federal judges are nominated by presidents who are members of political parties and these judges <a href="https://www.uscourts.gov/judges-judgeships/about-federal-judges" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">serve</a> lifetime appointments “during good behavior.” And it’s a basic fact of life that some criminal defendants will be charged with federal crimes that arise out of political matters, which is what happened in Stone’s case. There is a simple reason that Jackson is presiding over both the Stone and former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort cases. She was <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/defendants-special-counsels-probe-path-justice-starts-judge/story?id=61083213" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">randomly assigned</a> the Manafort case and it is the standard practice of the federal judiciary system to then give judges any other cases that may have overlapping evidence.</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Prior to being assigned a number of cases stemming from the Mueller investigation, Jackson sentenced a high-profile political figure to prison -- a Democrat -- and arguably showed less leniency than she did in Stone’s case. </font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>In 2013, Jackson sentenced former member of Congress Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) to 30 months in prison and fined him $750,000 </b>after a jury convicted him of illegally using campaign funds. Prosecutors had <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-crime-jackson/ex-u-s-congressman-jesse-jackson-jr-sentenced-to-30-months-in-prison-idUSBRE97D10B20130814" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">recommended</a> Jackson Jr. spend four years in prison, meaning Jackson sentenced him to 63% of the time prosecutors requested. While <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/02/19/dojs-reversal-roger-stone-sentencing-worries-prosecutors-judges/4805363002/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">senior officials</a> of the Justice Department <a href="https://www.lawfareblog.com/what-really-happened-roger-stone-sentencing" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">interfered</a> in the sentencing recommendation against Stone, when the sentencing hearing took place, newly assigned prosecutors to the case <a href="https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/483902-prosecutor-defends-initial-doj-recommendation-at-stone-sentencing" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">ended up defending</a> the initial recommendation of seven to nine years. Jackson sentenced Stone to 40 months in prison, or 37-47% of what prosecutors asked for. Stone was <a href="https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/roger-stone-sentencing/h_c11aacd6f1780974d7f7b82b0023ec83" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">fined</a> $20,000.</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">False information about how Jackson would conduct the hearing for a new trial was also broadcast on Fox News by its chief legal analyst Andrew Napolitano. During a February 25 appearance hours before the hearing, Napolitano <a href="https://video.foxnews.com/v/6135723464001#sp=show-clips" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">joined</a> <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Fox & Friends</em> and characterized the hearing as “secret” while claiming Jackson “won’t give a reason why” and saying, “You combine secrecy and silence and that is a recipe for <b>totalitarianism.”</b></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The publicly available docket for Stone’s trial shows that wasn’t the case:</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[doc]</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">as the docket text explains, a public hearing and a sealed hearing was scheduled for February 25. After the public hearing, where members of the public could sit in the courtroom, Jackson <a href="https://twitter.com/dsamuelsohn/status/1232380418046951425" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">cleared the room</a>, but said that <a href="https://twitter.com/dsamuelsohn/status/1232382177121329152" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">audio of the hearing</a> would be available in a listening room. The purpose of this move was solely to protect the publishing of the names and physical characteristics of members of the jury, who had been gathered at the courthouse for potential questioning. The public was still free to listen to and evaluate the substance of the hearing. The transcript of the hearing <a href="https://twitter.com/dsamuelsohn/status/1232380625463762945" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">will also not be sealed</a> and will only be redacted in instances of personal information. (In any case, the jury foreperson, who <a href="https://twitter.com/dsamuelsohn/status/1232423026324623363" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">was questioned</a>, had previously publicly identified herself in a social media post, and the media subsequently <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/25/roger-stone-judge-cites-trump-tweet-on-juror-in-hearing-on-new-trial.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">reported</a> her identity.) Jackson also offered a rationale for her decision, contrary to what Napolitano claimed was happening. </font></font></font></font></font></font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p dir="ltr" style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">As <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/25/politics/roger-stone-hearing-juror-amy-berman-jackson/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">reported</a> by CNN, “Jackson read one of the President's past tweets attacking the Stone jury forewoman, as well as commentary from InfoWars' Alex Jones and Tucker Carlson from Fox News, to a federal courtroom, in deciding to hear testimony from jurors while protecting their identities after Stone asked for a retrial.</span>” Indeed during the trial, Jones’ far-right conspiracy theory Infowars outlet, where Stone previously worked as a show host, led <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/roger-stone/alex-jones-trying-out-identity-potential-roger-stone-trial-juror-help-stones-assistant" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">a campaign</a> to <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/alex-jones/alex-jones-threatens-out-jury-roger-stone-trial" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">out</a> juror identities while making <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/alex-jones/alex-jones-vows-release-name-potential-juror-roger-stone-trial" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">disparaging</a> remarks about them. During the trial, Jackson said that those efforts put peoples’ <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/446788513/Roger-Stone-initial-sentencing-memo" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">safety at risk</a>. </font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The attacks from conservative media against Jackson are intertwined with Trump’s own attacks against the judge. While the hearing was underway, Trump shared on Twitter a Fox News article about Jackson that Napolitano had tweeted, adding, “A total miscarriage of justice!”</font></font></font></font></font></font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--twitter-tweet paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="field field--name-field-twitter-tweet field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/roger-stone-judge-trial-amy-berman-jackson-president-trump" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">article</a> in question was published on February 22 and in it<b> Trump-supporting lawyer David Schoen </b>argued that Jackson should be removed from the case because at sentencing she offered generic praise of the jury’s work -- the same legal argument that Stone’s lawyers used in a filing that Jackson would <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/23/roger-stone-judge-berman-jackson-117066" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">dismiss</a> days later in a “sharply worded order” that “dressed down Stone's defense team for using the court's docket to air what she said were meritless claims that she is biased against him.”</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">---</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">related s</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ean Hannity launches unhinged attack against judge in Roger Stone trial</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">02/25/20</span> </font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Inside the right-wing media campaign to rig the justice system in favor of Roger Stone and Donald Trump</b></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/roger-stone/inside-right-wing-media-campaign-rig-justice-system-protect-roger-stone-and-donald"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.mediamatters.org/roger-stone/inside-right-wing-media-campaign-rig-justice-system-protect-roger-stone-and-donald</font></a></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">namy lnx 2 vid</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alex Jones' Infowars interfered with criminal proceedings against Stone at every step, and Fox's Tucker Carlson is leading demands that Stone be pardoned</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">WRITTEN BY TIMOTHY JOHNSON</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">PUBLISHED 02/12/20 </font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Right-wing media outlets, led by Trump allies at Infowars and Fox News, have waged a months-long campaign to interfere with criminal proceedings against Roger Stone. Now that Stone has been convicted of seven felonies and is facing the possibility of significant jail time, his conservative and far-right media defenders are drumming up support for President Donald Trump to pardon him. </font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Longtime Trump confidant and friend Stone, who prosecutors argued committed his crimes in a bid to protect Trump, will be sentenced in federal court on February 20, though Trump could issue a pardon at any time. In recent days, Stone’s case has been thrown into chaos, as leaders at the Department of Justice have meddled with the sentencing recommendations of the DOJ line prosecutors who tried Stone in court, resulting in all four prosecutors withdrawing from the case.</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CitationVideo by Miles Le </font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>After Stone was arrested, he used his Infowars platform to publicly litigate his case</b></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone was arrested in Florida on January 25, 2019, during an early morning FBI raid of his house and subsequently charged with seven felonies related to special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe, including lying to Congress, intimidating a witness, and obstructing an official proceeding. After appearing in court that day and being released on his own recognizance, he made his first media appearance on Infowars, where at the time he was a co-host of the weekday afternoon show War Room. Speaking with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, Stone denied he had committed any crimes and promised not to testify against Trump, saying, “There’s no circumstance in which I would bear false witness against the president.” (In December 2018, Trump had faced allegations of witness tampering after he approvingly tweeted a purported quote from Stone that said, “I will never testify against Trump.”) Stone also promoted his legal defense fund several times. </font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Stone’s immediate run to Infowars made sense.</b> The outlet had already been doing damage control for Stone as it became increasingly apparent he was in legal jeopardy. Infowars had been waging a public relations campaign against former Infowars employee Jerome Corsi in an attempt to pin any 2016 election-related wrongdoing on Corsi -- who at the time appeared to have significant legal exposure from Mueller -- rather than Stone. Part of the pressure campaign involved Infowars warning Corsi not to give inculpatory testimony during a grand jury appearance about Stone’s involvement in WikiLeaks’ dissemination of hacked emails, the issue Stone would later be convicted of lying to Congress over. </font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Infowars then became Stone’s public forum to litigate the charges against him.</b> In an appearance four days after his arrest, Stone attempted to explain away the witness tampering charge he was later convicted of. On his show War Room, Stone said he hadn’t encouraged radio host Randy Credico to lie to Congress to prevent him from implicating Stone in a crime, but rather so that Credico’s liberal friends wouldn’t find out he supported Trump and get mad at him.</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Stone continued to use Infowars to attack his critics</b>. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">During the February 8 edition of his show, Stone complained about “leftist retards” talking about his upcoming trial. On February 12, he mentioned<b> CNN commentator Ana Navarro,</b> asking, “What qualifies her other than her ethnicity to comment on anything?” and saying, “Let’s see if she celebrates my acquittal,” before calling her “porquita.</span>” During the broadcast, he also highlighted the role of Infowars in his legal defense, saying, “I’ve told you about the vital role that Infowars plays in the strategy for my defense. If I can’t come here, if I can’t come on The Alex Jones Show, if I can’t come on the morning show with David Knight, if I can’t come on the War Room, then there’s no forum where I can really go to tell people the complete story about what’s going on.”</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Stone also used Infowars to praise his friend, the president. During the February 18 broadcast of The Alex Jones Show, he alleged that Trump was the victim of a “globalist” coup attempt </span>led by elements in the FBI and DOJ and railed against the special counsel office, which was leading the criminal prosecution against him. Stone also flattered Trump, saying, “If he’s so incapacitated, why do we have 4.8 million new jobs, for example?” He added that Trump is a “leader” who is “keeping faith with the very people that voted for him.”</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>After Stone was placed under a gag order for posting an image showing firearm crosshairs next to the judge in his case, Infowars picked up the slack</b></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But Stone also did something on February 18 that would stop him from fighting his legal case through Infowars when he posted an image on Instagram that showed the federal judge overseeing his case, Amy Berman Jackson, next to apparent firearm crosshairs.</span> Stone was already operating under a gag order that prevented him from speaking about his case on the steps of the courthouse where it was being tried, but Jackson expanded the order in a February 21 hearing to prohibit Stone from talking about his case anywhere, with the caveat that he could still profess his innocence and solicit money for his legal defense fund. </font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>But Stone’s boss, Alex Jones, picked up where he left off. </b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">During a February 25 broadcast, Jones compared Judge Jackson to Hitler and attempted to link Mueller to Jeffrey Epstein.</span> He also echoed language Stone had used on his show, claiming that Stone was being pressured “to bear false witness against the president” and also addressed Trump directly, saying, “And we can talk about how great Trump is all day, but he’s asleep at the switch. Tweets don’t do it, President; protect us.”</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As Stone’s trial approached, he stopped appearing on Infowars but continued to go right up to the line imposed by his gag order in other public forums. During an April interview with pro-Trump propaganda outlet One America News Network, Stone complained that he was facing “process crime charges,” echoing a right-wing media talking point that had been used to attack the charges against him. In July, Stone again ran afoul of the gag order after Jackson agreed with prosecutors who said some of his Instagram posts counted as disallowed commentary on his case. Stone was banned from using social media as a result of the violation. </font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Stone made one exception to his silence on Infowars while he was under gag in the pre-trial phase. In an October 25 appearance, he discussed topics unrelated to his case and made flattering comments about Donald Trump Jr. and Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham.</b></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alex Jones and his Infowars outlet attempted to interfere with the trial process in a way that the court said put people in danger</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone’s trial occurred in November, and Infowars attempted to interfere on his behalf -- Stone had since officially left the outlet -- throughout the proceedings. During the jury selection phase, Infowars attempted to out the identities of jurors on the trial with the help of Jacob Engels, Stone’s assistant. Amid the outing attempts, in which they named at least two people who were not actually on the jury, Jones attacked the jurors, claiming that they were involved in a setup against Stone. According to a transcript from the trial cited in a Department of Justice sentencing memo, Jackson said that Jones’ actions caused “great consternation among members of the public” and put “the safety of all the people associated with this case, on both sides, and including, possibly, the jurors, at risk.”</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As the jury deliberated, Stone passed a message through Alex Jones asking Trump to pardon him</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The sentencing memo also mentioned Jones with respect to an incident that occured while the jury was deliberating Stone’s case. During his November 14 broadcast, Jones shared a purported message from Stone in which Stone said, “I appeal to the president to pardon me because to do so would be an action that would show these corrupt courts that they’re not going to get away with persecuting people for their free speech or for the crime of getting the president elected.” Jones then encouraged people to call the White House to demand Stone be pardoned and continued to attack the “libtard jurors.”</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Video file</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">05:06</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CitationFrom the November 14, 2019, broadcast of Infowars' The Alex Jones Show</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Other right-wing media figures -- and even more extreme right-wingers -- have joined Infowars in campaigning for a pardon for Stone</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone was convicted on all counts the next day, November 15. Reacting to the news on air, Jones read an angry text message from one of Stone’s lawyers that said Jones’ broadcast of Stone’s pardon request almost caused Stone to be remanded into custody immediately upon conviction, as the ongoing gag order also prohibited Stone from commenting on his case in public forums through surrogates. Jones defended his conduct by saying he was just “doing what Roger said.” Post-conviction, many other members of right-wing media -- most notably <b>Tucker Carlson on his Fox News broadcast -- publicly pleaded with Trump to issue a pardon.</b> According to reporting from The Daily Beast, sources close to Trump say that “as a platform for pro-Stone messaging,” Carlson’s show “is potent enough that Trump allies who seek leniency for the Stone have specifically sought to appear … in order to get the message to the president” and that Trump watches segments about Stone on the show and discusses them with others. </font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Between conviction and sentencing, Infowars’ advocacy for Stone crossed into the territory of<b> violent rhetoric. During a late November broadcast, Stone’s former co-host Owen Shroyer said, “Roger Stone’s fate is our fate</b></span><b>. So if Roger Stone gets thrown in jail and dies in jail, that’s the rest of our fate. We’re all going to die from these left-wing politicos, whether that’s in jail or from a bullet [in] the head.”</b> Stone’s assistant Engels cited the saying “would you rather die on your knees or die fighting standing up?” and Shroyer responded, “<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">We’re not calling for violence. … But let me tell you, when you start to use the government and these bureaucracies against us, and you take away our freedom of speech, and you take away our right to a fair trial, and you take away our right to bear arms, what are we supposed to do? We’re not going to be your d<b>amn slaves.</b>”</span></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Video file</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">01:33</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CitationFrom the November 26, 2019, edition of Infowars The War Room</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As the sentencing date approached, chaos reigned while high-level DOJ figures interfered in the case</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After an extension, Stone’s sentencing was scheduled for February 20. The latest flashpoint in the case began on February 10, when the DOJ and Stone’s attorneys submitted their sentencing recommendations to the court. While Stone’s attorneys asked for no jail time, the DOJ recommended seven to nine years, garnering a late-night tweet from Trump about the “horrible and very unfair” recommendation. Chaos ensued on February 11 when reports began circulating that the DOJ would issue an amended sentencing recommendation. All four of the federal prosecutors who worked on the initial sentencing memo quit the case (one prosecutor left the DOJ altogether) and an amended sentencing memo calling the initial recommendation excessive was filed with the court. As rumors swirled throughout the day about the modified memo, Fox News’ Sean Hannity said on his radio show, “Something is happening that is very deep. I'm telling you this is a big deal.” Later, he praised the DOJ’s move to amend the memo on his Fox News broadcast.</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Throughout Stone’s criminal trial saga, Infowars has repeatedly promoted in videos and articles the catchphrase “free Roger Stone.”</b> In reaction to the initial sentencing memo, Infowars.com published an article criticizing the filing that provided readers with a phone number to call the White House to ask Trump to pardon Stone. On air, Jones purported to share inside information about internal discussions in the White House about Stone’s fate. Jones said that he talked to “somebody this morning who was there inside the White House meetings dealing with” the Stone situation and that Trump would issue a pardon for Stone following the February 20 sentencing. The pardon push was also seen in (slightly) more mainstream conservative media, with Carlson demanding during his February 11 broadcast that Trump pardon Stone.</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Video file</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">00:59</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CitationFrom the February 11, 2020, edition of Fox News' Tucker Carlson Tonight</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If Stone is pardoned, he would be the latest beneficiary of a corrupt system in which Trump grants pardons based on what he sees on conservative media</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone’s allies are prescient to make the pardon case through conservative media. In November, Media Matters’ Matt Gertz chronicled the “Fox News pardon pipeline” and concluded that “Donald Trump’s Fox News obsession is directly linked to at least nine of his grants of executive clemency.” Despite its extreme character, Infowars has also apparently been previously influential in at least one pardon situation. Former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was pardoned by Trump before he could be sentenced for refusing to comply with a court order that enjoined his racially discriminatory law enforcement practices, credited Infowars with his clemency grant. Appearing on The Alex Jones Show in August 2017, Arpaio praised Infowars as having real influence in getting his story before Trump inside the White House. </font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Arpaio’s pardon was granted following months of Infowars public advocacy.</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">THE LATEST</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Alex Jones’ Infowars is attempting to profit from the coronavirus outbreak</b></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">02/29/20 12:46 PM EST</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Passenger from cruise ship where multiple people died of coronavirus tells Fox News that the disease is overhyped</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">02/29/20 12:37 PM EST</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At CPAC, Glenn Beck says the Bernie Sanders “revolution” will lead to “another Holocaust”</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">02/29/20 12:28 PM EST</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fox & Friends agrees with Trump that coronavirus is a “hoax”</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">02/29/20 10:51 AM EST</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CNN’s Michael Smerconish: “Can either coronavirus or Bernie Sanders be stopped?”</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">02/29/20 10:26 AM EST</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">IN THIS ARTICLE</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Roger Stone</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Roger-Stone-MMFA-Tag.png</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alex Jones</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alex-Jones-MMFA-Tag.png</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tucker Carlson</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tucker-Carlson-MMFA-Tag.pngMORE</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">213 COMMENTS</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Related</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tucker Carlson demands Donald Trump pardon Roger Stone</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">02/11/20 9:05 PM EST</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alex Jones: Source involved in Roger Stone White House discussions says Trump will pardon him after sentencing</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">02/11/20 3:23 PM EST</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sean Hannity on Roger Stone sentencing: “Something is happening that is very deep, I'm telling you this is a big deal.”</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">02/11/20 4:16 PM EST</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></font></font></font></font></font></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">stone619</font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/02/roger-stone-sentenced-to-40-months-in-prison/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/02/roger-stone-sentenced-to-40-months-in-prison/</font></a></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">F<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">ederal Judge Amy Berman Jackson on Thursday sentenced Roger Stone to 40 months in prison for lying to Congress, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering. At the same time, Jackson criticized President Donald Trump’s unprecedented meddling in a case that involved his own conduct.</span></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><aside class="pullquote-left" style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; position: relative; width: 273px; margin: 0.75rem 2rem 1.25rem 0px; padding: 1rem 0px 0px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-top: 12px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: italic; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-weight: bold; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.3; letter-spacing: -1px; float: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The dismay and disgust at the defendant’s belligerence should transcend party.”</font></font></font></font></font></font></aside><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The truth still exists; the truth still matters,” Jackson said, in a rebuke of Stone’s lawyers’ argument that his lies to Congress were insignificant. “Roger Stone’s insistence that it doesn’t, his belligerence, his pride in his own lies are a threat to our most fundamental institutions, to the foundations of our democracy. If it goes unpunished, it will not be a victory for one party or another. Everyone loses.”</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The dismay and disgust at the defendant’s belligerence should transcend party,” she said.</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A jury in November found Stone guilty on all seven counts with which he was charged. During the 2016 presidential contest, Stone, a longtime political adviser to Trump, established himself as an apparent intermediary between Trump’s campaign and WikiLeaks, according to <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/11/steve-bannon-says-trump-team-saw-roger-stone-as-access-point-to-assange/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px">testimony</a> at Stone’s trial. In public, Stone bragged that he had inside information on WikiLeaks’ plans to release emails stolen from Democrats, including from Clinton campaign chair John Podesta. In private, Stone <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/11/stone-trial-reveals-trump-likely-lied-to-mueller/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px">gave</a> Trump and other campaign officials updates on what hacked emails WikiLeaks planned to release, his trial revealed. </font></font></font></font></font></font></p><div class="incontent-promo" id="incontent_promo_1" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: rgb(242, 243, 239); position: relative; left: -358.156px; height: auto; width: 100vw; margin-bottom: 1rem; clear: both;"><section id="mj-incontent-ad-widget-4" class="widget mj-incontent-ad-widget" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="incontent-ad-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-width: 1300px; margin: 0px auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px;" /></section></div><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But in testimony to the House Intelligence Committee in 2017, Stone <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/11/roger-stone-was-just-convicted-on-all-counts/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px">lied</a> by claiming that he had not communicated with the Trump campaign about what he claimed to have learned regarding WikiLeaks’ plans to release emails, and by <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/11/roger-stones-trial-is-going-very-badly-for-roger-stone/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px">denying</a> that he had exchanged emails or texts related to WikiLeaks or its founder, Julian Assange, among other topics. Stone also lied by telling the committee that his intermediary to WikiLeaks was Randy Credico, a comedian and radio host who had interviewed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in August 2016.</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It remains unclear whether Stone really did have insider info about Wikileaks’ intentions. Jackson addressed that issue Thursday. “Whether or not Stone was ever actually in communication with Assange, he understood full well” that news of his role as a supposed go-between for Trump campaign with WikiLeaks “could reflect badly on the president,” she said. The judge cited emails that suggest Stone was eager to hide actions in order to protect Trump.</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jackson emphasized Thursday that Stone’s prosecution was not a result of his political activity, saying it came about because “he inserted himself smack in the middle of one of the most incendiary issues of the day” and lied to Congress when questioned about it. “He was not prosecuted, as some have complained, for standing up for the president,” she said. “He was prosecuted for covering up for the president.”</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><div style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></font></font></font></font></font></div><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Prosecutors argued during Stone’s trial that when Credico threatened to reveal that Stone had misled lawmakers, Stone tried to silence him with threats—including an April 2018 <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/05/roger-stone-to-associate-prepare-to-die/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px">email</a> in which he told Credico: “Prepare to die, cocksucker.” In a sentencing <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/02/roger-stone-prosecutors-sentence-nine-years/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px">recommendation</a> earlier this month, the prosecutors who tried the case, all career government employees, said that email <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/02/roger-stone-prosecutors-sentence-nine-years/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px">constituted</a> a threat to cause physical harm to a witness. Under federal sentencing guidelines, that meant a longer recommended prison sentence: seven to nine years.</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">News of that sentence recommendation drew Trump’s ire. In a 1:48 am <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/02/justice-department-will-recommend-lighter-sentence-for-roger-stone-after-trump-tweet/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px">tweet</a> the next morning, he decried “a horrible and very unfair situation.” That was just one in an ongoing series of tweets in which Trump has attacked the prosecutors, jurors, and judge in the case. The next day, the Justice Department <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/02/justice-department-will-recommend-lighter-sentence-for-roger-stone-after-trump-tweet/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px">said</a> it would issue a new, more lenient, sentence recommendation for Stone, a move that caused all four prosecutors on the case to withdraw in protest.</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Attorney General William Barr later <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/ag-barr-blasts-trumps-tweets-abc-news-exclusive-68971790" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px">admitted</a> he had intervened in the case, but he claimed he had decided to do so prior to Trump’s tweet. Barr’s action nevertheless drew <a href="https://medium.com/@dojalumni/doj-alumni-statement-on-the-events-surrounding-the-sentencing-of-roger-stone-c2cb75ae4937" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px">calls</a> <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/02/donald-ayer-bill-barr-must-resign/606670/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px">for</a> his resignation, and the fallout left the attorney general <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2020/02/bill-barr-tells-trump-to-shut-up/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px">scrambling</a> to <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/barr-mulls-resigning-trumps-tweets-sources/story?id=69060616" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px">distance</a> himself from Trump’s efforts to influence the department. Trump went so far as to <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1230513001054097415" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px">tweet</a> again about Stone’s case during Thursday’s sentencing hearing. His comments have drawn speculation that he might pardon Stone, perhaps before Stone is sent to prison, which will not occur for at least a few weeks as his lawyers pursue a long-shot request for a new trial.</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump suggested to reporters later Thursday that he wouldn’t make a decision on a pardon while a motion by Stone’s for a new trial is still pending. “I’m not going to do anything in terms of the great powers bestowed upon a president of the United States,” Trump said. “I want the process to play out. I think that’s the best thing to do because I would love to see Roger exonerated.”</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">John Crabb—one of the prosecutors in the DC US attorney’s office who took over the case after the prior prosecutors withdrew—said in court Thursday that the government continued to support a longer sentence for Stone. “This enhancement applies,” Crabb said. “And we ask the court to apply it.” In taking that position, the new prosecutors seemed to distance themselves from the Justice Department’s efforts to reduce the recommended sentence. Crabb also defended the “good faith” of the earlier prosecutors and said the Stone’s prosecution was “righteous.”</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><div class="incontent-promo" id="incontent_promo_3" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: rgb(242, 243, 239); position: relative; left: -358.156px; height: auto; width: 100vw; margin-bottom: 1rem; clear: both;"><section id="mj-incontent-ad-widget-11" class="widget mj-incontent-ad-widget" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="incontent-ad-container" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-width: 1300px; margin: 0px auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px;" /></section></div><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jackson said she agreed with Crabb’s reasoning, but the sentence she ultimately settled on was less than half of what prosecutors had originally asked for.</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jackson also called Barr’s involvement in case “unprecedented” and pressed Crabb to explain the Justice Department’s shifting sentencing recommendations. Crabb declined, however, saying was not permitted to discussion “internal deliberations.”</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump’s intervention in Stone’s case has been widely denounced as improper, with many critics faulting him for intervening to help a friend. But Trump has a personal stake in Stone’s sentence. Stone likely has information on Trump’s interest in and knowledge of WikiLeaks’ plans to release hacked Democratic emails, but Stone has said he will not cooperate against Trump. The trial also revealed that Trump <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/11/stone-trial-reveals-trump-likely-lied-to-mueller/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px">likely</a> <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/11/congress-is-now-investigating-whether-trump-lied-to-mueller/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px">lied</a> to special counsel Robert Mueller when Trump <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/10/how-roger-stones-trial-could-be-a-nightmare-for-donald-trump/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; background-position: 0px 90%; background-image: url(" wp-content="wp-content" themes="themes" motherjones="motherjones" css="css" img="img" orange-border.png="orange-border.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" repeat-x="repeat-x" text-shadow="text-shadow" rgb="rgb" px="px">claimed</a> in writing that he did not recall communicating with Stone in the summer of 2016 about WikiLeaks.</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jackson on Thursday took aim at Trump’s recent statements, which have included attacks on her, and on a juror in the case. “The court cannot be influenced by those comments,” the judge said. “They were entirely inappropriate.” She also said that the case highlights the importance of having neutral judge make legal rulings. “Not someone who has a longstanding friendship with the defendant,” she said. “Not someone whose political career was aided by the defendant, and surely not someone whose personal involvement underlined the case.”</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/dirty-trickster-revealed-here-are-5-of-the-sleaziest-things-roger-stone-did-before-joining-the-trump-campaign-2/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/dirty-trickster-revealed-here-are-5-of-the-sleaziest-things-roger-stone-did-before-joining-the-trump-campaign-2/</font></a></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">nolnx</font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">‘Dirty trickster’ revealed: Here are 5 of the sleaziest things Roger Stone did before joining the Trump Campaign</font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Image via Fox News.</font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Alex Henderson February 20, 2020</font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">long before he became known for some of the shadiest machinations in the ongoing Trump-Russia scandal, the 66-year-old Stone, who returned to the GOP in 2015 after being registered as a Libertarian for three years, had a dark history in right-wing politics dating back to the Nixon era.</font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone is a self-described “dirty trickster,” and he takes great pride in it. Here are five of Stone’s sleaziest pre-Trump campaign activities.</font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone was fired by Sen. Bob Dole in the ‘70s for being a Nixonian ‘dirty trickster’</font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone, born in 1952, was in his late teens when he became an aide for President Richard Nixon’s 1972 reelection campaign. Although Stone has insisted that he never did anything illegal during the Watergate scandal, he has described his work during that period as “trafficking in the black arts.” After Nixon stepped down as president in August 1974 because of Watergate, Stone went to work for Sen. Bob Dole. However, he wasn’t in Dole’s employ very long; the Kansas senator fired him after he was identified by syndicated columnist Jack Anderson as being a “dirty trickster” for Nixon. One of Stone’s tricks was hiring a Republican operative to infiltrate the 1972 presidential campaign of Democrat George McGovern, who suffered a landslide defeat when Nixon was reelected.</font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone is a self-described ‘Nixonite’</font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During Watergate, many prominent Republicans — including Sen. Barry Goldwater — distanced themselves from President Nixon. But Stone is one GOP operative who is openly proud of his work with Nixon and has bragged about being a “Nixonite.” In 2008, the New Yorker quoted Stone as saying, “The reason I’m a Nixonite is because of his indestructibility and resilience. He never quit. His whole career was all built around his personal resentment of elitism. It was the poor-me syndrome.”</font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone and Paul Manafort represented Ferdinand Marcos and other corrupt dictators</font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone and Paul Manafort — Trump’s former 2016 campaign chairman and another major target of Mueller’s Russia investigation — go way back: when a 24-year-old Stone became president of the Young Republicans in 1977, Manafort was the one managing his campaign. And they went on to work together on Ronald Reagan’s 1980 presidential campaign. In 1980, Stone and Manafort, along with their associate Charlie Black, formed the right-wing Washington, DC lobbying group Black, Manafort & Stone, which not only represented Republicans in the U.S. but also corrupt dictators ranging from Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines to Mobuto Sese Seko in the Congo. As bad as the Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs Manafort worked with in the 2000s and 2010s were, some of the dictators, tyrants and thugs that Stone and Manafort represented in the 1980s were even worse.</font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone was a lobbyist for Angola’s brutal Jonah Savimbi</font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In addition to working with dictators like Marcos and Seko, the firm Black, Manafort & Stone represented Jonah Savimbi — whose National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA in Portuguese) tried to overthrow Angola’s Marxist government in the 1980s. According to Human Rights Watch, UNITA was ruthless and “used terror as a policy to obtain supplies and coerce and intimidate civilians. Indiscriminate killings, mutilation of limbs or ears and beatings were used by rebels to punish suspected government sympathizers or as a warning against betraying UNITA.”</font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone advised Al Sharpton in 2004 — hoping to divide Democrats</font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In his 2004 Democratic presidential primary campaign, the Rev. Al Sharpton had an unlikely advisor: Roger Stone, who helped the civil rights activist craft a message against Howard Dean (another Democrat who ran in that primary). When Sharpton stressed that Dean, as governor of Vermont, hadn’t had any blacks or Latinos in his cabinet, that messaging came from Stone — who, in a 2004 interview with the New York Times, said of Sharpton, “There has not been a candidate with this much charisma since Ronald Reagan.”</font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But Stone had an ulterior motive: he wanted to divide Democrats. Sharpton eventually dropped out of the race and endorsed Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, who won the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination but lost to incumbent Republican President George W. Bush in the general election.</font></font></font></font></font></font></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">220 <b>40 mos jail,</b> tho djt doing a bunch of pardons and wants to 86 doj input on that.</font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></font></font></font></font></font><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Judge in Roger Stone case knocks Trump admin for reducing sentencing guidelines</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Written by David Edwards / Raw Story February 20, 2020</div><div style="text-align: left;">Judge Amy Berman Jackson seemed to take a swipe at Attorney General William Barr’s Justice Department over the sentencing recommendations for Roger Stone.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">At a court hearing on Thursday, Jackson addressed the fact that prosecutors had asked for a more lenient sentence for Stone. The judge noted that it was unusual for the government to take the side of the defendant in criminal cases.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">And there’s our first mention of a pardon, but not for Stone. Judge notes one sentencing letter was from someone whom Stone sought a pardon for….</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">— Josh Gerstein (@joshgerstein) February 20, 2020</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Wow! Now Jackson getting snarky to those who just weighed in for leniency for Stone. ‘For those of you new to this and work up last week to the fact that the [sentencing] guidelines are harsh …</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">— Josh Gerstein (@joshgerstein) February 20, 2020</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Judge is accusing Ginsberg of double standard. Sometimes wants FBI/Mueller issues considered. Sometimes not. Ginsberg notes that both probes couldn’t find evidence of collusion. (He said any, which is not what Mueller said.)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">— Josh Gerstein (@joshgerstein) February 20, 2020</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Judge Jackson rules that Stone’s obstruction of justice conviction sentence should be stronger because governmental resources were unnecessarily expended.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">— Darren Samuelsohn (@dsamuelsohn) February 20, 2020</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">truscott</font></font></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/were-slipping-further-into-fascism-as-trump-indulges-all-his-worst-instincts-with-the-help-of-his-toadies/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/were-slipping-further-into-fascism-as-trump-indulges-all-his-worst-instincts-with-the-help-of-his-toadies/</font></a></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>We’re slipping further into fascism as Trump indulges all his worst instincts — with the help of his toadies</b></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">President Donald J. Trump delivers remarks at the 2020 National Prayer Breakfast Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020, at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C. (Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Lucian K. Truscott IV / Salon February 15, 2020</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>There will come a time when we look back on this week as the moment in our history when we finally understood that we have a man as president who is acting like a fascist dictator. Just look at the headlines from one day’s New York Times alone: “Alarm in Capital as Axes Swing in Growing Post-Acquittal Purge,” “Justice Dept. Acts to Ease Sentence for a Trump Ally.</b>” If either one of those headlines had run on the front page of a major American newspaper before now, not to mention both of them at once, we would have believed as a people, as a citizenry, that we were facing a national crisis. But this week? Wednesday was just another day in Donald Trump’s America.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The day before that, in what became known as the “Tuesday night massacre,” all four prosecutors in the case against Trump’s longtime friend and political bad boy Roger Stone had resigned in protest of the intervention by Trump and his attorney general, William Barr, to reduce the sentence recommended by the Department of Justice in Stone’s conviction for lying to congressional committees and tampering with witnesses.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">All of this followed closely the “Friday night massacre” of last week, when Trump fired two of the impeachment witnesses against him, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman of the National Security Council and Gordon Sondland, ambassador to the European Union.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But two “massacres” in a row was just the beginning. By mid-week, Trump was suggesting that Army officials with court-martial authority over Vindman should “take a look at” punishing him for testifying at the impeachment hearing. On Thursday, the New York Times front page trumpeted, “U,S. Lawyers Fear Removal of a Guardrail: Sone Case Stirs Worry of What’s to Come.” And by Friday morning, a panel of legal pundits on MSNBC were worrying about what would happen when Trump didn’t merely step in to help allies like Stone but actually began prosecuting his political foes.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Folks, let’s not mince words: This is the kind of stuff we read about happening in dictatorships like Russia and North Korea and Iran. And yes, it’s the kind of rule by strong-arm fiat that was practiced by Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Before this week, I would have thought it an exaggeration to compare Trump’s frequent rallies to the infamous Nuremberg rallies Hitler held during the1930s. No longer. Trump’s rallies are unnervingly close to those held in Nuremberg. The MAGA hat has become a kind of Trumpian Nazi helmet. The denunciations of hated minorities are the same. As is his insane bellowing before a crowd screaming its slavish obeisance.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Let’s just stop for a moment and consider the angry chants of “Lock her up,” first directed at Hillary Clinton, now at Nancy Pelosi. </b>What do Trump’s cheering crowds want his Democratic opponents locked up for? Neither of those women has faced criminal charges, much less been convicted of any crime. Neither is even under investigation for corruption or alleged criminal behavior. But that doesn’t matter to Trump and his rally crowds. This stuff has been going on for so long, it’s clear that they actually do want them locked up. When Trump stands before his screaming fans, raising his arms and smiling, it’s obvious he does, too. To call for the imprisonment of political opponents without trial is not playing with rhetoric for effect. It’s not political gimmickry. It’s not cute. It’s not funny. It’s not clever. Let’s say out loud what it is: It’s pure fascism, plain and simple.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The man who stands before those rallies and encourages such idolatry isn’t merely running for president. He is calling, directly and without apology, for the kind of obedience and loyalty demanded by dictators. He is commanding worship and submission. It must be why he attracts so completely the support of evangelical Christians. He truly is the false idol their Bible warned them against. They have fallen for him in the same way the most conspicuously devout worshipers commit sins. The inevitability of Trump and his evangelical masses is jaw-dropping, and yes, biblical.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By the end of the week, we had the practically comic spectacle of Attorney General Barr scolding Trump publicly for his tweets in an interview with ABC News, saying they “make it impossible for me to do my job.” Within hours, Trump replied — by tweet, naturally enough — that he has the “legal right” to tell Barr what to do in a criminal case, “but I have so far chosen not to!”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Which given the events of the rest of the week is a little bit like reassuring the “Lock her up” minions at his rallies, “Just wait.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">It’s hard to put a finger on the worst thing Trump has done since taking office, but right up there is the complete destruction of the idea that the person in the Oval Office is the president of all the people. He isn’t. He doesn’t want to be. If you didn’t vote for him, if you’re not out there wearing a MAGA hat and screaming at his rallies, you’re a non-person. If your state didn’t go for him in the 2016 election, forget about it. Just ask California, or Puerto Rico, still waiting for federal assistance after natural disasters. Or ask New York, which Trump is now extorting like a domestic Ukraine, by <b>denying New Yorkers access to the “Trusted Traveler” program unless the state “stop all of its unnecessary lawsuits & harrassment” [sic]....</b></font></font></div></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></font></div></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/the-roger-stone-debacle-is-a-true-crisis-and-the-house-must-force-bill-barr-to-testify/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/the-roger-stone-debacle-is-a-true-crisis-and-the-house-must-force-bill-barr-to-testify/</font></a></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Roger Stone debacle is a true crisis — and the House must force Bill Barr to testify</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Daily Kos February 11, 2020</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">by Hunter</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>This cannot go on. Three top prosecutors (which may turn into four) in the Roger Stone case have now withdrawn after Attorney General William Barr’s Department of Justice ordered them to revise their guideline-based recommendations on Stone’s sentencing. This happened the morning after Donald Trump tweeted that he “cannot allow” the prosecutors’ recommended sentencing of Stone, an ally and key stonewaller in the Robert Mueller investigation of the Trump campaign’s ties to Russian government hacking in the 2016 elections.</b></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It is time to haul Barr to the House to explain himself. Immediately. If he refuses a subpoena, then inherent contempt must be used to force his compliance. The House has broad but almost-never-used powers to compel such testimony: This is precisely the dire occasion they were designed for.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The resignation of three top names from Stone’s case signals clearly that the federal prosecutors involved believe Barr has acted with corrupt intent in reaching down to order a reduced sentencing ask. They, too, should be subpoenaed immediately so that they may describe the situation that led to their self-removal. This is an extraordinary situation: Even if a teetering-toward-fascism Republican Party will not so much as pretend at “concern” for Trump and Barr’s move, the House can expose it without their assistance.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It must be done. The Department of Justice has within the span of days been turned formally into a tool for “processing” allegations against Trump’s political opponents and, now, overriding the sentencing of Trump’s criminal allies. Barr will resist, but it must be done regardless.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sen. Chuck Schumer is calling for the inspector general at the Department of Justice to “open an investigation immediately.” That internal review, however, would be obviously insufficient. Rep. Adam Schiff, chair of the House Intelligence Committee and lead House manager in Trump’s Senate-stifled impeachment trial, sent out an initial statement calling the reported Barr-Trump intervention a “blatant abuse of power” and, coupled with Trump’s retaliatory firings, “the gravest threat to the rule of law in America in a generation.” But it does not yet threaten subpoenas.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Schiff is correct in his diagnosis—and now the House must once again act. It is not optional; it cannot be danced around. Barr has committed an act of corruption so blatant that prosecutors have resigned rather than carry it out; he must explain himself under oath.</font></font></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></font></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">new</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></div><div><div class="r" style="margin: 0px; line-height: 1.57; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/roger-stone-trial-set-to-turn-to-alleged-witness-threats-contacts-with-trump-campaign-about-wikileaks/2019/11/08/156e0854-01b0-11ea-8bab-0fc209e065a8_story.html" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/roger-stone-trial-set-to-turn-to-alleged-witness-threats-contacts-with-trump-campaign-about-wikileaks/2019/11/08/156e0854-01b0-11ea-8bab-0fc209e065a8_story.html&ved=2ahUKEwie85aRteDlAhXRKH0KHfxZATYQFjADegQIAxAB" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" cursor="cursor" pointer="pointer" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Steve Bannon at Roger Stone trial says Stone claimed ...</font></a></font></div><div class="TbwUpd" style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.57; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 1px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.washingtonpost.com › local › legal-issues › 2019/11/08</font></span></font></div></div></div><div class="s" style="text-align: left; max-width: 48em; line-height: 1.57; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="st" style="line-height: 1.57; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="f" style="line-height: 1.57;">2 days ago - </span>President Trump's former strategist testifies against Roger <span style="font-weight: bold;">Stone</span> in federal court. ... “I know how to win, but it <span style="font-weight: bold;">ain't pretty</span>.” Asked what Bannon ...</font></span></font></font></font></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></font></font></div><div><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></font></font></font><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times 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face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Bannon says Stone claimed contacts with WikiLeaks</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Rachel Weiner, </div><div style="text-align: left;">Spencer S. Hsu and </div><div style="text-align: left;">Devlin Barrett </div><div style="text-align: left;">November 8, 2019 at 6:51 PM EST</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">President Trump’s former chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon testified against political consultant Roger Stone on Friday, telling a federal jury that he thought of Stone as the Trump campaign’s liaison to the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Bannon, a high-profile figure in the Trump campaign and the early days of the Trump administration, told the jury he was appearing only because he had been subpoenaed.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">While Bannon was one of the most anticipated witnesses at Stone’s trial for allegedly lying to Congress about his efforts in 2016 to contact WikiLeaks, he was also one of the briefest, spending less than an hour under direct examination by prosecutors.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">His testimony bolstered the government’s allegations that Stone lied to the House committee investigating Russian election interference when he denied discussing with the Trump campaign WikiLeaks’ release of emails damaging to political rival Hillary Clinton.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">“He had a relationship, or told me he had a relationship with WikiLeaks,” Bannon said. “It was something I think he would frequently mention.”</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">“I was led to believe he had a relationship with WikiLeaks and [its founder] Julian Assange,” Bannon testified, based on Stone’s public statements and conversations going back years.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Stone and Bannon had known each other for a long time before Bannon joined the Trump campaign in August 2016, and they spoke between a half-dozen and a dozen times between then and the November election, Bannon testified.</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Bannon said he discussed WikiLeaks with Stone as Stone was trying to learn more about hacked emails that might tank Clinton’s election run. The emails were stolen by Russian agents and shared with WikiLeaks, which released them at critical points in the 2016 election cycle, according to prosecutors.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>After releases in summer 2016, Stone emailed Bannon, writing that “Trump can still win, but time is running out,” according to a copy of the message shown to jurors.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"> “I know how to win, but it ain’t pretty.”</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Asked what Bannon understood Stone’s email to mean, Bannon noted Stone’s claimed WikiLeaks connection and said: “Roger is an expert in the tougher side of politics. <b>When you’re this far behind, you’re going to have to use every tool in the tool box</b> .?.?. <b>opposition research, dirty tricks</b>, the kind of things campaigns use when you need to make up some ground.”</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">At one point in October 2016, when an expected revelation from Assange about Clinton emails proved to be a dud, Bannon sent Stone an email asking, “What was that this morning???”</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Bannon, smiling, said on the stand that he sent the message to ask why the much-hyped disclosures did not materialize and also as “a little bit of a heckle; It was twofold.”</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Stone replied that Assange was afraid for his safety but would still end up releasing damaging documents every week</span>.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>On cross-examination by Stone’s lawyer Robert Buschel, Bannon conceded that Stone never claimed to him that he had advance access to the hacked emails.</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Stone, 67, listened intently, as he has throughout the trial. A longtime confidant of Trump, he has pleaded not guilty, and his attorneys have said any misstatements he made to Congress were unintentional.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Earlier in the day, former radio show host Randy Credico described on the witness stand how Stone urged him not to talk to Congress about their election year conversations. Credico said Stone threatened to damage the career of a close friend and even take away his dog.</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Stone is also accused of witness tampering for allegedly trying to thwart Credico’s testimony to Congress. Jurors have seen Stone’s words in texts and emails, but Credico described how he understood Stone’s increasingly angry messages.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Prosecutors say Stone lied to protect the president when questioned in 2017 about WikiLeaks and the campaign. To keep the committee from unraveling those lies, prosecutors have said, Stone needed Credico to keep quiet and resorted to threats to try to ensure that.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Credico said in court Friday that Stone influenced his decision not to testify before the committee. “A lot of people played a role,” he said, “Mr. Stone among them.”</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Trial evidence shows Stone texted Credico in April 2018: “You are a rat. A stoolie. You backstab your friends-run your mouth my lawyers are dying Rip you to shreds.” Stone later added: “I am so ready. Let’s get it on. <b>Prepare to die.”</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>At one point, Stone texted Credico that he would “take that dog away from you</b>,” according to trial evidence.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Credico said he was “sure” Stone knew how important his<b> therapy dog Bianca </b>was to him when he sent that message. But later when questioned by Stone’s defense lawyer, Credico said he never really feared for Bianca’s safety.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Credico said he was more concerned about jeopardizing the reputation of his friend Margaret Kuntsler, who did legal work for WikiLeaks and helped Credico land an Aug. 25, 2016, interview with Assange for his radio show. Once, on Stone’s behalf, Credico said he asked her for WikiLeaks’ help finding emails implicating Clinton in an incident in Libya. Kuntsler testified that she ignored the message, but Credico said Stone threatened to falsely name her as his “backchannel.”</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Credico described Stone repeatedly asking him to “do a Frank Pentangeli,” referring to a character from “The Godfather: Part II” who is intimidated into saying at a Senate hearing that he cannot recall information he actually knows.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The defense has suggested that Stone was asking Credico to use his skills as a comic impressionist to imitate Pentangeli. Credico testified he understood the references as a direction to “throw .?.?. off the House Intelligence Committee.”</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Credico told the jury that directive made no sense because “there’s a ton of photos and text messages. .?.?. If I did a Frank Pentangeli, I would look like a fool.” But Credico said he was worried that if he testified honestly, he might become the victim of “some kind of smear job” by Stone.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">On cross-examination, Stone’s attorney painted Credico as a liar who made Stone believe he had a close connection to Assange. Credico readily admitted: “There were exaggerations, there were lies, there were rebuffs, yes.”</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The defense tried to argue that Credico refused to testify before the House committee not because Stone threatened him but because of his own liberal political leanings.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">“You did not want to be associated with the Donald Trump campaign?” Buschel asked.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">“Absolutely. Would you?” Credico replied, adding later: “I did not want to be connected with Donald Trump at all.”</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">A conspiracy of hunches: Roger Stone trial set to start this week</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Roger Stone trial: Day 1 of testimony</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Key witness takes stand in Roger Stone trial</div></div><div><div style="text-align: left; line-height: 17px;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left; line-height: 17px;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">new</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left; line-height: 17px;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left; line-height: 17px;"><font color="#000000"><a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetillman/roger-stone-trial-congress-wikileaks-trump-politics"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetillman/roger-stone-trial-congress-wikileaks-trump-politics</font></a></font></div><div style="text-align: left; line-height: 17px;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left; line-height: 17px;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">wASHINGTON — At the start of Roger Stone’s criminal trial Wednesday, a federal prosecutor told the jury that the case was “not about politics.”</font></font></div><div data-module="article-wrapper" class="js-article-wrapper" id="mod-article-wrapper-1" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="subbuzz subbuzz-textxs-mb4 xs-relative " data-module="subbuzz-text" id="mod-subbuzz-text-1" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 2rem !important; position: relative !important;"><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.7rem; padding: 0px;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Except it’s all about politics. Stone, a longtime adviser to President Donald Trump, is charged with lying to Congress about trying to contact WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange, during the 2016 campaign and communicate what he was learning to Trump’s campaign. To prove that, prosecutors spent the first day of the trial presenting evidence that Stone did try to contact WikiLeaks — and that he was, in fact, not only in touch with the campaign, but with Trump himself.</font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.7rem; padding: 0px;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The jury saw emails, text messages, and call records documenting Stone’s communications with the campaign around the same time that he was in touch with two associates about tracking down emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee that were eventually released by WikiLeaks; the US intelligence community later concluded that Russian intelligence was involved in hacking the DNC and orchestrating the release of the stolen emails through WikiLeaks.</font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.7rem; padding: 0px;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The jury saw records of phone calls between then-candidate Trump and Stone in 2016, including on June 14, 2016, when the DNC announced it had been hacked, and in the weeks that followed.</b> Prosecutors made clear that they didn’t know what the two men discussed — they only had the call logs — but they placed those calls in the middle of a timeline of Stone’s alleged efforts to get messages to WikiLeaks and Assange.</font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.7rem; padding: 0px;"><font color="#000000"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Evidence will show Roger Stone lied to the House Intelligence Committee because the truth looked bad. The truth looked bad for the Trump campaign and the truth looked bad for Donald Trump,” Assistant US Attorney Aaron Zelinsky told the jury.</font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.7rem; padding: 0px;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The trial in the US District Court for the District of Columbia is expected to last at least two weeks. The courtroom was full on Wednesday, and a handful of demonstrators for and against Stone have shown up to the courthouse this week — on Wednesday, someone had set up a large, inflatable statue of Trump depicted as a rat outside one of the entrances. During a lunch break, Stone was joined by several far-right figures attending the trial, including Milo Yiannopoulos, Gavin McInnes, and Jack Posobiec.</font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.7rem; padding: 0px;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The fact that Stone is on trial at all is also tied to politics. He was the last person charged by former special counsel Robert Mueller’s office — a probe Trump has continued to try to undermine, months after it ended — and Stone has repeatedly, albeit unsuccessfully, tried to use the case as a vehicle to challenge the legitimacy of Mueller's and Congress’s investigations into whether Russia interfered in the 2016 election.</font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.7rem; padding: 0px;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone’s lawyer Bruce Rogow tried to draw a distinction on Wednesday between the subject of Russian interference in the election and the role of WikiLeaks and Assange in releasing emails stolen from the DNC.</font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.7rem; padding: 0px;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rogow argued that the House Intelligence Committee had said the subject of its investigation was Russian interference, and made no explicit mention of WikiLeaks or Assange in announcing that investigation or in its communications with Stone about his voluntary testimony. He said the government was right that the jury would see texts, emails, and Stone’s testimony, but what also mattered was Stone’s intent when he gave information to Congress.</font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.7rem; padding: 0px;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“What isn’t there for you to see is Mr. Stone’s state of mind,” Rogow said. He argued there was no evidence of “corrupt intent” by Stone, and disputed that there were ever any actual “intermediaries” between Stone and WikiLeaks — he argued Stone was being “played” by then-associates Jerome Corsi and Randy Credico.</font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.7rem; padding: 0px;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Leading up to the trial, the judge rebuffed Stone’s challenges to the indictment as well as his efforts to use the trial as a forum to criticize the Russia investigation and push the unsubstantiated conspiracy theory that Russia wasn’t involved in hacking the DNC</b>. In September, the judge denied Stone’s request to introduce evidence that WikiLeaks did not receive emails stolen from the DNC from Russia, and granted the government’s request to limit evidence or arguments about whether Russia did actually try to interfere in the election.</font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.7rem; padding: 0px;"><font color="#000000"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone is facing a seven-count indictment: one count of obstructing Congress, five counts of making false statements to Congress, and one count of witness tampering. He faces up to 20 years in prison on the tampering count and up to five years in prison for each of the other charges.</font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.7rem; padding: 0px;"><font color="#000000"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">He’s charged with lying or giving misleading information to the House on a number of subjects, including: allegedly saying he didn't have any records of communications about the hacked DNC materials, when he did; saying that he hadn't directed associates to contact WikiLeaks, when he had; saying he only had one intermediary with WikiLeaks, when there were two, Credico and Corsi; and saying that he hadn't discussed his conversations with an intermediary about WikiLeaks with the Trump campaign, when he had.</font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.7rem; padding: 0px;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Prosecutors on Wednesday showed the jury messages between Stone (who served as an unofficial adviser to Trump during the 2016 campaign) and top campaign officials and key supporters, underscoring Stone’s efforts to influence the direction of the campaign. The jury saw an email Stone sent to Paul Manafort, then the Trump campaign chair, on Aug. 3, 2016, with the subject line “I have an idea” and the body text, “To save Trump’s ass.”</font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.7rem; padding: 0px;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That email to Manafort was sent the day after Stone received a message from Corsi telling Stone that “word is friend in embassy plans 2 more dumps,” according to evidence introduced by the government on Wednesday.<b> The jury saw an email that Stone had sent to Corsi the previous month telling him to “Get to Assange,” who was living at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London at the time.</b></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.7rem; padding: 0px;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Later in August 2016, shortly after Stone messaged with Corsi about getting additional information from WikiLeaks, Stone told Steve Bannon, then the Trump campaign chair, in another email shown to the jury on Wednesday: “I do know how to win this but it ain’t pretty.”</font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.7rem; padding: 0px;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The jury saw an email on Oct. 3, 2016, from Stone to Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater who supported Trump’s campaign but wasn’t formally part of it. Stone told Prince that he “spoke to my friend in London last night” and that “the payload is still coming” — the same day that Stone was texting with Credico, who sent Stone selfies outside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, an FBI case agent testified.</font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.7rem; padding: 0px;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Oct. 4, 2016, after Assange gave a much-anticipated press conference but didn’t release any new information from the DNC servers, the jury saw an email from Bannon to Stone asking what had happened. He replied that there were “security” concerns, but that there would be “a load every week going forward.”</font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.7rem; padding: 0px;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rogow argued that Stone’s communications with Bannon, Gates, and Prince only reflected their shared interest in Trump’s success and a “joint effort” to get Trump elected.</font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.7rem; padding: 0px;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“That is not a crime. That’s a First Amendment right that people have,” Rogow said.</font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.7rem; padding: 0px;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Stone is also accused of trying to convince Credico to lie to Congress about their communications, and of threatening him when he pushed back. Prosecutors alleged that in December 2017, as Credico faced a congressional subpoena to testify, Stone asked him to do a "Frank Pentangeli</b>" — a reference to a character in <i style="box-sizing: inherit;">The Godfather Part II</i> who was cooperating with law enforcement but then gave false testimony before Congress after his brother was threatened.</font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.7rem; padding: 0px;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Whether the jury could see <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUjjzwIrebQ&t=2s" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-style: solid; text-decoration-color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">the movie scene in question</a> became a source of contention between prosecutors and Stone’s lawyer. The government argued the jury needed to see the clip to fully understand the context of the message to Credico. Stone argued it would be prejudicial. The judge approved a compromise — that the government could read a description of the scene, but not show the film.</font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.7rem; padding: 0px;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The jury also saw messages that the government described as Stone urging Credico to not cooperate with the Mueller investigation. “Waste of your time - tell him to go fuck himself,” Stone messaged Credico, who replied: “Who?” “Mueller,” Stone responded.</font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.7rem; padding: 0px;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Credico is expected to testify. </b>Anticipating attacks on Credico’s credibility, Zelinsky told the jury that Stone knew about some of Credico’s weaknesses — that he had struggled with alcohol and was “excitable” — and those made him a good person to “pin something on.” Zelinsky also tried to anticipate attacks on the credibility of another government witness, former deputy Trump campaign chair Rick Gates, noting that Gates would be testifying as part of a cooperation agreement; Gates took a plea deal after being charged in Mueller’s investigation. The testimony would be backed up by documents, however, Zelinsky said.</font></font></p></div><div class="subbuzz subbuzz-bfp
xs-mb4 xs-relative " style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 2rem !important; position: relative !important;"><div id="123600405" class="subbuzz-anchor" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div data-module="bfp" id="mod-bfp-1" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><aside data-bfa="@l:Related-Links" class="bfp-related-links" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><h2 class="xs-text-6 caps bolder md-mb3 bfp-related-linkstitle" style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.7rem; padding: 0px; letter-spacing: 0.03125rem; line-height: 1.3 !important; text-transform: uppercase !important;"><font color="#000000"><font style="font-weight: normal;" size="4" face="Times New Roman">MORE ON THIS</font></font></h2><ul class="list-unstyled" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-variant-numeric: tabular-nums; font-feature-settings: " tnum="tnum" list-style="list-style" none="none" important="important"><li class="xs-mb2 xs-mb05 md-mb2" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem !important; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font color="#000000"><a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/chrisgeidner/roger-stone-indictment-mueller?bfsource=relatedmanual" class="xs-block xs-mb05 xs-text-2 text-gray bold" data-bfa="@a:post; @d:Related-Links; @e:{id:4984501,position:0,category:}" data-bfa-impressions="true" style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; line-height: 1.2 !important; display: block !important; margin-bottom: 0.25rem !important;"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Longtime Trump Adviser Roger Stone Has Been Charged With Lying To Congress About Contacts With WikiLeaks</font></a><span class="xs-text-5 text-gray-lightest" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.3 !important;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chris Geidner · Jan. 25, 2019</font></span></div></span></font></li><li class="xs-mb2 xs-mb05 md-mb2" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem !important; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font color="#000000"><a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetillman/roger-stone-is-still-banned-from-posting-on-twitter?bfsource=relatedmanual" class="xs-block xs-mb05 xs-text-2 text-gray bold" data-bfa="@a:post; @d:Related-Links; @e:{id:5205527,position:1,category:}" data-bfa-impressions="true" style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; line-height: 1.2 !important; font-weight: 600 !important; display: block !important; margin-bottom: 0.25rem !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Roger Stone Lost His Appeal Of The Gag Order Barring Him From Posting On Twitter, Facebook, And Instagram</font></a><span class="xs-text-5 text-gray-lightest" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.3 !important;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Zoe Tillman · Oct. 22, 2019</font></span></div></span></font></li><li class="xs-mb2 xs-mb05 md-mb2" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem !important; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font color="#000000"><a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetillman/judge-ban-roger-stone-social-media?bfsource=relatedmanual" class="xs-block xs-mb05 xs-text-2 text-gray bold" data-bfa="@a:post; @d:Related-Links; @e:{id:5101891,position:2,category:}" data-bfa-impressions="true" style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; line-height: 1.2 !important; font-weight: 600 !important; display: block !important; margin-bottom: 0.25rem !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">A Judge Has Banned Roger Stone From Posting Anything On Instagram, Facebook, Or Twitter</font></a><span class="xs-text-5 text-gray-lightest" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.3 !important;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Zoe Tillman · July 16, 2019</font></span></div></span></font></li></ul></aside></div></div></div><nav class="newsblock-topics" aria-labelledby="" data-bfa="@l:Topics;" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 2rem;"><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" font-weight="font-weight" bold="bold" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" rem="rem" text-transform="text-transform" uppercase="uppercase"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">TOPICS IN THIS ARTICLE</font></span></font></div><ol class="list-unstyled newsblock-topicslist" style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-variant-numeric: tabular-nums;" tnum="tnum" list-style="list-style" none="none" important="important" display="display" flex="flex" webkit-box-orient="webkit-box-orient" horizontal="horizontal" webkit-box-direction="webkit-box-direction" normal="normal" flex-flow="flex-flow" row="row" wrap="wrap"><li class="newsblock-topicstopic" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0.5rem 0.5rem 0px 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block;"><font color="#000000"><a class="newsblock-topicslink" href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/topic/democrats" data-bfa="@a:TopicLink;@e:{topic:democrats};" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; border: 1px solid rgb(113, 113, 113); border-radius: 2rem; display: inline-block; padding: 0.25rem 0.75rem; -webkit-font-smoothing: auto; transition: none 0s ease 0s;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Democrats</font></a></font></li><li class="newsblock-topicstopic" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0.5rem 0.5rem 0px 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block;"><font color="#000000"><a class="newsblock-topicslink" href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/topic/donald-trump" data-bfa="@a:TopicLink;@e:{topic:donald-trump};" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; border: 1px solid rgb(113, 113, 113); border-radius: 2rem; display: inline-block; padding: 0.25rem 0.75rem; -webkit-font-smoothing: auto; transition: none 0s ease 0s;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Donald Trump</font></a></font></li><li class="newsblock-topicstopic" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0.5rem 0.5rem 0px 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block;"><font color="#000000"><a class="newsblock-topicslink" href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/topic/robert-mueller" data-bfa="@a:TopicLink;@e:{topic:robert-mueller};" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; border: 1px solid rgb(113, 113, 113); border-radius: 2rem; display: inline-block; padding: 0.25rem 0.75rem; -webkit-font-smoothing: auto; transition: none 0s ease 0s;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Robert Mueller</font></a></font></li><li class="newsblock-topicstopic" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0.5rem 0.5rem 0px 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block;"><font color="#000000"><a class="newsblock-topicslink" href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/topic/russia" data-bfa="@a:TopicLink;@e:{topic:russia};" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; border: 1px solid rgb(113, 113, 113); border-radius: 2rem; display: inline-block; padding: 0.25rem 0.75rem; -webkit-font-smoothing: auto; transition: none 0s ease 0s;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Russia</font></a></font></li></ol></nav><ul class="reporter-card-list" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px -1rem; padding: 0px; font-variant-numeric: tabular-nums; font-feature-settings: " tnum="tnum" list-style="list-style" none="none" display="display" flex="flex" webkit-box-orient="webkit-box-orient" horizontal="horizontal" webkit-box-direction="webkit-box-direction" normal="normal" flex-flow="flex-flow" row="row" wrap="wrap" webkit-box-pack="webkit-box-pack" justify="justify" justify-content="justify-content" space-between="space-between"><li class="reporter-card-listitem" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 1rem; display: flex; width: 792px; background-color: rgb(241, 241, 236); overflow: hidden;"><div class="reporter-card-listinfo" style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-box-flex: 1; flex: 1 1 0%; margin-left: 0.5rem;"><p class="reporter-card-listblurb" style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5rem; padding: 0px; max-width: 100%; word-break: break-word;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Zoe Tillman is a legal reporter with BuzzFeed News and is based in Washington, DC.</font></font></p></div></li></ul><div style="text-align: left; line-height: 17px;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left; line-height: 17px;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">grimm bk</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left; line-height: 17px;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left; line-height: 17px;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">we have ppl --> AOC</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left; line-height: 17px;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left; line-height: 17px;"><font color="#000000"><a href="https://kpfa.org/episode/letters-and-politics-june-17-2019/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://kpfa.org/episode/letters-and-politics-june-17-2019/</font></a></font></div><div style="text-align: left; line-height: 17px;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left; line-height: 17px;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1976 carter kinda central, fix rep by post-prez</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left; line-height: 17px;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left; line-height: 17px;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1978 newt g shellacking, longtime senators, lions like frank church, birch bayh</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left; line-height: 17px;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left; line-height: 17px;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">roger stone et al tactics, 1976 scotus camp fin reform [buckely valeo?], political consultant, pol ops, oppo, 30 sec ads TV, corp $ (TV and corp money // rose as factors together: we have opposite now, TV decline coupled with online small $ raising?))</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left; line-height: 17px;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">see main for older 8/16</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">tag rogr 12/16</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Roger Stone’s Scheme To “Prove” Clinton Stole Election From Trump</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">bruceewilson / October 24, 2016</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Only days before the 2016 presidential election, an October 14th-20th Reuters/Ipsos survey has shown that nearly 70 percent of Republicans believe “a Clinton victory would be because of illegal voting or vote rigging”.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During his third and final debate with Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, GOP nominee Donald Trump refused to promise to accept the results of the upcoming election. Trump later clarified his position — “I will totally accept the results of this great and historic presidential election, if I win.” More recently, Trump’s son Eric has said his father will accept the election results “if it’s fair”.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Meanwhile, a longtime Trump adviser and dirty tricks political operative — who back in 2000 helped stage a riot that shut down the Florida vote recount in the 2000 presidential election — has just launched a venture, allegedly to find evidence of 2016 election vote fraud, that appears based on the certainty that there will be significant Democratic Party-linked electoral fraud in the upcoming election.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It’s called “Stop The Steal” — a Roger Stone project which has popped into existence more or less simultaneously with the emergence of a new far-right conspiracy theory alleging a George Soros plot to steal the 2016 election from Trump by manipulating electronic voting machines.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In short, Donald Trump might really be planning the high risk strategy, with a murky end-game, of undercutting the legitimacy of a Hillary Clinton 2016 election win — a strategy telegraphed months ago by his political operative Roger Stone just as Trump’s poll numbers began to sag.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Back on July 30th, in an appearance on the alt-right Milo Yiannopoulos show, Stone laid out the script, advising that Donald Trump should “constantly” repeat messages such as,</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I am leading in Florida. The polls all show it. If I lose Florida, we will know that there’s voter fraud. If there’s voter fraud, this election will be illegitimate”.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And since his poll numbers began to collapse in early August, Trump has dutifully followed Stone’s script, by ceaselessly predicting electoral fraud in the upcoming 2016 election. Trump’s rhetoric deeply worries scholars. Harvard professor Steven Levitsky told the New York Times,</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“To a political scientist who studies authoritarianism, it’s a shock. This is the stuff that we see in Russia and Venezuela and Azerbaijan and Malawi and Bangladesh, and that we don’t see in stable democracies anywhere.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During his July 30th Yiannopoulos show appearance, Roger Stone also predicted that theft of the 2016 election would lead to “a constitutional crisis, widespread civil disobedience” and even a “blood bath”.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Now, with Trump’s poll numbers even lower and a Clinton win likely, Stone appears to be preparing the post-November 8th surprise.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If Hillary Clinton takes the 2016 presidential election, within days after the November 8th vote Donald Trump, who has for months now been predicting electoral fraud, may well announce that he has empirical evidence to “prove”, or at least strongly indicate, that such fraud has really taken place.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If so, some of that evidence — which probably won’t be taken very seriously by professional pollsters but will help cement, in the minds of Trump supporters, the conviction that the election was stolen from Donald Trump — will probably come from Stone, whose role in the current election includes claiming “backchannel” communication with Wikileaks, an ongoing source of anti-Clinton leaks in the 2016 election.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Roger Stone’s most famous dirty tricks feat might be the 2000 election manufacturing of the notorious “Brooks Brothers riot” in which paid GOP operatives violently stormed Florida’s Miami-Dade County election board, an act of sabotage which helped shut down the board’s recount of votes that might have reversed George W. Bush’s razor thin lead in Florida and put Democrat Al Gore in the White House.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sixteen years later, Stone appears to be at it again.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a Thursday, October 20th radio show interview, Roger Stone told Sam Bushman, host of the Liberty Roundtable radio show — a nationally syndicated alt-right talk radio show which back on March 1st featured a widely noticed interview with Donald Trump, Jr. — about Stone’s apparent plan to run his own exit polling operation in various states on November 8th.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone claimed he already had one hundred committed volunteers, with more on the way. As he explained it to Bushman, at a little past eighteen minutes into the second one-hour segment of Sam Bushman’s Monday through Friday two-hour show,</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“We have a little program I’m working with, called stopthesteal.org, where we are collecting volunteers to work certain targeted precincts, in certain targeted counties, in certain targeted states, where we think they may steal, where we think they may manipulate the machines.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If you compare the exit poll results with the results of the machines on a one-by-one basis, and there’s a wide swing, you would know that you have voter fraud…</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(…)</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">You can’t just get out there and say ‘This is rigged’ because you lost. But we are going to attempt to amass the evidence — and hopefully we’re wrong. Hopefully it’s unnecessary. And there’s the real answer. But these machines can be rigged easily and this is the only way to check and see if they are. Exit polls are more valid, more accurate than other polls because people don’t know, when they’re leaving the polling place, who has won yet. There’s a tremendous tendency to gravitate to the person, you know, who wins.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone proceeded to explain Hillary Clinton’s consistent lead over Donald Trump in national polls as the result of a vast conspiracy of pollsters to “set a public expectation level” that would neatly coincide with the November 8th voting results which would be the produced by electronic voting machine fraud.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So, “if the final poll shows that Hillary wins by nine, let’s say, hypothetically, and Hillary wins the machines by nine, you’ll see they’ve been coordinated,” reasoned Stone.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And who controlled the electronic machines that would steal the 2016 election away from Trump ?</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bushman’s co-host Curt Crosby then asked Roger Stone about a (discredited) conspiracy theory, first advanced on October 18th by the Daily Caller media website, which suggested a connection between billionaire investor George Soros and an international voting technology company, Smartmatic, alleged to control voting machines in 16 US states. Seeming to endorse the claim, Stone replied,</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Yeah, I saw the story about Soros having a stake in machine company. I would point out that the people who owned the Diebold machines, I think their company’s now called Premier Election Services — I don’t know how much more generic you can get — they were very close to the Bushes. I’ve always believed the machines were rigged by George Bush, George W. Bush, against Kerry in Ohio, in the second Bush election.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So, I believe both sides engaged in this.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Following the Daily Caller, host of the popular conspiracy theory website Alex Jones suggested that if Hillary Clinton wins the 2016 election, George Soros could become the de-facto “shadow president” of the United States.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The fact-checking website Snopes.com has assessed the Daily Caller story claims to be “false”, and the Smartmatic company states it “will not be deploying its technology in any U.S. county for the upcoming 2016 U.S. Presidential elections.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Underscoring that statement is the fact that in 2007 Smartmatic sold its major U.S. Sequoia Voting Systems division, to a group of private investors, as part of the company’s strategic move away from the U.S. market. As reasons for its divestment from the U.S. market, Smartmatic cited,</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“the difficult climate in the United States marketplace, tainted by a non-stop debate against foreign investment, especially in the election technology area”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Daily Caller conspiracy theory story evokes a longstanding obsession of the American far-right concerning an allegedly impending foreign takeover of U.S. government that will enslave the American people.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In many of the seemingly endless versions of this conspiracy theory genre, which has been floating around since the late 1980s, when an evil cabal — that might include Jewish financiers, globalists, the United Nations, or the anti-Christ — achieves control of U.S. government, foreign or UN troops then emerge from secret lairs, in national parks or U.S. military bases, to summarily execute countless Americans and force the rest, tens of millions or more, into concentration camps.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In one version of this conspiracy theory that was popular in the 1990s, Jewish financiers and the Illuminati (who were controlled by the anti-Christ) were conspiring against the American people, and the most visible figures in the plot were President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton who, within the satanic Illuminati hierarchy, was said to outrank her husband Bill.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Now Hillary Clinton, who in decades of encrusted conspiracy theory has long been linked to an evil conspiracy to enslave (or worse) the American people, is poised to become president.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And on hand to gather evidence to “prove” Clinton’s theft of the 2016 election, via Soros-linked manipulation of voting machines, will be Roger Stone and his motley crew of exit pollers.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And if Hillary Clinton does win, Stone’s “evidence” (including sketchy exit poll data) will provide Trump supporters a convenient entry point into the newly emergent mythos concerning the theft of the election.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The legend of Soros control (and manipulation) of American electronic voting machines will then proliferate and acquire the multiple levels of intricate, self-referential detail characteristic of the “birther” conspiracy theories that challenged President Barack Obama’s American citizenship.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But Stone’s key claim — that “exit polls are more valid” than others polls (and thus the best benchmark for determining possible election fraud according to Stone) — is a rather dubious one.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In reality, American-style exit polls tend to be inaccurate, and for a number of reasons. One is that younger voters are more likely to participate in them than older voters. As explained in a June 27, 2016 New York Times story titled Exit Polls, and Why the Primary Was Not Stolen From Bernie Sanders,</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The exit polls try to correct for this bias by giving more weight to older respondents. The way it works is pretty novel: Interviewers guess the age of voters as they leave the polling place.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That crude patch only goes so far :</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the 1992 election, exit polls showed Bill Clinton winning Texas (the state went to George Bush, Sr.) In the 2000 election, exit polls showed Al Gore winning the states of Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, and North Carolina (he lost all four, by huge margins.) 2004 election national exit polls showed John Kerry three points ahead of George W. Bush (for more on the unreliability of exit polls, see 1,2).</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As a seasoned political operative whose career goes back to the Nixon presidency, Roger Stone is presumably well aware of the unreliability of exit polls. So what’s he up to ?</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The likely true purpose of Stone’s exit poll scheme will be to generate a pseudo-empirical body of evidence pointing to the very sort of electoral fraud Donald Trump has been warning of since the start of August. And, the beauty of it is that Roger Stone won’t even necessarily need to rig his exit polls.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Stone/Trump “election will be rigged” PR campaign seems to have begun in earnest starting with an August 1st Fox interview in which Donald Trump told Sean Hannity,</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I’m telling you, November 8th, we’d better be careful because that election is going to be rigged. And I hope the Republicans are watching closely or it’s going to be taken away from us.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The timing was notable — only a few days earlier, on July 27th, aggregated national polls had shown Donald Trump opening up a slim 1.1% lead, 45.7% to 44.6%, over Hillary Clinton. It was probably the high water mark of the Trump campaign.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But only a few days later, Trump’s polling numbers began to crash. By August 1st, Trump’s polling was down to 42% and Hillary Clinton had opened up almost a 4 percent lead. By August 9th, Clinton’s lead over Trump was almost 8%.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That was the context for the start of Donald Trump’s “rigged election” talk. His poll numbers were collapsing, along with presidential aspirations. Trump then seemed to follow Roger Stone’s lead.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Only two days before Trump told Sean Hannity that the “election is going to be rigged”, on July 30, Stone had joined alt-right star Milo Yiannopoulos in an interview on Yiannopolous’ eponymous podcast show that was showcased by Breitbart news. In the deeply disturbing interview, Stone told Yiannopolous,</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I think we have widespread voter fraud, but the first thing that Trump needs to do is begin talking about it constantly. He needs to say for example, today would be a perfect example: ‘I am leading in Florida. The polls all show it. If I lose Florida, we will know that there’s voter fraud. If there’s voter fraud, this election will be illegitimate, the election of the winner will be illegitimate, we will have a constitutional crisis, widespread civil disobedience, and the government will no longer be the government.’ ”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone went on to predict, to Yiannopoulos, a “bloodbath” if the 2016 election were stolen from Trump.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Roger Stone’s 2016 accusations of electoral fraud actually predate the general election. Back in April 2016, Stone suggested to Politico that Donald Trump’s Wisconsin GOP primary loss to Ted Cruz was probably due to voting fraud via electronic voting machines.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone cited, as a source for claim, the work of mathematician Richard Charnin — who has asserted, on the basis of (unreliable) exit poll results, a pattern of election fraud in Wisconsin in the 2012 and 2014 elections.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Then, in an August 16, 2016 op-ed published by The Hill, Can the 2016 election be rigged? You bet, Roger Stone focused on the very real fact that electronic voting machines which produce no backup paper records and are demonstrably very easy to hack are in still in wide use in states across the country. Stone again cited the work of Richard Charmin.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“We are now living in a fake reality of constructed data and phony polls. The computerized voting machines can be hacked and rigged”, warned Stone in his August 16th The Hill op-ed.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That statement featured two of the three pillars in Roger Stone’s narrative that’s likely to be deployed post-November 8th, in a PR campaign to sear into the minds of Trump supporters the unshakeable belief that the election was stolen from Donald Trump :</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1) Electronic voting machines can be easily hacked (this is proven and uncontested), and through their hacking many national and state elections have been stolen (alleged by Democrats, Republicans, and Independents but contested).</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2) Most of the national and state surveys of voter preference leading up to the 2016 election have been rigged against Donald Trump, in favor of Hillary Clinton (neither Trump nor his surrogates have produced a shred of evidence to back up this claim.)</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3) Exit polls are a reliable benchmark for determining possible electoral fraud (exit polls are in fact notoriously unreliable— see 1,2,3).</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Of course, Roger Stone’s exit polls probably won’t be the sort of extensive, rigorous, and methodologically sophisticated (not to mention expensive) exit poll surveys done elsewhere around the world (but not in the U.S.) to confirm the veracity of vote counts.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone’s polls will, if anything, likely be even less rigorous than the comparatively lax U.S. election exit polls traditionally carried out by Edison Research, which typically have a significant margin of error.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So even if he doesn’t tamper with his raw data, Stone’s exit poll data will almost inevitably demonstrate substantial deviations from the recorded voting results. All Stone will need to do is select some data sets which show the greatest deviations and gift-wrap them for rightwing media.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Of course, there’s no reason whatsoever to trust data produced under a project, concerning the veracity of the 2016 election results, that’s headed by a hardened, partisan political operative who has admitted to covertly manipulating at least one prior presidential election.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Not to mention that Stone has asserted the American moon landings were faked and heavily praised conspiracy theorist James Fetzer who, “has claimed that the Holocaust, Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, and 9/11 attacks were faked”.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nonetheless, Stone’s suspect data, trumpeted by Donald, will confirm the worst suspicions of Trump voters desperate for explanations of how Donald Trump’s meteoric political ascent could have so quickly crashed to earth : The pre-election polls were rigged for Hillary. The voting was rigged for Hillary. The exit polls prove it.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Roger Stone has candidly voiced regret for his 2000 election “Brooks Brothers riot” stunt, not because of its anti-democratic nature but for its awful fruit — the disastrous U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq which has led in turn to the rise of ISIS ; In 2008 Stone told the Daily Beast,</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“When I look at those double-page New York Times spreads of all the individual pictures of people who have been killed [in Iraq], I got to think, ‘Maybe there wouldn’t have been a war if I hadn’t gone to Miami-Dade.’ “</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Regardless, in 2016 Stone is at it again. This time, judging by Stone’s July 30th prediction that voter fraud in the upcoming election could cause a “bloodbath”, the result might well be a post-election riot, or worse.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But does Stone want all-out armed conflict ? Probably not.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Even though almost one quarter (24%) of Trump supporters believe that the losing candidate should challenge the election results, and almost one in five Trump supporters (19%) believe, according to a new survey, that violence would be justified if Hillary Clinton wins the election, Trump supporters skew towards the elderly end of the age demographic and may lack the energy and ambition to launch a second civil war.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">More likely goals include the general destabilization of American democracy and, in particular, the de-legitimizing, at least in the minds of tens of millions of dedicated Trump supporters, of Hillary Clinton’s presidency.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">An October 14-20 Ipsos/Reuters survey showed that only one half of Republicans would accept Hillary Clinton as their president and an astonishing number, almost 70 percent, “said a Clinton victory would be because of illegal voting or vote rigging”.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In other words, the Stone/Trump election fraud narrative has already been widely accepted among Trump supporters, and so Roger Stone’s “Stop The Steal” project will merely provide some additional details and back-story to flesh it out.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That establishes a political climate even more toxic than when Barack Obama assumed the presidency in early 2009. So, we will inevitably see a replay, probably with greater intensity, of the post-1992 and post-2008 campaigns to cripple, respectively, the presidencies of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump’s angry millions will also be primed to become avid viewers of Trump TV or whatever media venture Donald Trump (perhaps along with Breitbart news mogul Steve Bannon, official CEO of the Trump for President effort) might launch in 2017.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In other words, the rage that Donald Trump, Roger Stone, and others have provoked among Trump’s voter base can help monetize Trump’s new business model.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That business model will further vitiate sagging mainstream media outlets by bleeding off viewers, and it will further mainstream the toxic mix of populist rage, xenophobic nationalism, and rightwing conspiracy theory that helped propel Donald Trump to the 2016 Republican Presidential nomination in the first place.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And, it will help pave the way for Trump 2.0, whoever that may be.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It’s widely recognized that even if Donald Trump loses the 2016 election his candidacy has served as a terrifying proof-of-concept, of the fact that America appears primed for the rise of populist, rightwing authoritarianism.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But, how has this come to pass ? And is there a deeper story to be told ?</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy has underscored an emergent national crisis — Americans are splitting into two mutually hostile camps, each with its own, very different epistemic reality. Each camp has its own narrative, its own facts, its own reality.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One camp draws its set of facts almost exclusively the self-referential media ecosystem represented by Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and rightwing talk radio, and a swarm of insurgent Internet media entities — Breitbart News, the Drudge Report, the Daily Caller, The Blaze, World Net Daily, Infowars, and so on.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In that epistemic reality, it is taken as fact that President Barack Obama was not born an American citizen, is probably a secret Muslim, did not head the Harvard Law Review, and golfs more than any American president in history (he doesn’t.)</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There are many academics digging into the issue of how this happened.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One is sociologist and retired U.S. Army intelligence analyst James Scaminaci, who reports coming home to the U.S. in 2003 from assignments in Bosnia and Herzegovina — where he had analyzed the criminal and social networks behind the ongoing ethnic cleansing there — and discovering, to his dismay the impact that the politicized religious right was exerting in American politics</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By 2009, Scaminaci was writing extensively on the rise of the Tea Party movement and on the increasingly rancorous political climate in America – that Scaminaci considered pre-revolutionary (see this Salon.com interview with Scaminaci.)</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“What escapes these scholars,” writes Scaminaci, “is the idea that what they measure in their studies is the result of a deliberate strategy of destruction.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Tea Party-driven takeover of Congress and the Senate in 2010 closely resembled the Newt Gingrich-led 1994 Republican takeover of Congress which, like the 2010 takeover, led to government paralysis. It also enabled the Republican congressional impeachment of President Bill Clinton.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to scholars Norman Ornstein and Thomas Mann, “Gingrich delegitimized the Congress” which in turn “began the populist conservative hatred of government.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As it happens, Gingrich had been trained by one of the most important architects of the American religious right, Paul Weyrich, a man designated “The Robespierre of the Right” in a 2007 New Republic story and who co-founded (and arranged initial funding for) much of the movement’s early infrastructure. In 1996, Weyrich told PBS Frontline that he and Gingrich were “right now traveling down the same freeway”.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And, Weyrich was the very Christian right leader, according to James Scaminaci, who was “responsible for the development of the strategy of Fourth Generation Warfare–the central aim of which is to delegitimize the federal government.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At his influential Free Congress Foundation think tank, Weyrich was the longtime employer and close colleague of William S. Lind, a brilliant paleoconservative military strategist most responsible for the development of “Fourth Generation Warfare” (4GW), a style of warfare useful to insurgencies and terrorist groups that blurs civilian/combatant distinctions and uses a wide spectrum of tactics, from public relations and propaganda to outright violence.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The paramount goal of 4GW is the delegitimization of the targeted government or power structure.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">William Lind has publicly noted that multiple copies of his seminal 1989 US Marine Corps Gazette on 4GW were found in the Tora Bora, Afghanistan caves of al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Scholars both of al-Qaeda and Fourth Generation Warfare have also noted (see link, above) that the apparent inspiration for al-Qaeda’s grand strategy behind it’s devastating September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon seems to have come from William Lind’s 4GW ideas.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Since retiring from the U.S. Army in 2009, James Scaminaci has written an impressive body of academic monographsanalyzing the rise of the Tea Party, and the contemporary insurgent American right, as an expression of Fourth Generation Warfare with the ultimate aim of overthrowing the existing American social and political order.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Scaminaci notes, of Donald Trump’s Republican Presidential nomination acceptance speech, that,</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Trump’s speech has been described as angry and dark, dystopian and desperate, apocalyptic, appealing to fear, a campaign of fear, a psychotic disorder, demagoguery, and America in crisis. But his remarks are entirely consistent with the tone and substance of Williams S. Lind’s Fourth Generation Warfare writings. Key passages speak to the question of legitimacy, specifically that President Obama or Secretary Clinton, or the unnamed federal government have failed to protect citizens from undocumented murdering immigrants and Muslim terrorists.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During the Spring of 2016, William S. Lind personally met with Donald Trump and gave Trump the 2009 book that Lind co-authored with the late Paul Weyrich, The Next Conservatism. The Lind/Weyrich book outlines a policy platform remarkably similar to the platform Donald Trump ran on in the 2016 GOP primaries.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The book also contains a several page explanation of Fourth Generation Warfare.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In his 105 page monograph titled The Free Congress Foundation’s Political-Military Strategy Documents, James Scaminaci traces some of the dense connections between William Lind’s ideas and the white nationalist right that played a major role in propelling Donald Trump to the 2016 GOP presidential nomination.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lind is author of the 2014 book Victoria — A Novel of Fourth Generation Warfare that favorably depicts white Christian militia insurgents toppling the federal government and carrying out mass ethnic cleansing.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alex V. Henderson</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Philadelphia, PA </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">vixenatrixx@gmail.com</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dirty Trickster' Revealed: Here Are 5 of the Sleaziest Things Roger Stone Did Before Running the Trump Campaign</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By Alex Henderson</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">AlterNet, January 25, 2019</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Roger Stone, at the close of 2018, was viewed by many as the likely next target to be arrested and indicted in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation — and sure enough, the veteran Republican Party operative was arrested by FBI agents early Friday morning on seven charges of federal crimes.?</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But long before he became known for some of the shadiest machinations in the ongoing Trump-Russia scandal, the 66-year-old Stone, who returned to the GOP in 2015 after being registered as a Libertarian for three years, had a dark history in right-wing politics dating back to the Nixon era.?</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone is a self-described “dirty trickster,” and he takes great pride in it. Here are five of Stone’s sleaziest pre-Trump campaign activities.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1. Stone was fired by Sen. Bob Dole in the ‘70s for being a Nixonian ‘dirty trickster’</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone, born in 1952, was in his late teens when he became an aide for President Richard Nixon’s 1972 reelection campaign. Although Stone has insisted that he never did anything illegal during the Watergate scandal, he has described his work during that period as “trafficking in the black arts.” After Nixon stepped down as president in August 1974 because of Watergate, Stone went to work for Sen. Bob Dole. However, he wasn’t in Dole’s employ very long; the Kansas senator fired him after he was identified by syndicated columnist Jack Anderson as being a “dirty trickster” for Nixon. One of Stone’s tricks was hiring a Republican operative to infiltrate the 1972 presidential campaign of Democrat George McGovern, who suffered a landslide defeat when Nixon was reelected.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2. Stone is a self-described ‘Nixonite’</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During Watergate, many prominent Republicans — including Sen. Barry Goldwater — distanced themselves from President Nixon. But Stone is one GOP operative who is openly proud of his work with Nixon and has bragged about being a “Nixonite.” In 2008, the New Yorker quoted Stone as saying, “The reason I’m a Nixonite is because of his indestructibility and resilience. He never quit. His whole career was all built around his personal resentment of elitism. It was the poor-me syndrome.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3. Stone and Paul Manafort represented Ferdinand Marcos and other corrupt dictators</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone and Paul Manafort — Trump’s former 2016 campaign chairman and another major target of Mueller’s Russia investigation — go way back: when a 24-year-old Stone became president of the Young Republicans in 1977, Manafort was the one managing his campaign. And they went on to work together on Ronald Reagan’s 1980 presidential campaign. In 1980, Stone and Manafort, along with their associate Charlie Black, formed the right-wing Washington, DC lobbying group Black, Manafort & Stone, which not only represented Republicans in the U.S. but also corrupt dictators ranging from Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines to Mobuto Sese Seko in the Congo. As bad as the Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs Manafort worked with in the 2000s and 2010s were, some of the dictators, tyrants and thugs that Stone and Manafort represented in the 1980s were even worse.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4. Stone was a lobbyist for Angola’s brutal Jonah Savimbi</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In addition to working with dictators like Marcos and Seko, the firm Black, Manafort & Stone represented Jonah Savimbi — whose National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA in Portuguese) tried to overthrow Angola’s Marxist government in the 1980s. According to Human Rights Watch, UNITA was ruthless and “used terror as a policy to obtain supplies and coerce and intimidate civilians. Indiscriminate killings, mutilation of limbs or ears and beatings were used by rebels to punish suspected government sympathizers or as a warning against betraying UNITA.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">5. Stone advised Al Sharpton in 2004 — hoping to divide Democrats</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In his 2004 Democratic presidential primary campaign, the Rev. Al Sharpton had an unlikely advisor: Roger Stone, who helped the civil rights activist craft a message against Howard Dean (another Democrat who ran in that primary). When Sharpton stressed that Dean, as governor of Vermont, hadn’t had any blacks or Latinos in his cabinet, that messaging came from Stone — who, in a 2004 interview with the New York Times, said of Sharpton, “There has not been a candidate with this much charisma since Ronald Reagan.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But Stone had an ulterior motive: he wanted to divide Democrats. Sharpton eventually dropped out of the race and endorsed Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, who won the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination but lost to incumbent Republican President George W. Bush in the general election.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">?Alex Henderson is a news writer at AlterNet and veteran political journalist. His work has also appeared in Salon, Raw Story, Truthdig, National Memo, Philadelphia Weekly, Democratic Underground, L.A. Weekly, MintPress News and many other publications. </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When Special Counsel Robert Mueller issued the indictment against Roger Stone, a long-time ally of President Donald Trump, he filed it while noting that it was connected to another case: the indictment of Russians who hacked Democratic emails during the 2016 campaign.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone has been charged with lying to Congress, tampering with a witness, and obstructing justice.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone’s lawyers objected to the assertion that the cases were connected, a motion that could have triggered the case to be assigned to a different judge. But on Friday, Mueller responded to the lawyers’ objections and revealed why the cases are connected:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In Netyksho, eleven Russian military officers are charged by indictment with, inter alia, conspiring to hack into the computers of U.S. persons and entities involved in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, steal documents from those computers, and stage releases of the stolen documents to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">…</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As alleged in the Netyksho indictment, in 2016, the Netyksho defendants stole documents from the DNC, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and the Clinton campaign chairman. Those defendants then released many of the stolen documents, including through a website maintained by Organization 1. In the course of investigating that activity, the government obtained and executed dozens of search warrants on various accounts used to facilitate the transfer of stolen documents for release, as well as to discuss the timing and promotion of their release. Several of those search warrants were executed on accounts that contained Stone’s communications with Guccifer 2.0 and with Organization 1. Evidence obtained from those search warrants resulted in the allegations that the Netyksho defendants hacked and stole documents for release through intermediaries, including Organization 1, and that Stone lied to a congressional committee investigating, among other things, the activities of Organization 1 regarding those stolen documents.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Here, “Organization 1” refers to WikiLeaks, which published the stolen emails.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mueller also argued that Stone’s actions are part of the same “alleged criminal event or transaction” as those at issue in Netyksho.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He explained that the “criminal conduct alleged in Netyksho was a central focus of the congressional investigation that the defendant is alleged to have obstructed, and therefore the activities underlying the crimes charged in that case are part of the same activities underlying the crimes charged in this case.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Since Stone’s lies came up in the context of an investigation the Russian election interference and possible connections to the actions of Americans, the cases are linked.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The defendant’s false statements did not arise in a vacuum,” the filing said.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Reporter Andrew Prokop noted that further discussion of the warrants in question was filed along with the documents, but it was under seal.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Frank Pentangeli was a character in Francis Ford Coppolla’s classic 1974 crime drama “The Godfather, Part II” who lied to Congress about his involvement in the Corleone mafia family—and according to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office, veteran GOP operative Roger Stone told radio host Randy Credico to “do a Frank Pentangeli” when addressing the House Intelligence Committee. Mueller’s indictment alleges that Stone encouraged Credico to commit perjury and lie to Congress, but in an interview with the New Yorker’s Jeffrey Toobin, Stone insists that Mueller is taking the Pentangeli reference out of context.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“This is all wrong,” Stone told Toobin. “Randy is an impressionist. He does impressions. I was asking him to do his Frank Pentangeli impression. I wasn’t telling Randy to lie.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Friday morning, January 25, Roger became the latest associate of President Donald Trump to be arrested as a result of Mueller’s Russia investigation. The 66-year-old Stone (who testified before the House Intelligence Committee in September 2017) is facing seven criminal charges, including obstruction of justice, witness tampering and making false statements.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mueller’s probe has been investigating the hacking of Democratic Party e-mails during the 2016 presidential race. A hacker who went by “Guccifer 2.0,” according to Mueller, stole the e-mails of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and John Podesta (Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign manager) and passed them along to WikiLeaks—which published them online. Mueller alleges that “Guccifer 2.0” was a Russian government intelligence official based in Moscow, which Stone has denied. The Trump ally has maintained that there is no evidence that “Guccifer 2.0” was Russian.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In his New Yorker article, Toobin notes that Mueller’s indictment “does not charge Stone with any involvement in the hacking” of Democratic Party e-mails in 2016 but “accuses him of lying” to the House Intelligence Committee about his and far-right author/conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi’s “efforts to pry loose the hacked e-mails from WikiLeaks.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">January 25th, the FBI arrested Roger Stone and executed search warrants of his residences in Florida and New York. Stone was charged on seven counts of obstruction, giving false statements, and witness tampering as part of the special counsel's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fox News immediately worked to minimize the importance of Stone's indictment. </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The network utilized three forms of defense for Trump's longtime adviser:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Declare the indictments reveal nothing and assert that there's no evidence of collusion.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Criticize the manner in which Stone was arrested. As Chris Hayes, Elliot Williams, and others pointed out, Fox News suddenly cared about potential civil rights violations and a growing police state only when Roger Stone was arrested.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Deflecting by bringing up other officials, like Eric Holder, James Comey, Hillary Clinton, and more.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As Matt Gertz wrote of the role that Fox News plays in the Russia probe,"Hannity has primed his audience to reject any conclusions from the Mueller investigation and to support Trump if he fires the special counsel or demands the Justice Department take action against his political foes. If Trump decides to undermine the rule of law by taking such steps, he will have the fervent support of the Fox Host and his viewers."</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And we know that Trump was watching the coverage on Fox. Speaking of that, Trump told Face The Nation in an interview airing today, "You have to get rid of the Russia witch hunt."</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Also: Jerome Corsi said in an interview this week that Stone is "pressuring me to change my testimony." Meanwhile, Stone's explanation for his witness tampering charge was that he was trying to help Randy Credico.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Finally: Stone during the campaign repeatedly bragged about talking with Trump and senior campaign officials.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2016/10/05/trump-ally-roger-stone-i-m-banned-fox-because-i-kick-their-ass/213558</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no pix lnx</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump Ally Roger Stone: “I’m Banned At Fox Because I Kick Their Ass”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Smear Merchant Is Now Banned By All Three Major Cable News Networks</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Blog ››› October 5, 2016 3:03 PM EDT ››› ERIC HANANOKI</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Longtime Donald Trump adviser Roger Stone’s outrageous rhetoric, smears, and conspiracy theories are apparently too much for even Trump-supporting Fox News. Stone claims Fox News has “banned” him from appearing as a guest on the network.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone has a decades-long history of employing political smears, and he regularly spouts violent, racist, and sexist rhetoric, including calling Hillary Clinton a “cunt” and advocating that she be executed for treason. He’s also a discredited researcher who claims the Clintons and Bushes secretly murdered dozens, President Lyndon Johnson killed President John F. Kennedy, and the Democrats are attempting to steal the election from the Republican nominee through rigged voting machines. In August, Stone claimed the Clintons had murdered four people in previous weeks.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CNN and MSNBC have both confirmed that they have banned Stone from their airwaves because of his offensive comments. Stone has lashed out the networks for the bans and blamed Media Matters for causing them.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Media Matters documented in late February that Stone had launched disgusting attacks against various Fox personalities. He called Fox News contributor Allen West an "arrogant know-it-all negro," mocked contributor Charles Krauthammer -- who was paralyzed in a diving accident when he was in medical school -- by telling him to "stand the fuck up," suggested he wants "to bash Bill O'Reilly's head in," called contributor Herman Cain "Mandingo," and said anchor Megyn Kelly has a "nice set of cans."</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone used to be a frequent guest on Fox News and Fox Business but his regular appearances seem to have waned and then stopped following Media Matters’ reporting. A Nexis search of available Fox transcripts found that Stone’s last appearance was on the April 4 edition of Fox Business’ Mornings with Maria. A search of the TV News Archive at archive.org did not return any Stone appearances on Fox News or Fox Business since April.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone confirmed during an October 4 speech that he has been blacklisted by Fox News, telling the audience: “I’m banned at CNN. I’m banned at MSNBC. I’m banned at Fox because I kick their ass. That’s why they don’t let me on.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He complained earlier in the speech that “Fox is gone, folks. Fox is no longer a conservative media outlet. It’s been taken over by the globalists. Rupert Murdoch’s made his deal.” He added: “Roger Ailes was a patriot. Now he’s been smeared. That was a coup d'etat. They got the last American out of there. Now we've got a bunch of globalists. I should say American nationalists -- out of there. Now we've got a bunch of globalists. There's a few patriots: Sean Hannity, Judge Andrew Napolitano, Judge Jeanine.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Friend and far-right radio host Alex Jones said while interviewing Stone on August 23 that Fox had banned Stone and he also blamed Media Matters, stating: “We know they say he should be banned on Fox, and he hasn’t been on since then.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While Stone no longer appears on the three main cable news networks, he’s still a fixture on radio shows like The Alex Jones Show and in conservative outlets like Breitbart.com and The Daily Caller. Outlets such as The New York Times, C-SPAN, and The Hill also quote or feature Stone without giving adequate context to his toxic history.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Despite Stone’s absence, Fox News is still the go-to place for pro-Trump activism. The network has repeatedly smeared Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and defended Trump. Host Sean Hannity has become one of Trump’s biggest cheerleaders. And in recent months, Trump has virtually avoided interviews on the broadcast networks and other cable news channels in favor of Fox News softballs.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">rww</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alex Jones, the founder of Infowars, said in a December episode of “The Alex Jones Show” that Roger Stone, a former Trump campaign adviser and longtime friend of President Donald Trump, had originally attempted contacting WikiLeaks as part of his audition for a job at Infowars.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone was arrested at his Florida home this morning following a grand jury indictment on one count of obstruction, one count of witness tampering, and five counts of providing false statements. The indictment states that Stone lied to prosecutors about his communications with Trump campaign officials regarding the release of John Podesta’s hacked emails by WikiLeaks during the summer before the 2016 election.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jones hosted Stone on the Christmas Eve edition of his show last year to comment on his entanglement in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. During Stone’s appearance, Jones recounted Stone asking him for a job at Infowars (which he would later receive) after he was banned from Fox News in 2016. Jones said on air that during that conversation, he asked Stone to get him in touch with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I said, ‘You know, Roger, you’re a good guy on the show and I promote your website and I sell your book—and that’s good; I don’t have a lot of extra money laying around—but I said, ‘If you can get me Julian Assange, because you’ve been talking about your intermediary … and you go, ‘Well, I’ll try. I know this talk show host that knows him,” Jones said. “I mean, I’m not trying to [be], like, ‘oh, you want this job from me’—it’s just the story of what happened.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/outside-roger-stones-hearing-there-was-a-circus</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> no lnx pix</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Outside Roger Stone’s Hearing, There Was a Circus</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By Jared Holt | January 29, 2019 2:10 pm</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Roger Stone is escorted by federal agents into the D.C. District court on January 29, 2018. (Photo: Jared Holt)</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Roger Stone, a longtime GOP operative and former campaign adviser for President Donald Trump, arrived at the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., this morning for an arraignment hearing following his arrest last Friday on one count of obstruction, one count of witness tampering, and five counts of providing false statements in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Waiting outside the courthouse was a gaggle of members of the right-wing hate group, Proud Boys, including Stone mentee Jacob Engels and Big League Politics writer Luke Rohlfing, who both traveled from out of state. Rohlfing told us he financed his own trip to Washington for the arraignment hearing. Engels did not answer when asked who paid for his travel. The Proud Boys have been repeatedly drafted as Stone’s personal security force, and the group has backed Stone as he prepares to possibly stand trial in the Mueller investigation.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(Photo: Jared Holt)</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Proud Boys carried signs featuring an image of Infowars founder Alex Jones (Stone currently works as an Infowars contributor) and posters advertising a fundraiser for Stone’s legal defense that contained a misspelling of the word “verified.” At one point after Stone entered the courthouse, Engels and a heckler engaged in a heated screaming match before they were separated by police.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“How am I a Nazi?” Engels yelled repeatedly at the heckler.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Across the street, activist Claude Taylor, known on Twitter as “TrueFactsStated,” was positioning an inflatable figure depicting Donald Trump as a Russian rat. He told us that he originally struggled to get the figure inflated but that his wife drove to the scene and jump-started his vintage Chevy truck so the rat could achieve its full stature.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Claude Taylor</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">?</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@TrueFactsStated</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> I had my first interview with Info Wars. I got his mic cover and wiped my nose with it. He mad.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">534</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">7:35 AM - Jan 29, 2019</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">100 people are talking about this</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Twitter Ads info and privacy</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A man wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat chided reporters, accusing them of covering up pedophilia by high-level people and declaring that those complicit would be going to hell. He began telling reporters he would fight them; the Proud Boys pulled him aside to ask him to calm down his rhetoric. Right Wing Watch asked the heckler if he believed Pizzagate was real and he accused us of using the term “Pizzagate” to cover up actual pedophile crimes (so we will interpret that as a “yes”). Speaking of Pizzagate, One America News correspondent Jack Posobiec, a purveyor of the myth, made a quiet appearance at the courthouse, sliding through a side door. Posobiec has also received mentoring from Stone.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Infowars host Owen Shroyer was streaming for the outlet on the scene and asked this reporter if he would agree to a charity boxing match, as he has done online since we published an article about his claim that media outlets that give positive coverage to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are “partly responsible for the death of Heather Heyer,” a counter-protester who was murdered by a neo-Nazi at the 2017 Unite the Right white supremacist gathering. This reporter declined the offer.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(Photo: Jared Holt)</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fourteen minutes after Stone’s arraignment hearing began, it ended. Stone, via his lawyer, pleaded not guilty. Reporters gathered outside the main entrance of the building and put microphones and cameras in place, expecting Stone to deliver a statement to the press. Instead, he bailed out a side door, triggering a mad scramble of press and protesters while one demonstrator blared the song “Back in the U.S.S.R.” through a Bluetooth loudspeaker.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">However, Larry Klayman—the estranged founder of Judicial Watch—did emerge through the same revolving glass door through which Stone originally entered the courthouse and entered into the scrum. Klayman does not represent Stone; he is currently representing former Infowars Washington bureau chief Jerome Corsi in the Mueller investigation—whom Stone and his allies have blamed for Stone’s arrest. Klayman did not take questions from the press.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Correction: The first version of this piece mistakenly placed Proud Boys Chairman Enrique Tarrio at the scene in front of the courthouse. We regret the error.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tags: Enrique Tarrio Jack Posobiec Jacob Engels Larry Klayman Luke Rohlfing Roger Stone Media Russia Russia Investigation InfoWars Proud Boys</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">charged, house raided, rw handwringing on jackboots v segal raid for dog fighting</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">TRMS wonders why big risk to lie on credito sp vs corsi, why does it matter?</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">AN on Hannity picks up hillary sick story</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kurt Eichenwald</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">?</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@kurteichenwald</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2...is August 2, 2016, when Corsi sent an email to Stone. In that email, Corsi says that Assange is planning a document dump on October 2 to cause the most damage possible. (Do you Wikileaks fans FINALLY understand what this fraud is?) In preparation of that, Corsi says that....</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone, veteran Republican Party operative and a long-time confidant of President Donald Trump, has been indicted on seven felony charges in connection with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. Around 5 a.m. EST today, a group of well-armed FBI agents showed up at the 66-year-old Stone’s home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida with an arrest warrant. And the charges include five counts of making false statements, one count of obstruction of justice and one count of witness tampering.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">SPONSORED</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Here are some of the most shocking revelations in the indictment and arrest of Trump’s long-time ally.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone’s arrest was completely unannounced</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Although journalists who have been reporting on Mueller’s probe have been predicting that Stone would be arrested at some point, the way in which he was arrested this morning nonetheless comes as somewhat of a shock. Other Trump associates who have faced felony charges in connection with Russiagate moreless turned themselves in at their convenience; the FBI didn’t show up unannounced in the wee hours. But Stone was the target of the type of pre-dawn arrest that occurs when FBI agents fear that valuable evidence could be destroyed. This was the type of arrest that takes place when the FBI wants to surprise suspects and catch them off guard.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone is accused of obstructing the House Intelligence Committee’s Russia investigation</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mueller’s team aren’t the only ones who have been investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election; the House Intelligence Committee and the FBI, among others, have investigated the matter as well—in fact, they were doing so before Mueller launched his investigation in 2017. And Stone, in the indictment, is accused of obstructing the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The indictment notes, “After the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the U.S. House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (“HPSCI”), the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (“SSCI”), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) opened or announced their respective investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, which included investigating STONE’s claims of contact with Organization 1.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Organization 1 in the indictment is believed to be WikiLeaks</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The indictment of Stone specifically mentions an organization that is identified as “Organization 1,” and Organization is widely believed to be WikiLeaks—a major target of Mueller’s probe. In 2016, a hacker who went by Guccifer 2.0 stole the e-mails of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Democrat Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager, John Podesta, and those stolen e-mails were published online by WikiLeaks. Stone is suspected of knowing, in 2016, that the hacking had occurred and that the Democratic e-mails would be published online. Although Mueller believes that Guccifer 2.0 is a Russian intelligence official based in Moscow, Stone has claimed that there is no proof that Guccifer was part of the Russian government.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The indictment of Stone states, “By in or around May 2016, the Democratic National Committee (“DNC”) and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (“DCCC”) became aware that their computer systems had been compromised by unauthorized intrusions and hired a security company (“Company 1”) to identify the extent of the intrusions…. On or about June 14, 2016, the DNC—through Company 1—publicly announced that it had been hacked by Russian government actors.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone is accused of discussing WikiLeaks’ activities with ‘senior Trump campaign officials’ in 2016</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The indictment of Stone states, “During the summer of 2016, STONE spoke to senior Trump Campaign officials about Organization 1 and information it might have had that would be damaging to the Clinton Campaign. STONE was contacted by senior Trump Campaign officials to inquire about future releases by Organization 1…. By in or around early August 2016, STONE was claiming both publicly and privately to have communicated with Organization 1.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The head of ‘Organization 1’ is believed to be Julian Assange</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The person described as the head of “Organization 1” in the indictment is widely believed to be WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange. The indictment states, “By in or around June and July 2016, STONE informed senior Trump Campaign officials that he had information indicating Organization 1 had documents whose release would be damaging to the Clinton Campaign. The head of Organization 1 was located at all relevant times at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, United Kingdom.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">London’s Ecuadorian Embassy, of course, is where Assange has been seeking refuge. The indictment of Stone goes on to allege that in 2016, “STONE also corresponded with associates about contacting Organization 1 in order to obtain additional e-mails damaging to the Clinton Campaign.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">prolly but not proved?</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.alternet.org/2019/01/steve-bannon-was-one-of-the-senior-officials-mentioned-in-roger-stone-indictment-report/</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump ally and longtime adviser Roger Stone was arrested by the FBI Friday morning in a pre-dawn raid after a federal grand jury indicted him. The indictment refers to unnamed senior Trump campaign officials.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The indictment alleges that Stone had been in contact with top-ranking Trump campaign officials about efforts to leak damaging information about Hillary Clinton just before the 2016 election,” CNBC reports.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“According to a person with direct knowledge of the matter, one of the senior officials who reached out to Stone was Steve Bannon, who served as CEO of the Trump campaign during the election’s final stages.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Meanwhile, Buzzfeed’s National Security Correspondent offers this tweet, citing the Mueller indictment of Roger Stone:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Pentangeli</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...While the Committee is in recess, Michael and others look for a way to avoid the perjury charges. Fredo, who had unknowingly conspired with Michael's enemies, informs Michael that the hearing was engineered by Roth as part of his plan to eliminate him from the scene; plus, the committee's lawyer is on Roth's payroll.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Michael knows that Pentangeli's protective custody is too secure to make an attempt on his life before he testifies. Instead, Michael flies Pentangeli's brother, Vincenzo, in from Sicily, and Vincenzo accompanies Michael to the hearing at which Frank is scheduled to testify. Vincenzo and Frank exchange a silent glance before the hearing. Frightened, Frank recants his earlier statements, saying he "told the FBI guys what they wanted to hear," and now claims that the Corleone family is innocent of any wrongdoing, thus perjuring himself before the Senate committee. This testimony catches the Senators completely off-guard and effectively derails the government's case against Michael.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After the hearing, Corleone family consigliere Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall) visits Pentangeli in custody. Hagen tells Pentangeli, a history buff, a story about how traitors in ancient Rome could spare their families if they committed suicide; the implication being that Michael will take care of Pentangeli's family if he kills himself. Pentangeli thanks Hagen, returns to his assigned quarters, and slits his wrists while taking a bath.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The finished film leaves unclear exactly what about his brother's presence motivated Pentangeli to change his story. The final film only states that Vincenzo is a powerful and ruthless Mafia chieftain in Sicily.[1]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">An early draft of the film's script explains that Vincenzo, shocked that his brother is about to betray the Corleones, attends the hearing to remind Frank that he must not break the Mafia's code of silence, omertà. His brother's presence, as well as the stare they exchange, serves as a threat that if Frank follows through with his planned testimony, retribution will be taken against his children, who are living in Sicily under Vincenzo's guardianship.[2]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This character made the national news on Jan. 25, 2019 because he was referenced in the federal indictment of Roger Stone. "The indictment contains a reference to a character from 'The Godfather: Part II' who is intimidated into not testifying against a mafia boss. According to the indictment, Stone in late 2017 told an associate — identified as "Person 2" — that they should "do a 'Frank Pentangeli' before [the House Intelligence Committee] in order to avoid contradicting STONE's testimony.' The filing goes on to say, "Frank Pentangeli is a character in the film The Godfather: Part II, which both STONE and Person 2 had discussed, who testifies before a congressional committee and in that testimony claims not to know critical information that he does in fact know." [3]...</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/investigating-president-trump-watergate-prosecutor-nick-akerman-podcast-transcript-ncna910501</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">how did this happen podcast: watergate prosecutor: team to beat up or kill may 3 at a rally? roger stone squad to create diversion, unknown if he knew reason.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ICK AKERMAN: Roger Stone I had in my office questioning him in, oh, sometime in 1973, in the fall of '73. He was a witness at that time with respect to that incident with Ellsberg on Capitol Hill. What they did is they organized a bunch of young people, and Roger Stone was pretty young then. I mean, I was young, but Roger Stone was really young. And they put together a bunch of counter-demonstrators to go up there when Ellsberg was speaking to kind of deflect attention so that the Cuban Americans from Miami could get up to the stage to get after Ellsberg or Kunstler. So they were used as a diversion. Now, I don't think he had any reason to believe he was part of a diversion as such.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CHRIS HAYES: A diversion for the physical assault.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">NICK AKERMAN: For the physical assault, correct.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CHRIS HAYES: Did they ever carry it out? Did they beat him up?</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">NICK AKERMAN: They didn't get to him, no. No, they never got to him.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CHRIS HAYES: So he was just a young right-winger who thought he was doing a Daniel Ellsberg counter-demonstration.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">NICK AKERMAN: As best I can tell. Now, he also was involved in this whole effort in New Hampshire as well. I mean, he was sent up there by the Committee to Re-Elect the President, also known as “CREEP,” to go up there and make a donation from the Young Socialists, $500, to the McCloskey campaign. Now, if you recall, McCloskey was a congressman from California, an anti-war Republican who was running against Nixon in the New Hampshire primary.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CHRIS HAYES: So they wanted to taint him.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">NICK AKERMAN: Right.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CHRIS HAYES: And then they leaked the story.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">NICK AKERMAN: And then Roger Stone leaks the story that he's from the Young Socialists and, "I just donated $500 to McCloskey."</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CHRIS HAYES: That's Roger Stone's lifetime career M.O. in a nutshell.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">NICK AKERMAN: Exactly.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CHRIS HAYES: That story. I mean, that's what he's been doing-</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">NICK AKERMAN: Ever since. Ever since. And who knows what he did this time. I mean, I think he's in a lot deeper trouble than he was before. Certainly with the Russians and dealing with Guccifer 2.0 and WikiLeaks, et cetera.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CHRIS HAYES: By the time you hear this, it's entirely possible that he has been indicted.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">STONE CAVES: SETTLES $100M LAWSUIT Trump’s former campaign adviser Roger Stone settled a defamation suit, agreeing to publicly apologize for publishing false information on the right-wing conspiracy site Infowars. The settlement ends a $100 million lawsuit by Chinese businessman Guo Wengui, whom Stone falsely claimed had been convicted of financial crimes for donations to 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and former Trump senior adviser Steve Bannon. [HuffPost]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">AN</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">... letter comes just a day after Trump praised Stone on Twitter for refusing to cooperate with investigators in the Russia probe, saying, "Nice to know that some people still have 'guts!'" Some commentators, including conservative lawyer George Conway, blasted the remark as possible witness tampering.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Obviously, invoking the Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate oneself is not evidence of guilt. But one person who certainly seems to think otherwise is Trump, who at a rally in September 2017 proclaimed, "The mob takes the Fifth. If you're innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?"</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone has been a key focus of special counsel Robert Mueller, who has been investigating whether and how Stone communicated with pro-Russia vigilante "transparency" crusader Julian Assange during the 2016 presidential campaign. Stone appeared to have advanced notice when Assange's WikiLeaks site dropped a trove of emails stolen from Democratic officials by Russian hackers, although he has denied this as his legal jeopardy has become apparent.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">rww</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Roger Stone and ‘Sheriff Joe’ Surprise Attendees of Rally Peppered with Far-Right Extremists</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">many lnx</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Roger Stone and ‘Sheriff Joe’ Surprise Attendees of Rally Peppered with Far-Right Extremists</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By Jared Holt | September 10, 2018 11:48 am</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Mother of All Rallies, the pro-Trump “patriot” rally that attracted far-right extremists last year, featured surprise guests at this year’s event last weekend, including failed U.S. Senate candidate from Arizona Joe Arpaio and GOP operative Roger Stone, who arrived on site with an entourage of members from the Proud Boys hate group.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While last year’s Mother of All Rallies brought out an underwhelming showing, this year produced the same as only about 200 people— including event organizers, speakers, reporters and supporters—gathered on the National Mall on Saturday.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(Photo: Jared Holt for Right Wing Watch)</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone, who is a focus of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible ties between Trump associates and Russian officials, stopped by the rally for an unscheduled appearance and told attendees they were the “tip of the spear” and the “cutting edge of the counter-revolution,” borrowing mainstay lines from his frequent appearances on the conspiracy theory outlet Infowars.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Let me say one thing about Russian collusion: It’s bullshit,” Stone said, to applause. “It’s a canard, it’s a fraud, it’s a left-wing conspiracy theory.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He went on to label Mueller “illegitimate” and suggested Mueller may have covered up the deaths of inmates who were imprisoned to conceal ties between the FBI and the mob. Stone also claimed he will not be indicted, but that he might be “framed,” though he promised not to flip on Trump.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(Photo: Jared Holt for Right Wing Watch)</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Event organizers said they met Arpaio at the Trump International Hotel in Washington the night before the event and that he had agreed to speak at their rally. Arpaio’s speech was brief, but he did tell the crowd that he was turning over his unused campaign funds to Trump’s re-election efforts.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While most of the event attendees appeared to be standard-issue Trump supporters, the rally—as it did last year—also contained several hardcore extremists.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(Photo: Jared Holt for Right Wing Watch)</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Running security were clusters of people wearing insignias of anti-government militia groups, including the Oath Keepers, Three Percenters, and the Light Foot Militia. The latter group’s Pennsylvania branch was named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed by the City of Charlottesville, Virginia, after the melee sparked by the 2017 Unite the Right event—a lawsuit they resolved by “agreeing not to return to Charlottesville to engage in coordinated armed activity during rallies and protests.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(Video Still: Alejandro Alvarez / News2Share)</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At this year’s Mother of All Rallies event, News2Share filmed members of American Guard, a group of white supremacists. American Guard was founded by Brien James, who was also in attendance. The Anti-Defamation League reported that James was also a founder of a violent skinhead gang called the Vinlanders Social Club whose members and affiliates have been responsible for at least nine murders. The Southern Poverty Law Center reported that in 2000, James punched and stomped a man “to the brink of death at a party for refusing to seig heil,” and that James had bragged about multiple trials he faced for attempted murder, batteries and hate crimes.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(Photo: Jared Holt for Right Wing Watch)</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Also among those in the crowd this year was Jovi Val, a far-right activist who, for a brief moment, rose to fame in online pro-Trump circles after he was attacked with a glass bottle in a New York City bar fight over his wearing of a Trump hat. Since then, he’s been showing up at far-right rallies like the “Speak English Please” rally in New York City and has proven himself to be inflammatory enough to get reportedly denounced by CRTV host Gavin McInnes. The video host, who also founded the Proud Boys, now claims that Val is not a member of his group despite the fact he had previously identified Val as such. Val was spotted last month in Washington amongst the neo-Nazis attending the anniversary event of Unite the Right.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The event ended early due to rain.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tags: Joe Arpaio Roger Stone Alt-Right Anti-Government white supremacist American Guard Light Foot Militia Oath Keepers Proud Boys Three Percenters</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">nevin pol op pal in fla spread guccifer info:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">huffpo</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A little more than halfway through the new 29-page indictment handed up by the grand jury investigating Russia’s interference in the 2016 election is an intriguing tidbit: An unnamed congressional candidate reached out to Russian intelligence operatives posing as a hacker named Guccifer 2.0, seeking dirt on their opponent.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The outreach came on Aug. 15, 2016, after it was clear Guccifier 2.0 ? whom the indictment identifies as part of GRU, a Russian Federation intelligence agency within the Russian military ? had hacked the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Russian intelligence operatives responded to the request with information related to the candidate’s opponent, according to the relevant portion of the indictment, pictured below:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team didn’t reveal who the candidate was, and while several GOP congressional candidates benefited from the DCCC hack, the details don’t quite match up with previously reported incidents.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One name that has come up is Pennsylvania GOP Rep. Ryan Costello. The operatives posing as Guccifer leaked documents revealing that Costello’s Democratic opponent, Mike Parrish, was not the top choice of national Democratic operatives to challenge the Republican. The documents, which were leaked to The Hill and the subject of an Aug. 23, 2016, story, showed DCCC operatives attempting to recruit another Democratic candidate into the race. </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But Costello’s team said it opted to not use the damaging material ? he was a heavy favorite to win re-election.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“When news broke that this material had likely been stolen by a foreign actor, we immediately said, ‘We’re not going to use it,’” Vince Galko, a strategist who worked for Costello, told The Atlantic earlier this year. </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Costello’s congressional communications director, Natalie McLaughlin, had a blunt response when asked if Costello was the candidate who reached out to Guccifer 2.0: “Absolutely not." The other candidates to benefit from the DCCC hack were clustered in Florida: GOP Reps. Carlos Curbelo, Ron DeSantis and Brian Mast. But the information on their opponents appeared to be posted independently by Aaron Nevins, a Florida lobbyist and journalist.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nevins is mentioned in the next paragraph of the indictment as the “then-registered state lobbyist and online source of political news” who received 2.5 gigabytes of data stolen from the DCCC, including “donor records and personal identifying information for more than 2,000 Democratic donors.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The data Nevins received from Guccifer was extremely valuable, and contained information on the two candidates running in a primary to challenge Curbelo. An operative for Mast admitted to The Wall Street Journal he adjusted his strategy after the leaks. “I did adjust some voting targets based on some data I saw,” Mast consultant Anthony Bustamante said. </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Florida GOP consultant turned #NeverTrump talking head Rick Wilson pointed a finger at Mast as the candidate mentioned in the indictment. A spokesman for Mast denied any contact with the hackers: “Congressman Mast and his campaign 100 percent did not have any contact with Guccifer.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A spokeswoman for Curbelo issued a similar denial and added that Curbelo hoped the Justice Department would reveal who the candidate who requested the information was.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Neither he nor anyone on his campaign has ever contacted any foreign agent to request illegally obtained documents or information,” Curbelo spokeswoman Joanna Rodriguez told the Miami Herald. </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">DeSantis, who represents a safely Republican district in north Florida, is now running in the GOP primary for Florida governor with President Donald Trump’s endorsement and has repeatedly tried to end special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. He’s also denied any contact with Guccifer 2.0.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The publicly available trail of breadcrumbs ends there. There are no other indications of who the candidate who requested the information could be. House Speaker Paul Ryan’s office says it doesn’t know anything beyond what’s in the indictment, and Democratic operatives are similarly baffled.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kevin Robillard is a senior political reporter for HuffPost. Do you have information or theories on the mystery candidate? Reach Kevin at kevin.robillard@huffpost.com.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">some in older node, toobin nyer</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">REFERENCE MATERIALS' SITE FOR THE CONSTANT AMERICAN.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MONDAY, JUNE 2, 2008</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Dirty Trickster</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the New Yorker, Jeffrey Toobin writes:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A sign inside the front door of Miami Velvet, a night club of sorts in a warehouse-style building a few minutes from the airport, states, “If sexual activity offends you in any way, do not enter the premises.” At first glance, though, the scene inside looks like a nineteen-eighties disco, with a bar, Madonna at high volume, flashing lights, a stripper’s pole, and a dancer’s cage. But a flat-screen television on the wall plays porn videos, and many clubgoers disappear into locker rooms and emerge wearing towels. From there, some of them go into a lounge, a Jacuzzi room, or one of about half a dozen private rooms to have sex—with their dates or with new acquaintances. Miami Velvet is the leading “swingers’ club” in Miami, and Roger Stone took me there to explain the role he may have played in the fall of Eliot Spitzer, the former governor of New York.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For nearly forty years, Stone has hovered around Republican and national politics, both near the center and at the periphery. At times, mostly during the Reagan years, he was a political consultant and lobbyist who, in conventional terms, was highly successful, working for such politicians as Bob Dole and Tom Kean. Even then, though, Stone regularly crossed the line between respectability and ignominy, and he has become better known for leading a colorful personal life than for landing big-time clients. Still, it is no coincidence that Stone materialized in the midst of the Spitzer scandal—and that he had memorable cameos in the last two Presidential elections. While the Republican Party usually claims Ronald Reagan as its inspiration, Stone represents the less discussed but still vigorous legacy of Richard Nixon, whose politics reflected a curious admixture of anti-Communism, social moderation, and tactical thuggery. Stone believes that Nixonian hardball, more than sunny Reaganism, is John McCain’s only hope for the Presidency.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Over the years, Stone’s relationships with colleagues and clients have been so combustible that his value as a messenger has been compromised. Stone worked for Donald Trump as an occasional lobbyist and as an adviser when Trump considered running for President in 2000. “Roger is a stone-cold loser,” Trump told me. “He always tries taking credit for things he never did.” Like Nixon, Stone is also a great hater—of, among others, the Clintons, Karl Rove, and Spitzer. So what happened at Miami Velvet one night last September, he said, amounted to a gift.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“She was sitting right over there,” Stone told me, pointing to a seat at the bar, as we sipped vodka from plastic cups. (Miami Velvet is B.Y.O.B., to avoid the trouble of securing a liquor license, so Stone had brought along a bottle of the brand p.i.n.k.) “We were just having a casual conversation, and I told her I was a dentist,” Stone said. “She told me she was a call girl, but she wasn’t working that night.” Miami Velvet prohibits prostitution on the premises, a point that is emphasized in the four-page single-spaced legal waiver that everyone must sign to be admitted. (Another house rule, which is reinforced by signs on the wall, is “No means no.”) “She told me she had a very high-end clientele—she kept using the word ‘high-end’—athletes, international businessmen, politicians,” Stone said.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“‘Like who?’ I asked her,” Stone went on. “She named a couple of sports guys, some car dealers I’d heard of because of their commercials, and then she said, ‘I almost had a date with Eliot Spitzer, the governor of New Jersey.’ ” Stone laughed. “She didn’t know much about politics. So I asked her, ‘Did this guy have a beard?’ ” (Jon Corzine, the governor of New Jersey, has a beard.) No, the woman said, he was a skinny bald guy—a description that fit Spitzer. According to Stone, the woman told him that Spitzer had reached her through her escort service, which listed her as a brunette, but she had dyed her hair blond. So the agency referred the governor to a dark-haired colleague, the woman said, who met up with Spitzer in Miami.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I asked her what her friend said about Spitzer,” Stone told me. “She said he was nice enough, but the only odd thing was that he kept his socks on. They were the kind that went to the middle of the calf, and one of them kept falling down.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone said that he decided, after hearing the story, to keep the conversation with the woman to himself for the moment. But there was never any doubt that he would eventually deploy it. As Stone puts it in one of the many rules he lives by, “He who speaks first, loses.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone spends most of his time in Miami these days, but he’s still greeted warmly by the staff at the “21” Club, the venerable former speakeasy on West Fifty-second Street. “I love it here,” Stone said, as we settled into a corner table. “It’s like time stopped in about 1975 in here—my kind of place.” What appeals to Stone is not just the red-meat-and-red-wine gastronomy but also the jackets-required formality. Stone has had his suits tailor-made since the nineteen-seventies, partly because he has a bodybuilder’s physique, which makes it difficult to buy clothes off the rack, but also because he is fastidious about what he wears. He owns more than a hundred suits. For many years, he bleached his hair to an almost fluorescent yellow, but he now keeps it a more banal brown. For dinner, he wore a chalk-striped double-breasted suit, a starched white shirt with a spread collar, and a silver-colored tie, and, outside the restaurant, a homburg. His outfit comported with two of the rules in his book, “Stone’s Rules for War, Politics, Food, Fashion, and Living,” which he hopes to publish soon: “Never wear a double-breasted suit and a button-down collar” and “White dress shirts after six.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone ordered a Stolichnaya Martini. “The key to a good Martini is you have to marinate the olives in vermouth first,” he said. “Nixon gave me the recipe. He said he got it from Winston Churchill.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone did not grow up in such rarefied company. He was born in 1952, half Italian and half Hungarian, and was raised in Lewisboro, New York. His mother wrote for the local newspaper, and his father dug wells. Before he was a teen-ager, a neighbor gave him a copy of Barry Goldwater’s book “The Conscience of a Conservative,” and Stone was hooked. In 1965, when he was thirteen, Stone was taking the train into New York to work weekends on behalf of the ill-fated mayoral campaign of William F. Buckley, Jr. “The key thing about Lewisboro is that it is just across the border from New Canaan,” Stone said, referring to the wealthy Connecticut suburb. “So early on I saw myself as living in kind of a bridge between two cultures, the white working class and the white upper class.” In Stone’s political world view, both groups are, or ought to be, united in opposition to the meddling hand of government.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone moved to Washington to attend George Washington University, but he became so engrossed in Republican politics that he never graduated. He was just nineteen when he played a bit part in the Watergate scandals. He adopted the pseudonym Jason Rainier and made contributions in the name of the Young Socialist Alliance to the campaign of Pete McCloskey, who was challenging Nixon for the Republican nomination in 1972. Stone then sent a receipt to the Manchester Union Leader, to “prove” that Nixon’s adversary was a left-wing stooge. Stone hired another Republican operative, who was given the pseudonym Sedan Chair II, to infiltrate the McGovern campaign. Stone’s Watergate high jinks were revealed during congressional hearings in 1973, and the news cost Stone his job on the staff of Senator Robert Dole. Stone then moved into the world of political consulting, to which he was temperamentally better suited than government service. He co-founded the National Conservative Political Action Committee, which spent money in support of candidates, including Chuck Grassley, of Iowa, and Dan Quayle, in Indiana, who were instrumental in the G.O.P. takeover of the Senate.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone revels in his Watergate pedigree, noting almost apologetically that he was never accused of breaking any law. “The Democrats were weak, we were strong,” he told me. (Stone’s rules: “Attack, attack, attack—never defend” and “Admit nothing, deny everything, launch counterattack.”) In Nixon’s later years, Stone organized a series of dinners at the former President’s home in New Jersey, where groups of journalists would listen to the great man’s monologues about world events. “Of course a lot of the journalists hated Nixon, but they were always blown away by how smart he was,” Stone said.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It was Stone’s preoccupation with toughness that led to his enduring affection for Nixon. “The reason I’m a Nixonite is because of his indestructibility and resilience,” Stone said. “He never quit. His whole career was all built around his personal resentment of élitism. It was the poor-me syndrome. John F. Kennedy’s father bought him his House seat, his Senate seat, and the Presidency. No one bought Nixon anything. Nixon resented that. He was very class-conscious. He identified with the people who ate TV dinners, watched Lawrence Welk, and loved their country.” (Rule: “When I hear the word ‘culture,’ I reach for my revolver.”)</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Although Stone shares many of Nixon’s resentments, his own tastes have always tended to more Rabelaisian pleasures than “champagne music” and Salisbury steak. Not long ago, Stone went to the Ink Monkey tattoo shop in Venice Beach and had a portrait of Nixon’s face applied to his back, right below the neck. “Women love it,” Stone said.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nixon recognized the effectiveness of anti-élitism—a staple of American campaigns even today—as a core message. “Everybody talks about the Reagan Democrats who helped put the Republican Party over the top, but they were really the Nixon Democrats. The exodus of working-class people from the Democratic Party was started by Nixon. The realignment was delayed by Watergate, but it was really Nixon who figured out how to win,” Stone said. “We had a non-élitist message. We were the party of the workingman! We wanted lower taxes for everyone, across the board. They were the party of the Hollywood élite.” Stone went on, “The point that the Democrats missed was that the people who weren’t rich wanted to be rich. And Jimmy Carter was viewed as an appeaser.” (Rule: “The Democrats are the party of slavery; the Republicans are the party of freedom.”)</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hank Sheinkopf, the veteran Democratic political consultant, who has known Stone for many years, values his political insights. “He was able to use the Democratic teachings on voter turnout and class warfare and turn it against us,” Sheinkopf told me. “He knew what populism was in reverse. He thought like a Democrat and dressed like a plutocrat. He once said to me, ‘Are you black? Are you Hispanic? Are you gay?’ When I said no, he said, ‘Then why the fuck are you a Democrat? You should be with us.’ ”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone detests Hillary Clinton’s politics but admires her pugnacity. He wrote recently on his Web site, an erratically updated collection of observations called Stonezone.com, “I must admit she has demonstrated true grit and Nixonian-like tenacity in the face of adversity.” Stone particularly admires Clinton’s attempt to hang the “élitist” tag on Barack Obama. “It’s a good idea,” he said.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 1976, Stone was named national youth director for Reagan’s first, failed run for the Republican nomination. Four years later, after serving on various young-Republican task forces, Stone asked the leaders of Reagan’s next campaign for the toughest assignment they had. They made Stone, who was in his late twenties, political director of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. The region hardly looked like Reagan country, but Stone found a new mentor to help him. “I was invited to a party by a socialite named Sheila Mosler, and Roy Cohn was there,” Stone said, as the captain delivered an order of “21” ’s steak tartare. “Roy was a Democrat, but he was an anti-Communist and a master of public relations, and he wanted to help me with Reagan. He told me to come see him at his town house.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“When I got there, Roy was in his bathrobe, eating three strips of bacon burned to a crisp and both halves of a devilled egg,” Stone went on. “He started telling me how he was going to help me set up the Reagan campaign—everything from union endorsements to office space. He told me to ride down to the courthouse with him. He had a young lawyer with him, and it was clear that Roy knew nothing about the case he was going to argue. But he knew it didn’t matter. He used to say, ‘Don’t tell me the law. Tell me the judge.’ Roy knew how the world worked.” Following Cohn’s lead, Stone played hardball for Reagan, challenging George H. W. Bush’s New York primary delegates on a variety of technical grounds, getting many of them disqualified. A couple of years later, Cohn threw Stone a thirtieth-birthday party in a private room at “21.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Like Stone, Cohn combined conservative politics with an outré personal life. “Roy was not gay,” Stone told me. “He was a man who liked having sex with men. Gays were weak, effeminate. He always seemed to have these young blond boys around. It just wasn’t discussed. He was interested in power and access. He told me his absolute goal was to die completely broke and owing millions to the I.R.S. He succeeded in that.” Cohn was a role model for Stone. “I’m a total Republican, but I’ve never claimed to be a Christian-right conservative. They’re a large but dwindling part of the Party. We need to get suburban moderates back. Fiscal conservatives and social moderates have been drummed out of the Party. Fiscal conservatives are the glue that holds the Party together. Social issues, unfortunately, do nothing but put voters out of reach for us.” (Rule: “Folks want to get government out of the boardroom and the bedroom.”)</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone did not enter the government after Reagan won the election. Instead, he started a political-consulting and lobbying firm with several co-workers from the campaign. The name of the operation went through several iterations, but it was perhaps best known as Black, Manafort, Stone & Atwater, the latter being Lee Atwater, who had worked briefly in the Reagan White House’s political office. The partners made their money by charging blue-chip corporate clients such as Ronald Perelman’s MacAndrews & Forbes and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. large fees to lobby their former campaign colleagues, many of whom had moved into senior posts in the new Administration. There were also less savory clients—Zaire’s Mobuto Sese Seko, Angola’s UNITA rebels, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos. Stone and his wife at the time, Ann, became famous for their lavish life style, which included a chauffeur-driven Mercedes and tailor-made clothes. They threw raucous parties for no reason or for almost no reason, like Calvin Coolidge’s birthday.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">To some people, the idea that Reagan’s former campaign operatives would become lobbyists was shocking. In 1985, in what reads like a charming period piece from a vanished era, Jacob Weisberg wrote a profile of Stone in The New Republic, which bore the headline “State-of-the-Art Sleazeball.” Weisberg said that Stone and his colleagues “have abandoned helping Reagan make conservative ideals reality in order to sell their connections to the highest bidders—whether in service of those ideals or not.” Now such connections are so common as to scarcely merit comment. For example, Charles Black ran BKSH & Associates, the successor firm to that original venture, until he took a leave to manage John McCain’s campaign for President. And the firm is now a subsidiary of the public-relations conglomerate Burson-Marsteller, whose chief executive is Mark Penn, an adviser to Hillary Clinton’s campaign. “So what that means is that Mark Penn is Charlie Black’s boss,” Stone told me. “And they said I was sleazy.” (Black has since resigned from BKSH.)[b/c busted]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone never much cared for corporate lobbying—or for being part of any large organization—so he stuck to campaign work more than his partners did. (Rule: “No one ever built a statue to a committee.”) In 1981, Stone ran his first major campaign on his own, Tom Kean’s race for governor of New Jersey against the Democrat Jim Florio. Kean won in a recount.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During the Reagan years in Washington, Stone began cultivating in earnest the image of a lovable rogue. Then, as now, some colleagues and clients found Stone’s affectations tiresome, at best. Ed Rollins, who served as President Reagan’s first political director, said, “Roger was a fringe player around town. He always had this reputation of being a guy who exaggerated things, who pretended he did things. Roger was never on Nixon’s staff, was never on the White House staff. I don’t think you’ll find anyone in the business who trusts him. Roger was always a little rat.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to Douglas Schoen, a co-founder of the Penn, Schoen & Berland polling firm, with whom Stone has worked on political campaigns over the years, and who regards Stone as a friend, “He’s not so much a Republican as an actor who likes to assume poses. The show is not a by-product of his life—it is his life.” Hank Sheinkopf remains on good terms with Stone, but recognizes his ability to alienate both allies and adversaries. “He wreaks havoc in his wake,” he told me. “When he’s on, he’s the best, but he is really more about his life than his work. I went tie-shopping with him once, down at the old Barneys, on Seventh Avenue, and it was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. It was a time in his life when he was obsessed with Alan Flusser suits and great ties. He bought about ten of the most beautiful and expensive ties I’d ever seen. But he’s moved on. Now he’s into watch fobs and hats.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 1988, Stone worked as a senior consultant to George H. W. Bush’s successful campaign against Michael Dukakis, which was managed by Lee Atwater. The experience prompts a rare disclaimer from Stone, who is usually eager to claim credit for hardball tactics. “We had an ad running about the furloughs in Massachusetts, with a revolving door, and it was really polling well—a great ad—and none of the prisoners were identifiable,” Stone told me. “But then Atwater came in with this version that had Willie Horton’s picture—and he said they were going to have an independent group put it on the air.” (Horton was a convicted murderer who committed a rape after fleeing while on furlough from prison in Massachusetts while Dukakis was governor.) “I told Atwater that it was a mistake, that we were winning the issue without having to resort to this racist crap. I told Atwater, ‘You are going to get linked to this, and it is gonna follow you and George Bush for the rest of your life.’ It did.” (Atwater died of a brain tumor in 1991. Other campaign officials told me that they were not in a position to know what Stone said to Atwater about the Horton ad.) For all his bravado, Stone told me that he shied away from racially inflammatory campaign work. He says frequently, “You know, Nixon was the one who desegregated the schools—not that he ever got any credit for it.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After Bush, Sr.,’s victory, Stone returned to his firm, mixing corporate clients and occasional political consulting. He worked on three campaigns for Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania Republican. He developed a specialty in ballot initiatives, especially about gaming. (Stone doesn’t gamble. “The odds are stacked,” he told me. “It’s a loser’s game.”) Stone came to prefer working on these kinds of race. “I do a lot of referendums,” he said. “They can’t talk back. They don’t have wives. They don’t have friends who tell you how to run the campaign. They are supported by special interests, so there’s a lot of money in them.” (Rule: “There is only one party—the Green Party.”) In the nineties, Stone divorced Ann and married Nydia Bertran, whose father had been a diplomat in pre-Castro Cuba. His wife, whom he invariably refers to as “Mrs. Stone,” had family ties in south Florida, and the couple began spending time in Miami.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone served as a senior consultant to Bob Dole’s 1996 campaign for President, but that assignment ended in a characteristic conflagration. The National Enquirer, in a story headlined “Top Dole Aide Caught in Group-Sex Ring,” reported that the Stones had apparently run personal ads in a magazine called Local Swing Fever and on a Web site that had been set up with Nydia’s credit card. “Hot, insatiable lady and her handsome body builder husband, experienced swingers, seek similar couples or exceptional muscular . . . single men,” the ad on the Web site stated. The ads sought athletes and military men, while discouraging overweight candidates, and included photographs of the Stones. At the time, Stone claimed that he had been set up by a “very sick individual,” but he was forced to resign from Dole’s campaign. Stone acknowledged to me that the ads were authentic. “When that whole thing hit the fan in 1996, the reason I gave a blanket denial was that my grandparents were still alive,” he said. “I’m not guilty of hypocrisy. I’m a libertarian and a libertine.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When I arrived in Miami, Stone suggested that we meet for lunch at Versailles, a Cuban restaurant on Calle Ocho, in the heart of the city’s émigré community. Stone strolled in wearing a perfectly pressed white linen shirt and a panama hat. In his customary defiance of medical convention, Stone makes sure that his skin is bronzed by the sun twelve months a year. (Rule: “White shirt + tan face = confidence.”) He ordered a triple espresso, one of four or so he drinks every day.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When I asked why he moved to Miami, Stone quoted a Somerset Maugham line: “It’s a sunny place for shady people. I fit right in.” After leaving Black, Manafort, in the mid-nineties, Stone had operated on his own, hopping from project to project. He ran one of the quixotic independent bids for New York governor of the billionaire Tom Golisano; helped defeat a pro-environment voter initiative in Florida, in 1996; and ran a political campaign in Ukraine. (“I’m the father of the yard sign in Ukraine,” Stone told me. “They say, ‘Comrade is genius.’ ”) He realized that he could establish his base anywhere he wanted. “I could see the smoke billowing from the Pentagon on 9/11, and after that I decided to get the hell out of Washington,” Stone said at lunch. “That’s when I cut my last ties there.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone’s move to Miami seems almost inevitable. The weather facilitates year-round tanning. And the byzantine politics of the city, with anti-Communism at its core, suits Stone’s temperament. “You are at the nexus of Cuban internecine politics, with family rivalries that have carried over from Cuba,” Stone said. “This is the nexus for Colombian politics, also a hotbed for Puerto Rican politics. It’s all going on right here.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone’s knowledge of the peculiar world of Miami led to what may be his most enduring political legacy—his role in the resolution of the 2000 Presidential election. The Enquirer’s disclosures about Stone’s personal life had made him radioactive in terms of a public role in the Presidential race, but when the contest came down to a recount in Florida his talent for hand-to-hand political combat was too useful for senior Republicans to ignore. According to Stone, James A. Baker III, the former Secretary of State, who was leading the Bush forces, told his aide Margaret Tutwiler to recruit Stone. (Baker and Tutwiler say that they don’t remember this, but that it is possible.) “They asked me to go to Palm Beach County, which was where the first big fight was, but I thought I could do more good here in Miami-Dade,” Stone said.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone decided to concentrate at first on “the atmospherics,” as he put it, which in Miami means radio. Several Spanish-language stations in the city devoted themselves entirely to talk about politics; no print or television outlets could match their influence. The most powerful of these was Radio Mambi, a fifty-thousand-watt station, whose principal owner and on-air voice was Armando Perez-Roura, a Cuban exile who was known as the Cuban-American community’s Rush Limbaugh. Radio Mambi was Stone’s first stop.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Latin media is unique in the sense that when you buy advertising you also are buying programming,” Stone told me. “If you buy, you get to supply the guests. So I started buying time, and bringing Mrs. Stone, whose command of the Spanish language is better than mine, around to be the guest. The idea we were putting out there was that this was a left-wing power grab by Gore, the same way Fidel Castro did it in Cuba. We were very explicitly drawing that analogy.” Stone was fortunate, too (as was Bush), because the recount came soon after the Elián González affair, in which the Clinton-Gore Administration enraged many Miami Cubans by agreeing to return Elián, who was six years old, to his father in Cuba. A local political consultant sold Stone a contact list of activists who had been working on the González case. “We used the list to turn out crowds whenever we wanted,” Stone said. “We were telephoning the shit out of all the appropriate demographics.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After our lunch, Stone summoned his chauffeur-driven Jaguar—he owned four Jaguars at the time—to take us downtown, so that he could walk me through the events that concluded the Miami recount. On November 21, 2000, the Florida Supreme Court gave Gore an important victory by ruling that the deadline for recounts would be extended to November 26th. At that point, the top priority for the Gore forces was to get the recounts up and running, especially in Miami-Dade County, which is the most populous in the state. On the Republican side, according to Stone, “The whole idea behind what they were doing was that there had already been one recount of the votes, so we didn’t want another. The idea was to shut it down, stop the recount here in Miami.” By November 22nd, the recount process had begun, in a conference room on the eighteenth floor of the Stephen P. Clark Government Center, a vast concrete office building on a forlorn plaza in downtown Miami.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The scene in front of the Clark center that morning was volatile—which was, of course, exactly how Stone wanted it. Several thousand mostly pro-Bush protesters had gathered on the sun-baked plaza to insist that the recount be shut down. Early that morning, Perez-Roura, of Radio Mambi, had sent Evilio Cepero, a local activist who sometimes worked for him as a reporter, to broadcast from the scene. Cepero urged Perez-Roura’s listeners to join the protest, addressed the growing crowd with a megaphone, and interviewed supporters, like the local members of Congress Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. Many held signs that said “SORE/LOSERMAN.” Others chanted, “Remember Elián!”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“We set up a Winnebago trailer, right over here,” Stone said when we got out of the Jaguar and walked about a block away from the Clark center, on First Street. “I set up my command center there. I had walkie-talkies and cell phones, and I was in touch with our people in the building. Our whole idea was to shut the recount down. That was why we were there. We had the frequency to the Democrats’ walkie-talkies and were listening to their communications, but they were so disorganized that we didn’t learn much that was useful.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A substantial contingent of young Republican Capitol Hill aides, along with such congressmen as John Sweeney, of New York, who had travelled to Miami, joined in the protest. Thanks to this delegation, the events at the Clark center have come to be known as the “Brooks Brothers riot,” but Stone disputes that characterization. “There was a Brooks Brothers contingent, but the crowd in front of the courthouse was largely Spanish,” he said. “Most of the people there were people that we drew to the scene.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At one point on November 22nd, Stone said, he heard from an ally in the building that Gore supporters were trying to remove some ballots from the counting room. “One of my pimply-faced contacts said, ‘Two commissioners have taken two or three hundred ballots to the elevator,’ ” Stone said. “I said, ‘O.K., follow them. Half you guys go on the elevator and half go in the stairs.’ Everyone got sucked up in this. They were trying to keep the doors from being closed. Meanwhile, they were trying to take the rest of the ballots into a back room with no windows. I told our guys to stop them—don’t let them close the door! They are trying to keep the door from being closed. There was a lot of screaming and yelling.” (In fact, the Gore official in the elevator, Joe Geller, was carrying a single sample ballot.) The dual scenes of chaos—both inside and outside the building—prompted the recount officials to stop their work. The recount in Miami was never re-started, depriving Gore of his best chance to catch up in the over-all state tally.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As is customary with Stone, there is some controversy about his precise role. “I was the guy in charge of the trailer, and I coördinated the Brooks Brothers riot,” Brad Blakeman, a lobbyist and political consultant who worked for Bush in Miami, told me. “Roger did not have a role that I know of. His wife may have been on the radio, but I never saw or heard from him.” Scoffing at Blakeman’s account, Stone asserts that he was in the trailer; he said that he had never heard of Blakeman. (Rule: “Lay low, play dumb, keep moving.”)</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Four years later, Stone played a similar role in Bush’s reëlection campaign. In September, 2004, CBS News aired what it said were newly discovered documents in a report suggesting that George W. Bush had dodged military service in Vietnam. The authenticity of the documents was quickly challenged, and the focus in the news media shifted to whether CBS had been bamboozled into using forgeries, not whether the charges were true. In a CNN interview, Terry McAuliffe, then the head of the Democratic National Committee, seized on a New York Post item citing a “hot rumor” that Stone—“an old dirty trickster from the Nixon days,” in McAuliffe’s words—had forged the documents, presumably to embarrass CBS and help Bush. It was a measure of Stone’s reputation at that point that a top Democrat had attempted, on such slim evidence, to link him to a campaign transgression.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“It’s so rare that I’m accused of something that I’m not guilty of that I felt I had to respond,” Stone told me. Rather than simply deny his involvement, Stone went on cable news to deepen the controversy and lob his own accusation—equally baseless—that the Democrats were somehow involved with the documents. (A Stone rule, borrowed from Gore Vidal: “Never pass up the opportunity to have sex or be on television.”) In an interview with CNN, Stone said, “The real question here is, what is the complicity of the Kerry campaign, or what did Max Cleland know and when did he know it?” (Cleland, a former senator from Georgia, was an aide to John Kerry.) Recalling the episode, Stone said that his problem with the potentially forged documents was practical, not moral. “It was nuts to think I had anything to do with those documents,” he said. “Those papers were potentially devastating to George Bush. You couldn’t put them out there assuming that they would be discredited. You couldn’t have assumed that this would redound to Bush’s benefit. I believe in bank shots, but that one was too big a risk.” Still, Stone was happy to put his seamy reputation to work for the Republican cause. “I definitely saw the opening to be a good party man,” Stone said. (Rule: “Nothing is on the level.”)</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When we first met in Miami, Stone brought along an old friend, Michael Caputo, who has assisted him in various projects over the years. Caputo grew up in upstate New York, where his family runs an insurance business that had a dispute with Eliot Spitzer when he was attorney general. As a form of revenge, Caputo had started two Web sites—spitzerfile.com and newyorkfacts.net—that collected negative press stories about the new governor. With help from a friend who had run computer projects for the Pentagon, Caputo and Stone located the e-mail addresses of many journalists and other prominent people in New York and sent them news of Spitzer’s woes. “The left has done a better job of dominating the new space,” Stone said. “We’re weak on the Web. The whole thing was a labor of love.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It was, in short, Stone’s idea of entertainment. “I thought Spitzer was punk, and I wanted to fuck with him any way I could,” he said. (Rule: “Hate is a stronger motivator than love.”) By the middle of 2007, his Spitzer bashing had become a business, because Stone was hired in June as a consultant to the New York State Senate Republicans.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On August 6th, someone whose voice sounded a great deal like Stone’s left a message on the office answering machine of Bernard Spitzer, the governor’s eighty-three-year-old father. The caller referred to a possible investigation of loans made by the elder Spitzer to his son’s campaigns. “If you resist this subpoena, you will be arrested and brought to Albany,” said the caller, who went on, “And there is not a goddam thing your phony, psycho, piece-of-shit son can do about it.” Private detectives hired by Bernard Spitzer traced the call to Stone’s wife’s telephone, but Stone, however implausibly, denied leaving the message. At first, he claimed that on the night of the call he had been attending the Broadway show “Frost/Nixon,” but there was no performance that evening. Stone also suggested that his landlord, a Spitzer supporter, had set him up, or that a standup comedian and impressionist had imitated his voice. As a result of the controversy, Stone had to relinquish his position with the State Senate Republicans.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“They caught Roger red-handed lying,” Donald Trump said. “What he did was ridiculous and stupid. I lost respect for Eliot Spitzer when he didn’t sue Roger Stone for doing that to his father, who is a wonderful man.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The brouhaha over the phone call did little to faze Stone. Some weeks later, he was approached by a pair of F.B.I. agents who may have been in the early stages of an investigation of Spitzer. (Stone says that he doesn’t know why the F.B.I. sought him out.) Stone declined to speak with them, but on November 19, 2007, Stone’s attorney wrote to the agents and recounted the story that the woman had told him at Miami Velvet, including the part about the socks. (“Perhaps you can use this detail to corroborate Mr. Stone’s information,” the letter states.) Four months later, Spitzer resigned, after it was revealed that he was a client of the Emperors Club V.I.P., a prostitution ring.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In Stone’s mind, this turn of events suggests that he may have played a key role in forcing Spitzer out of office. (He takes satisfaction in noting that a recent New York Post report about another prostitute allegedly patronized by Spitzer corroborated the claim that he preferred to wear his socks during sex.) But, as is usually the case with Stone, there is ample reason for skepticism. The F.B.I. declined to comment, but it appears that the bureau was investigating Spitzer because of suspicious money transfers, including some that ultimately went to the Emperors Club; Stone’s significance, if any, in that case is hard to assess. Moreover, Roger Portella, the manager of Miami Velvet, told me that his records showed that until our visit earlier this year Stone had not been in the club since 2005. When I asked Stone about this, he said that on the occasion of his conversation with the off-duty prostitute he had come with another Miami Velvet member, and thus did not give his name. “Whether it started with Stone, or he contributed to an ongoing investigation, we have no idea,” a member of the Spitzer camp told me. “There is a lot of crazy stuff around the edges of this case. Stone is one part.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In any event, in the months leading up to Spitzer’s surprise resignation, Stone did offer his friends cryptic hints of what might be coming. “Roger guaranteed me that Spitzer wouldn’t last,” Douglas Schoen said. “When the call to the father happened, and he was fired, he said, ‘I will last longer than Spitzer will.’ I had no idea what he was talking about at the time—no one thought there was a chance that Eliot was going to lose his job. But of course Roger was right.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At times, Stone’s real party seems to be the vaudevillian rather than the G.O.P. Earlier this year, Stone created an independent political group, known as a 527, to criticize Hillary Clinton, and he dubbed the organization Citizens United Not Timid. The group had no real operations and existed mostly so that Stone could refer to its acronym. I suggested that this was juvenile. “I thought it up in a bar,” Stone said. “I was having fun!” (Rule: “Get your carbs from booze—not potatoes, rice, pasta, or bread.”) His Jaguar was, at that moment, passing the federal courthouse in Miami, where he had just been sued for trademark infringement by an actual political organization that used the name Citizens United. “It was unbelievable,” Stone told me. “We spent a whole half a day in court on this stupid thing. And at the end of the day I announced that I had a new name: Citizens Uniformly Not Timid.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ultimately, the process—the battle—interests Stone more than the result. Four years ago, he says, he gave advice (free) to Al Sharpton during his run for President, seeing in the Reverend a temperamental, if not a political, kindred spirit. And though Stone remains a Republican, he engages in the sport of seemingly hating many members of his own party, whom he regards, he says, as élitists. After his work for Golisano, Stone nursed a grudge against George Pataki, Spitzer’s Republican predecessor, and Stone seems to be gearing up for an anti-Jeb Bush campaign, should the former Florida governor decide to run for President in 2012. “Jeb is waiting in the wings? Over my dead body,” Stone said. “The Bushes have brought us to ruin twice—first 1992 and now. I’ll see you in New Hampshire to stop it. I’ll wait for him.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For the moment, though, Stone must be content to watch the current Presidential race from the sidelines. His only prior dealing with John McCain was bumpy. “I was doing some lobbying for Trump’s airline in the eighties, and he was competing for landing slots at LaGuardia against America West Airlines, so I went to see McCain about it in his office at the Capitol,” Stone told me. “I made an offhand comment that it wasn’t surprising that he was backing America West, because they were based in Phoenix. He stood up and said, ‘What the fuck are you talking about? Get the fuck out of my office!’ But I didn’t take it personally. I supported him in 2000, and I support him now.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">McCain’s route to victory, Stone believes, is a Nixonian slash-and-burn campaign against Barack Obama, the likely Democratic nominee. “Obama and his wife are élitists and they’re weak,” Stone told me. “They don’t share middle-class values. Middle-class Americans are proud of their country, and they are not. He thinks he’s going to sit down with Iran and Hamas. How do you know he’s not going to shake hands with a suicide bomber? You can’t sit down with people who don’t want to sit down. All he’s going to do is raise taxes, which is going to give the government more money but it’s not going to create any jobs.” Stone added, “McCain himself should not run a slash-and-burn campaign, but a slash-and-burn campaign will have to be run by others.” (Rule: “Use a cutout.”)</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When Stone talks about politics, formulating arguments that candidates can use, he tends to ramp his voice up to a snarl, the way that the message on Bernard Spitzer’s answering machine sounded. It’s like an actor running lines. But, when he switches back to an analytical mode, Stone immediately turns cheerful, full of love for the game. “Remember,” Stone said. “Politics is not about uniting people. It’s about dividing people. And getting your fifty-one per cent.” (Stone’s rule: “The only thing worse in politics than being wrong is being boring.”)</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">all PR good PR? happy to be included thus vip?!</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2018/08/14/Roger-Stones-swastika-meme-previously-appeared-on-4chan-Twitter-and-Reddit/220992</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">laying low russia collusion? then not? default is attack</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A Cooper asked about Kristin Davis, known as the "Manhattan Madam," who has been called to testify before a federal grand jury. Stone described her as a friend but said that she would have no knowledge of Russian interference in the 2016 election or his own communications with WikiLeaks, which have raised suspicions given the intelligence community's belief that the organization has Kremlin ties.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone expressed enthusiasm for the idea that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange might testify to Congress about the 2016 election. He also took the opportunity to double-down on conspiracy theories that posit that the Russians didn't hack the Democratic National Committee, which the findings of the intelligence community and independent analysts contradict.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"This is a tremendously expensive process to be under the scrutiny of an all-powerful federal prosecutor," Stone said. "I'm being sued by the Democratic National Committee, and in that lawsuit, whether or not the Russians hacked the DNC is a central question. The indictment announced by Mr. Mueller claims that they did, but that's an indictment, not a conviction in a court of law. Mr. Assange would have information regarding this that he might be able to illuminate the American people regarding, so I think his testimony would be a positive thing."</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Watch the clip below:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">AN</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/13/us/politics/mueller-indictment-russian-intelligence-hacking.html</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/rod-rosenstein-expected-to-announce-new-indictment-by-mueller/2018/07/13/bc565582-86a9-11e8-8553-a3ce89036c78_story.html</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A dozen Russian military intelligence officers were indicted Friday on charges they hacked Democrats’ computers, stole their data and published those files to disrupt the 2016 election — the clearest connection to the Kremlin established so far by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of interference in the presidential campaign.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The indictment against members of the Russian military agency known as the GRU marks the first time Mueller has taken direct aim at the Russian government, accusing specific military units and their named officers of a sophisticated, sustained effort to hack the computer networks of Democratic organizations and the Hillary Clinton campaign.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein announced the charges at a midday news conference. Mueller, as has been his practice, did not attend the announcement. Court records show that a grand jury that Mueller has been using returned an indictment Friday morning.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The suspects “covertly monitored the computers, implanted hundreds of files containing malicious computer code, and stole emails and other documents,” Rosenstein said. “The goal of the conspirators was to have an impact on the election. What impact they may have had .?.?. is a matter of speculation; that’s not our responsibility.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The indictment comes days before President Trump is due to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Finland. Rosenstein said he briefed Trump earlier this week on the charges.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump’s lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani said on Twitter that the indictments “are good news for all Americans. The Russians are nailed. No Americans are involved.” He then called on Mueller “to end this pursuit of the president and say President Trump is completely innocent.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Who has been charged in Russia probe and why VIEW GRAPHIC </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The 11-count, 29-page indictment describes in granular detail a carefully planned and executed attack on the information security of Democrats, as Russian government hackers implanted hundreds of malware files on Democrats’ computer systems to steal information. The hackers then laundered the pilfered material through fake personas called DC Leaks and Guccifer 2.0, as well as others, to try to influence voters.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One of their conduits, identified in the indictment only as “Organization 1,” was WikiLeaks, the global anti-secrecy group led by Julian Assange, according to people familiar with the case. The indictment describes WikiLeaks communicating with Guccifer 2.0 to obtain material.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On July 6, 2016, according to the indictment, WikiLeaks wrote, “if you have anything Hillary related we want it in the next tweo [sic] days prefable [sic] because the DNC [Democratic National Convention] is approaching and she will solidify bernie supporters behind her after,” referring to Clinton’s rival for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). WikiLeaks explained, “we think trump has only a 25% chance of winning against hillary .?.?. so conflict between bernie and hillary is interesting.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">WikiLeaks released nearly 20,000 Democratic National Committee emails on the eve of the convention later that month, providing an embarrassing look at party operations and attitudes toward the Sanders campaign.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[Read the indictment of 12 Russians charged with hacking Democrats]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rod Rosenstein announces indictment of 12 Russian agents</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The deputy attorney general announces the indictment of 12 Russian intelligence agents in connection with hacking during the 2016 election. (The Washington Post)</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A former Justice Department official who was previously involved in the Russia probe said the charges should serve as a warning for the United States to buttress its election security as Americans prepare to vote in congressional elections in November.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The detailed charges in this indictment make it unmistakably clear that the United States faces an aggressive, sophisticated adversary bent on using cyber means to subvert our democratic processes and institutions,” said David Laufman, a former chief of the Justice Department’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section. “Now is the time for unequivocal recognition of this threat by both the executive branch and Congress, and for a unified and well coordinated commitment to confront it.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The indictment offers troubling new accusations about the extent of Russian hacking efforts and interactions with Americans.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“On or about August 15, 2016, the conspirators, posing as Guccifer 2.0, received a request for stolen documents from a candidate for the U.S. Congress,” the indictment states. “The conspirators responded using the Guccifer 2.0 persona and sent the candidate stolen documents related to the candidate’s opponent.” The indictment does not identify the candidate.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The indictment also describes an online conversation between the GRU, posing as Guccifer 2.0, and a “person who was in regular contact with senior members of the presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">People familiar with the case said that person is longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone. In August 2016, the hacker persona wrote: “please tell me if i can help u anyhow .?.?. it would be a great pleasure to me.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone’s lawyer Grant Smith said, “It is clear from the indictment issued today that our client, Roger Stone, was not in any way involved with any of the alleged hacking of the 2016 election. As he testified before the House Intelligence Committee under oath, his 24-word exchange with someone on Twitter claiming to be Guccifer 2.0 is benign, based on its content, context and timing.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">U.S. officials identified one of the GRU sections that carried out the operations as Unit 26165, which worked out of a building about four miles from the Kremlin. It was responsible for hacking the DNC and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, according to the indictment, which accuses Viktor Netyksho of being the military officer in command of Unit 26165 at the time.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Although the DNC was able to partially kick the Russian hackers out of its system in June 2016, the indictment says three months later, the GRU “successfully gained access to DNC computers hosted on a third-party cloud-computing service” which held “test applications related to the DNC’s analytics,” according to the indictment. The hacker stole that data from the DNC, the indictment said.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Another group of Russian military officers, Unit 74455, working out of a building that GRU officers referred to as the “Tower,” used fake online personas to spread stolen files, officials charged. The indictment identifies Col. Aleksandr Osadchuk as the commanding officer of that unit.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The indictment also notes an interesting development on July 27, 2016 — the day then-candidate Trump gave a press conference declaring his hope that missing Clinton emails would be found and made public, saying: “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The indictment says “on or about” that same day, “the conspirators attempted after hours to spearphish for the first time email accounts at a domain hosted by a third-party provider and used by Clinton’s personal office. At or around the same time, they also targeted seventy-six email addresses at the domain for the Clinton campaign.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Russian Foreign Ministry rejected the indictment’s allegations as lacking evidence and described the charges as a clear effort to derail the Trump-Putin summit in Helsinki.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“It is unfortunate that distributing false information has become the norm in Washington, and that criminal cases are being initiated based on clearly political motives,” the ministry said. Referring to the Mueller investigation, the statement went on: “The question remains how long this shameful comedy that is embarrassing the United States will go on.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rosenstein said the hackers interacted with some Americans in the course of their efforts but noted that those people had not been charged with a crime.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“When we confront foreign interference in American elections, it is important for us to avoid thinking politically as Republicans or Democrats and instead to think patriotically as Americans. Our response must not depend on who was victimized,” he said. “There will always be adversaries who work to exacerbate domestic differences and try to confuse, divide and conquer us. So long as we are united in our commitment to the values enshrined in the Constitution, they will not succeed.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mueller and a team of prosecutors have been working since May 2017 to determine whether any Trump associates conspired with Russia to interfere in the election. With the new indictment, his office has filed charges against 32 people on crimes including hacking, money laundering and lying to the FBI. Twenty-six of those charged are Russians who are unlikely to ever be put on trial in the United States.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In February, Mueller indicted a group of Russian Internet trolls who worked out of the Internet Research Agency, a company based in St. Petersburg and owned by a wealthy associate of Putin.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[Russian troll farm, 13 suspects indicted in 2016 election interference]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, is in jail in Alexandria, Va., awaiting trial this month on financial fraud charges brought by Mueller but stemming from activities that predated the Trump campaign.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mueller’s probe has come under sustained attack from Trump and at a press conference in England on Friday before Rosenstein spoke, the president again labeled the investigation a “witch hunt.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I think that we’re being hurt very badly by the — I would call it the witch hunt,” said Trump as he stood beside British Prime Minister Theresa May. “It really hurts our relationship with Russia.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rosenstein said of his decision to brief Trump, “It was important for the president to know what information we’ve uncovered because he’s got to make very important decisions for the country. He needs to understand what evidence we have of foreign election interference.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.alternet.org/trump-confidant-roger-stone-admits-he-met-russian-offering-dirt-hillary-clinton-during-2016-campaign</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone, Donald Trump’s longtime adviser and self-described “dirty trickster” met with a Russian national offering damaging information on Hillary Clinton in May 2016, theWashington Postreports.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At the meeting in Sunny Isles, FL, Stone said Henry Greenberg, a Russian restaurateur, asked Stone for $2 million in exchange for dirt on Clinton. Stone told the Post he shot down Greenberg’s request. </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“You don’t understand Donald Trump,” Stone said he told Greenberg. “He doesn’t pay for anything.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Greenberg denies asking Stone for money.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone also communicated about the meeting with Michael Caputo, a former Trump communications aide who once worked to rehab Russian President Vladimir Putin.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“How crazy is the Russian?” Caputo asked Stone, who described the meting as a “waste of time.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone, who’s said he’s prepared for an indictment from special counsel Robert Mueller, and Caputo, who’s spoken publicly about his tough sit-down with federal investigators, told the Post they believe they were the target of FBI investigators trying to hurt Trump.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Greenberg, who claimed in 2015 he’d spent 17 years as an FBI informant, said he was not working with the bureau when he met with Stone.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“If you believe that [Greenberg] took time off from his long career as an FBI informant to reach out to us in his spare time, I have a bridge in Brooklyn that I want to sell you,” Caputo told the Post.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.alternet.org/ex-fox-news-reporter-carl-cameron-details-how-russia-government-coordinated-trumps-campaign</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">---</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/roger-stone-says-trumps-most-recent-pardon-was-clear-signal-his-associates-and</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">From the moment President Donald Trump announced his pardon Thursday of conservative commentator Dinesh D'Souza, observers began pointing out that the move looked like an attempt to signal to his associates that he's willing to use the pardon power as a weapon against special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into potential Russian collusion with the Trump campaign.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While those claims remained largely in the realm of speculation at first, by Thursday night one Trump ally, Roger Stone, told the Washington Post that he had received the message that loud and clear:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“It has to be a signal to Mike Flynn and Paul Manafort and even Robert S. Mueller III: Indict people for crimes that don’t pertain to Russian collusion and this is what could happen,” Stone said. “The special counsel has awesome powers, as you know, but the president has even more awesome powers.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">..</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/theyre-coming-roger-stone-former-prosecutor-explains-what-mueller-may-have-trumps</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...At the time, Butler said, "Roger Stone knows all about what's coming out before the hacked emails are released. He's going all over the media and Breitbart predicting that some dirt is coming out on Hillary. How does he know this? He's been inconsistent about his relationship with WikiLeaks. At times he says he knows Julian Assange, at times he says he doesn't know him. ... Then, the day after the election, Ari, there's that bizarre tweet from WikiLeaks to Roger Stone: 'Now we're free to talk.' Really fishy, Mueller's got to investigate that." (Note: The correct quote from WikiLeaks to Stone, reported by the Atlantic, is "Happy? We are now more free to communicate.")</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sam Nunberg, another close associate of Stone's has also been subpoenaed and testified for Mueller's team. Nunberg, too, though that Mueller intends to go after Stone.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> =</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/06/roger-stone-nigel-farage-donald-trump-russia-fbi/</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Last week, the Guardian published a report revealing a new and odd twist in the Trump-Russia scandal: Nigel Farage, the British politician who led the Brexit movement in Great Britain, is a “person of interest” in the FBI investigation of interactions between Trump associates and the Russian government. The newspaper reported thatFarage was under FBI scrutiny because he had relationships with both the Trump camp and WikiLeaks, which disseminated Democratic emails swiped by Russian hackers in an effort to help Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Farage dismissed the story as “hysteria” and said he had not been contacted by the FBI. But Farage did meet with Trump during the campaign. And a source close to the Trump camp tells Mother Jones that a Trump-Farage meeting was set up by Roger Stone, the veteran political dirty-trickster and long-time Trump adviser who has come under investigation in the Trump-Russia inquiry.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That source is Stone himself.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the months since the election, Stone has drawn the attention of investigators and reporters because he made statements during the campaign that implied he possessed inside information about WikiLeaks’ plans to release material stolen in the hack-and-leak covert operation mounted by Putin’s regime to subvert the 2016 campaign and assist Trump. In early August—after WikiLeaks had disseminated Democratic Party emails hacked by Russian intelligence—Stone said at a Republican event in Florida, “I actually have communicated with [WikiLeaks founder Julian] Assange. I believe the next tranche of his documents pertain to the Clinton Foundation, but there’s no telling what the October surprise may be.” On October 2, he tweeted, “Wednesday@HillaryClinton is done. #Wikileaks.” (This was five days before WikiLeaks released the emails of Clinton campaign CEO John Podesta, which were stolen by Russian hackers.) That month, Stone claimed he had “a back-channel communication” with Assange through “a good mutual friend.” During the campaign, Stone also communicated with Guccifer 2.0, the online persona that posted hacked Democratic emails, and Stone publicly insisted Guccifer 2.0 was not connected to the Russians.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone’s prescient statements about WikiLeaks’ anti-Clinton dumps and his claim of a connection with Assange naturally have raised questions about his role in the Trump-Russia scandal. And the Guardian report on Farage partly focused on the Brit’s ties to Stone. The story raised the possibility that Farage might have been Stone’s contact with WikiLeaks.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After the Guardian article was published, Mother Jones asked Stone if Farage was Stone’s “mutual friend” who had been his go-between with Assange. Stone replied, “Dined with him once in Cleveland [during the GOP convention in July]. Got him a meeting with the candidate. Never spoke to him again.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So did Stone hook up Farage and Trump? The two politicians had a much-noticed rendezvous when Farage, then the leader of the UK Independence Party, appeared with Trump at a campaign rally in Mississippi in late August and declared, “If I was an American citizen, I wouldn’t vote for Hillary Clinton if you paid me.” It was a moment when the conservative anti-European populism of England merged with Trump’s anti-establishment American Firstism. Farage spoke of pro-Brexit voters supporting the referendum to withdraw Great Britain from the European Union so “they could take back control of their country, take back control of their borders, and get back their pride and self-respect.” Farage urged the American people to “stand up against the establishment.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A book written by a Farage associate and published in October reported that Farage’s partnership with Trump came about because the British politician, while attending the GOP convention, had a chance encounter at 4:30 a.m. in his hotel bar with an aide to Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, a Republican. The aide suggested Farage visit Mississippi and subsequently sent him a formal invitation. A month later, Farage flew to Mississippi, just when Trump was scheduled to speak at a Republican fundraiser and a campaign rally. Farage had dinner with Bryant and regaled him and other guests with Brexit stories. Bryant suggested Farage speak at the Trump rally the following night—after speaking at the GOP fundraiser. On a radio show the next morning, Farage announced he was in Mississippi to show his support for Trump. Steven Bannon, who had recently been named Trump’s chief strategist, called Farage to check what Farage intended to say at the Republican dinner and the Trump rally. Hours later, Farage met Trump for the first time, according to this account, in a holding room at the Republican fundraiser. Trump strode across the room and gave the British politician a bear hug.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This account makes no mention of Stone. I asked Stone how his assertion that he had set up a meeting between Farage and Trump squared with this report. He replied, “I suggested candidate [Trump] meet Farage immediately after the convention. Certain [Farage] asked others to secure a meeting. Don’t recall when it happened only that it did.” It’s unclear whether the meeting Stone says he brokered was the same as the Mississippi get-together.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone added, “You report so much bullshit why do you care about the facts?”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The facts here are intriguing. If the FBI is indeed examining Farage for his ties to Assange and the Trump crew, Stone’s interactions with Farage—and whether or not Stone really did connect him with Trump—could be relevant. The brash and brassy Stone, who relishes publicity and mud-slinging and who has written a book claiming LBJ killed JFK, has been an enticing target for Democrats and investigators pursuing the various threads of the Russia-Trump scandal. With the Farage connection, the plot thickens.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Farage did not reply to a request for comment. Neither did the White House.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">UPDATE: A spokesman for Farage says, “Nigel met Roger Stone in a restaurant in Cleveland during the RNC purely by chance. They subsequently met each other in a hotel in Washington during Trump’s inauguration, again without planning and by chance. He did not organise any meeting between Mr Trump and Mr Farage.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">david corn</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/behind-sam-nunbergs-meltdown-it-goes-back-roger-stone</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Stone has been the nation's most famous active dirty trickster for more than 40 years. From Richard Nixon's original operation to the "Brooks Brothers riot" during the Florida recount of 2000 to threatening the father of New York's then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer, Stone has honed his "ratfking" craft to a fine art.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Much like his old pal Donald Trump, Stone has always operated on the legal and ethical fringe while craving the spotlight, which is a dangerous way to live. They are both in their own ways flamboyant thrill-seekers, always dancing on the edge of disaster. So when I first heard that Stone was involved with Donald Trump's presidential campaign it was anything but surprising. It was even less surprising when Trump allegedly fired him early on. Stone does his best work outside the normal political boundaries.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone also has connections to Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort, who has recently been indicted on multiple charges in Robert Mueller's investigation. The two men were partners in a high-level Republican lobbying firm that included the notorious strategist Lee Atwater, back in the 1980s.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It's pretty clear that Stone is implicated in some aspects of the Russia scandal, and it probably has to do with the hacking. He's been playing fast and loose with his connections to WikiLeaks and the hacker who called himself Guccifer 2.0, as well as ill-advised Twitter previews of hacked materials before they were released.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone had also worked with Trump on his earlier aborted presidential runs in 2000 and 2012. By 2014, he'd been working with Trump for some time, preparing for what both men saw as his big chance. By then Stone had brought in a helper named Sam Nunberg to school the candidate on the issues the GOP base cared about. According to journalist Gabriel Sherman, Nunberg taught Trump a lot:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I listened to thousands of hours of talk radio, and he was getting reports from me,” Nunberg recalled. What those reports said was that the GOP base was frothing over a handful of issues including immigration, Obamacare, and Common Core. While Jeb Bush talked about crossing the border as an “act of love,” Trump was thinking about how high to build his wall. “We either have borders or we don’t,” Trump told the faithful who flocked to the annual CPAC conference in 2014.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump fired Nunberg that year for setting up an interview that didn't go well and then hired him back in 2015. He fired him again over some racist Facebook posts and later sued him for $10 million for violating a non-disclosure agreement. (That case was settled "amicably.") Nunberg is yet another example of the top-notch talent Trump always seems to attract.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Monday, Nunberg had a meltdown on national TV. It was uncomfortable to watch. The story, in a nutshell, is that he received a subpoena from Mueller's grand jury asking for all of his correspondence dating back to November 2015 with a number of the people involved in the Trump campaign, including Roger Stone, Steve Bannon and Trump himself.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Sunday night, Nunberg shared the contents of the subpoena with Axios and NBC, and then, on Monday, he started calling up reporters to proclaim that he would refuse to cooperate with the grand jury. This was odd, since Nunberg had appeared on Ari Melber's MSNBC show last week with nothing but praise for the professionalism of Mueller's investigation, after having been called in for an initial interview.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to the Daily Beast, Nunberg's friends were worried about him:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Starting Monday morning, Nunberg began calling several close associates that he was flatly refusing, at this time, to cooperate with Mueller’s investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Three Nunberg friends said they walked away from those conversations fearful that he was “drinking again” and was about to embark on a personal tailspin. They didn’t know it would play out on daytime TV.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He sounded agitated on the phone while speaking with Katy Tur of MSNBC and Jake Tapper of CNN. He told Tur: "I think he [Trump] may have done something during the election. But I don't know that for sure." He told Tapper, "I believe Carter Page was colluding with the Russians" and said he believed Trump knew about his son's infamous June 2016 meeting with Russians before it happened: “He was talking about it a week before. ... I don't know why he went around trying to hide it."</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nunberg also spoke with The New York Times' Maggie Haberman, The Washington Post's Josh Dawsey and NY1's Josh Robin (to whom he described Sarah Huckabee Sanders as a "fat slob"). Then he appeared in person for two incredibly bizarre interviews, one with Melber on MSNBC and immediately after that with Erin Burnett on CNN. He was waving around his subpoena on the air, insisting it would be "funny" if Mueller tried to put him in jail and complaining about having to turn over emails with people he claimed he didn't know.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/mueller-wikileaks-foundation-russia-case</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Robert Mueller’s emerging focus on Donald Trump’s knowledge of hacked Democratic National Committee emails shows he’s “laid the foundation” for a collusion case against Donald Trump, a former White House lawyer said.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wednesday, NBC News reported Mueller’s team is probing how much Trump knew about the stolen DNC emails and whether he was aware the radical transparency organization WikiLeaks planned to publish those exchanges.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Andrew Wright, who served for two years as Barack Obama’s associate counsel, told Business Insider that line of questioning is a bad sign for the president.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The one specious thing about Trump’s lawyers’ strategy is that they’re saying there’s no substantive focus on Trump when it comes to the collusion inquiry, that this is all about obstruction of justice, and that Mueller already has everything he needs from other witnesses and documents for the obstruction case,” Wright said, referring to reported attempts by Trump’s attorneys to shield their client from sitting for an interview with the special counsel.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Setting the obstruction case aside, what has happened over the last couple of weeks is that Mueller laid the foundation [for a collusion case] by showing the crimes of the Russians, in at least some form,” Wright continued. “And now we’re seeing his focus on Trump about the hacked emails. At this point, it’s a matter of proving whether Americans were participants in this conspiracy to commit these crimes, and whether they aided or abetted these acts.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">WikiLeaks—which the U.S. intelligence community considers an arm of the Russia government—played a pivotal role in the 2016 presidential election, releasing troves of DNC emails during times of peak tumult for then-candidate Trump. As the Atlantic reports, the organization was in touch with Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., from September 2016 to at least July 2017.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to leaked private Twitter messages, longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone also corresponded with WikiLeaks—despite assertions from both parties they’d never communicated during the campaign. Mueller has asked witnesses about Trump’s interactions with Stone throughout the campaign, Business Insider reports.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump, meanwhile, publicly touted the emails leaked by WikiLeaks, using them as proof of his claim former rival Hillary Clinton was “corrupt.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Trump said during a July 27, 2016, press conference.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Last month, Mueller indicted 13 Russian nationals and three corporations on conspiracy charges for their role in interfering in the 2016 presidential election. Robert Deitz, former general counsel at the National Security Agency, told Business Insider the charges could be a stepping stone in Mueller’s quest to find whether any Americans aided Russia’s effort.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“In these kinds of investigations, prosecutors typically move up the food chain,” Deitz said.”I suspect that Mueller, through earlier interviews or documents, finally has sufficient evidence to begin putting a story together that involves Trump.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Deitz told Business Insider Mueller “will continue to fill in the dots until he has enough to seek an interview with [or indictment or] Trump.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/now-far-right-pundits-are-calling-death-trumps-opponents</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While he is notoriously stubborn and self-assured, President Donald Trump is also famous for being susceptible to the power of suggestion.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump demonstrates how easily persuadable he is by responding via Twitter to “Fox & Friends" almost every day. His campaign and White House staffers have admitted to this several times, albeit not on the record. But their actions have made clear they believe this: White House chief of staff John Kelly has reportedly prohibited staff members from giving Trump reading materials. More recently, Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer asked that presidential aide and immigration hard-liner Stephen Miller be kept out of an immigration meeting, lest he shape the president's thinking too much. Even Russian-controlled Twitter accounts have apparently been set to tweet at Trump during times he’s habitually online.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But the relationship between Trump and his admirers goes both ways. It has been observed that the people who have worked closely with the president, either in private or public life, eventually start behaving like him, even when he’s not around. Longtime lawyer Marc Kasowitz certainly demonstrated that when he threatened to stalk a "bitch" emailer. Trump’s personal physician, Dr. Harold Bornstein, has also waxed Trumpian at times, describing his patient’s health as “extraordinary” and “astonishingly excellent.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Given how the president and his close admirers tend to bring out the worst in each other, it’s particularly concerning how the most vehemently pro-Trump media outlets are going far beyond the sycophantic blather of “Fox & Friends” to outright calls for the president to jail or even execute people he doesn’t like -- particularly if they happen to be investigating connections between Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In December, Fox News pundit and Trump ally Jeanine Pirro called on the president to implement a massive purge of officials who are not totally loyal.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“There is a cleansing needed in our FBI and Department of Justice — it needs to be cleansed of individuals who should not just be fired, but who need to be taken out in cuffs!” Pirro ranted.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The alleged need for large-scale firings and arrests within America’s intelligence agencies is a subject on which Pirro and her fellow Fox News Trump commentators Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson have opined for many months now.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But Trump did not need months of persuasion to respond, however. As the New York Times reported on Thursday, the president ordered the firing of special counsel Robert Mueller in June, just a few weeks after he had been appointed. Luckily for Trump, White House counsel Don McGahn and other staffers reportedly declined to carry out the order.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But the president’s Fox fans not have been the only right-wing media figures urging Trump to jail various Democrats and government investigators.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Tuesday, John Guandolo, a disgraced former FBI agent who has made a second career as an anti-Muslim and pro-Trump commentator, repeatedly told viewers of the Christian television station theDove that anyone who had allegedly promoted the famous “Steele dossier” as a justification for wiretapping Trump campaign officials was guilty of “sedition and treason” and must be given the death penalty.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“People need to be tried, convicted and executed for treason,” Guandolo said, in remarks that were first reported by the blog Right Wing Watch. “They are conspiring to overthrow the government … they need to be charged, sent to jail, executed, etc., if the republic is to survive.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Though Guandolo is a relatively obscure pundit, he is apparently respected by a number of federal law enforcement agencies who have repeatedly paid for his anti-Muslim training programs.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fox News viewers have also been introduced to the idea of capital punishment for Trump's critics. In October, Sebastian Gorka, the former White House adviser who is now a “national security strategist” at Fox News, invoked a conspiracy theory about former secretary of state Hillary Clinton's supposed approved of a deal for a Canadian uranium company that was working with a Russian firm.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“If this had happened in the 1950s, there would be people up on treason charges right now. The Rosenbergs, OK?” Gorka told a rapturous Sean Hannity. “This is equivalent to what the Rosenbergs did, and those people got the chair. Think about it. Giving away nuclear capability to our enemies, that’s what we’re talking about.”According to Gorka, American officials who approved the sale are the equivalent of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, the American couple executed for selling nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As the Russia investigation has continued to heat up, Alex Jones — the conspiracy radio host who shifted from commentary about gay frogs, Ron Paul, and space aliens to spittle-flecked pro-Trump bombast — has begun increasing his own rhetorical vehemence against law enforcement officials.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Even before he became devoted to Trump, Jones had a long history of proclaiming violent fantasies on the air, such as warning actor Robert DeNiro that he wanted to “tear his nose completely off his face” and threatening to break the jaws of various other people he dislikes.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(While some observers of his program have argued Jones is just acting, during an April episode, he denied that his harangues are purely theatrical. “We’re the most bona fide, hard-core, real McCoy thing there is,” he told listeners.)</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As the Mueller investigation has gotten two guilty pleas and numerous indictments against former Trump associates, Jones’ violent outbursts have only increased. He has apparently absorbed every unhinged conspiracy theory about treasonous “Deep State” elites and the ways they are using their supposedly limitless power to overthrow the president.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During the Jan. 19 episode of his program, Jones went on an extended-length rant, saying that Clinton, former president Barack Obama, former FBI director James Comey and a host of others were accusing Trump of acting like a dictator. Jones' suggested remedy: Trump should start doing just that.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Mr. President, they’re not going to stop, they’ve already started a civil war! They’ve all got to go to prison!” Jones raged in a segment discussing CNN host Anderson Cooper and New York Times reporter Matthew Rosenberg. “They’re saying you’re a dictator, we all need to be shut down, take our free speech, and then say you’re doing that. They’ve already launched their operations!"</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Infowars founder then alluded to Phil Mudd, a former FBI and CIA official who now is a commentator at CNN who said last August that Trump’s antagonistic remarks about career intelligence officials could result in them wanting to “kill this guy.” It was clearly a metaphor, as host Jake Tapper and Mudd were quick to point out, for the idea that Trump might be inspiring government officials to leak disparaging information about the president.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to Jones, however, Mudd had instead publicly stated that American intelligence agencies are planning to assassinate Trump. Because of that, Jones suggested, the president needs to begin physically rounding up his political opponents and treating them like violent traitors:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Phil Mudd is on TV saying he’s going to kill you! All you need to do is go after them now! Turn the dogs loose! They started it! They did it! They’re the foreign power! They’re the enemy! They’re the traitors!”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Get ’em! Get ’em!” Jones screamed as he pointed at an image of Cooper and Rosenberg on his studio screen.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Later on in the episode, Jones revisited the topic of the Trump-Russia investigation, claiming that Obama “needs to go to prison” because “these people aren’t above the law.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“These aren’t Americans,” Jones continued. “They’re globalists.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He then tried to answer listeners and viewers who might believe that Trump imprisoning Clinton and Obama could lead to civil war.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“They’re already trying to cause one,” Jones replied. “Justice be done, may the heavens fall,” he said, alluding to the famous Latin phrase that is also a line in Oliver Stone's conspiracy film “JFK.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Infowars chief then compared government officials and liberal political figures to the Japanese and German armies America fought in World War II.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“We have to attack them legally and lawfully. ...We have to defeat them all. They’re not going to stop,” Jones continued. “Like World War II, you don’t just kick Hitler back into Germany, he’s going to reconstitute and attack again. You don’t just kick the Japanese out of the Pacific Islands, you’ve gotta go all the way to Tokyo. They started it!”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As he continued, Jones suggested that because of their “treason,” Trump needs to “go all the way” against his opponents.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Whatever has to happen is going to happen. We’re going all the way against these people, period. We have to do it. There’s no other choice. They’ve all got to politically hang for their crimes,” he said.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Incidentally,” Jones said as he looked deep into the camera and drummed his fingers to accentuate the dramatic pause. “You know what the punishment for treason is.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He continued: “These are the foreign individuals that took our country over. They’re the ones who corrupted everything almost to the point of the country’s death. And they’re still trying to strangle the country today. We must stand against them.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Before the rise of Trump, Jones was an irrelevant conspiracy radio host whose ravings were listened to by a small number of deranged core fans and hipsters with eccentric senses of humor. All of that changed after Jones latched on to Trump during his campaign.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump returned the favor, saying publicly that Jones has an “amazing” reputation during his campaign. As president, he has given Jones and his Infowars colleagues prime access to White House officials. According to Jones, Trump has called him multiple times at home during the past few months. The host has also claimed that he knows several personal phone numbers for Trump, including the president’s private suite at Mar-a-Lago.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nor Jones is the only person associated with Infowars who has deep connections inside the administration.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump’s longtime friend and unofficial political adviser Roger Stone is now the host of an Infowars show of his own. Donald Trump Jr., the president's oldest son, posted on Twitter last April that Infowars correspondent and conspiracy theorist Mike Cernovich deserved a Pulitzer Prize after an administration source fed him a scoop days before the mainstream press. It was one of several important stories the two have broken ahead of legitimate news outlets. Cernovich has also boasted that Donald Jr. and other Trump family members personally give the president printouts of stories from Infowars and other dubious websites.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Given the many strictures on the commander in chief's authority, it is unlikely that Trump could start imprisoning his political opponents even if he wanted to. But the president is far from the only person exposed to a constant diet of violent rhetoric against Democrats, journalists and law enforcement officers. Many disturbed people who voted for him are as well.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Last week, a Michigan man named Brandon Griesemer was arrested for threatening to kill CNN’s “fake news” anchors. In December of 2016, North Carolina resident Edgar Maddison Welch burst into a pizza restaurant near Washington with a rifle and fired off three rounds, in part because Jones and his staff had spent hours telling their followers the place was the center of a global child-sex ring.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Following Welch’s guilty plea last March, Jones begrudgingly and partially retracted his support for the “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory. His actions since, however, suggest he has no legitimate intention of cleaning up his act.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">People have mocked the idea that Trump could become a dictator. What's clear is that many people he likes are telling him to become one.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Matthew Sheffield </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Investigative reporter Michael Isikoff of Yahoo News dropped a small bombshell this quiet holiday week that hasn't really exploded yet but might just explain the GOP's recent full-court press to discredit the FBI and special counsel Robert Mueller's team. Rep. Francis Rooney, a Florida Republican, explained:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I would like to see the directors of those agencies [the DOJ and FBI] purge it and say, "Look, we’ve got a lot of great agents, a lot of great lawyers here." Those are the people to see and know the good work’s being done, not these people who are kind of the deep state.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Wednesday, Rep. Ron DeSantis, another Florida Republican, went on "Fox & Friends" and backed up his colleague's sentiments, saying, "You look at a guy like Peter Strzok [the FBI agent demoted for sending derogatory texts about many politicians including Trump]. If he’s gonna say that it’s his job as an FBI to prevent a certain candidate from getting elected. ... Anyone who turns up in that situation, I think they should get another line of work.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For what it's worth, Strzok is a counterintelligence agent who appeared concerned that the "certain candidate" might be acting as an agent of a foreign adversary, which was important information the nation didn't have before the election. In any case, from what we can gather, these Republican congressmen identify nefarious "deep state" actors as those who cannot swear that they are not now and have never been a... Democrat.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As one can imagine, the use of the word "purge" brought forth some rather unfortunate historical images. We haven't seen evidence that they plan the usual accompanying show trials, but give them time. Republicans in Congress are working feverishly to prepare hearings on the Hillary Clinton "Russian uranium email treason" hearings so there's a chance we'll see some kind of facsimile before 2018.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The hysteria that's now raging seems a bit of an outsized reaction for this particular phase of the scandal, especially considering that Mueller actually did remove the offending "deep-staters." Isikoff may have come across a different motivation than simple loyalty to President Trump. He wrote:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In just the last few weeks, his prosecutors have begun questioning Republican National Committee staffers about the party digital operation that worked with the Trump campaign to target voters in key swing states. They are seeking to determine if the joint effort was related to the activities of Russian trolls and bots aimed at influencing the American electorate, according to two of the sources.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It would not be surprising if certain Republicans were to become a bit nervous when the investigation into Russian interference turned in that particular direction. It's flown under the radar since the election, but the fact is that it wasn't only the Democratic National Committee and John Podesta's email accounts that were hacked. The intelligence community identified the same group of Russian-affiliated hackers as behind the hacking of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I've been intrigued by this aspect of the Russian hacking story since the New York Times published an early report about it back in November of 2016. Recall that at first the hacker known as Guccifer 2.0 released personal information that was used to intimidate Democratic candidates, but then he/she/they suddenly became more sophisticated and targeted, dumping valuable tactical information:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The seats that Guccifer 2.0 targeted in the document dumps were hardly random: They were some of the most competitive House races in the country.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">People have wondered ever since if the hacker(s) might have gotten some expert assistance.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Perhaps it's a coincidence that so much of the information in question was republished on a website called HelloFLA by a Florida Republican and former congressional staffer named Aaron Nevins, who was connected to Trump associate and longtime political operative Roger Stone. It could be completely random that among the core group of Mueller antagonists, those calling the probe a "coup d'état" and demanding purges of members of the "deep state" are Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who proposed that Mueller's funding be cut off, and the aforementioned Rep. Francis Rooney, who's been all over TV talking about purging the FBI.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Indeed, as journalist Marcy Wheeler pointed out a while back, one of the ringleaders of the movement to discredit the Department of Justice and Robert Mueller, Rep. DeSantis, directly benefited from Guccifer 2.0’s leak to Nevins after the latter published five documents regarding the DCCC’s recruitment of DeSantis’ Democratic opponent, George Pappas. According to The Wall Street Journal, Guccifer 2.0 even sent a link with a HelloFLA article directly to Roger Stone, who told reporters he didn’t forward the hacked material to anyone -- the answer to a question nobody asked,</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Donald Trump may think their vociferous attacks on Mueller are all about loyalty to him personally. After all, this group all flew down to Florida together on Air Force One earlier this month. But these guys have skin in the game now and may very well be caught up in the maw of the Russia investigation themselves.If Mueller's team is looking into the digital operation and Roger Stone's interactions with Guccifer 2.0, as one would expect them to do, then these shenanigans in Florida are also coming into view. That may explain why this little circle of Sunshine State GOP congressmen are so anxious to shut him down.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">They might not be the only ones. According to The New York Times, material from the DCCC hack was first used by Miami-area Democrat Joe Garcia, a former congressman, to win a tight primary race. Then "the National Republican Campaign Committee and a second Republican group with ties to the House speaker, Paul Ryan, turned to the hacked material" to undermine Garcia and re-elect Rep. Carlos Curbelo, the Republican incumbent.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It should be noted that there were some candidates who refused to use the hacked material against their opponents. This gang of Florida Republicans who are now so loudly attacking the FBI for its supposedly unethical behavior were not among them. As we all know, neither was Donald "I love WikiLeaks" Trump.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">digby</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/04/paul_manafort_isn_t_a_gop_retread_he_s_made_a_career_of_reinventing_tyrants.single.html</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Despite his Yankee stock, Manafort ran Reagan’s Southern operation, the racially tinged appeal that infamously began in Philadelphia, Mississippi, the hamlet where civil rights activists were murdered in 1964. The success of the 1980 campaign gave Stone and Manafort cachet. More important, they helped run Reagan’s transition to power. They stocked the administration, distributing jobs across the agencies and accumulating owed favors that would provide the basis for their new lobbying business. They opened their doors in 1981.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Manafort and Stone pioneered a new style of firm, what K Street would come to call a double-breasted operation. One wing of the shop managed campaigns, electing a generation of Republicans, from Phil Gramm to Arlen Spector. The other wing lobbied the officials they helped to victory on behalf of its corporate clients. Over the course of their early years, they amassed a raft of blue-chip benefactors, including Salomon Brothers and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Another early client was Donald J. Trump. What Trump wanted was help fending off potential rivals to his Atlantic City casino business. He especially feared the rise of Indian gaming. As the 2016 campaign has graphically illustrated, Trump doesn’t treat rivals gently. Testifying before a congressional committee in 1993, he began with his rote protestations of friendship. “Nobody likes Indians as much as Donald Trump.” He then proceeded to worry that the tribes would prove unable to fend off gangsters. “There is no way Indians are going to protect themselves from the mob ... It will be the biggest scandal ever, the biggest since Al Capone … An Indian chief is going to tell Joey Killer to please get off his reservation? It’s unbelievable to me.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump poured money into a shell group called the New York Institute for Law and Society. The group existed solely to publish ads smearing his potential Indian competition. Under dark photos of needles and other junkie paraphernalia, the group asserted, “The St. Regis Mohawk Indian record of criminal activity is well documented.” (It wasn’t.) “Are these the new neighbors we want?” We know that Trump and Stone were behind the New York Institute because Gov. George Pataki investigated its doings. He slapped Trump and Stone with a $250,000 fine and required them to publicly apologize for running the ads.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Manafort didn’t own the Trump account at the firm. But one of his former partners told me that he would dispense advice and pitch in, winning Trump’s trust. When Manafort took an apartment in Trump Towers in 2006, he would kibitz with his old client when they’d run into one another on the elevator. “Trump knew this guy was top drawer,” says one Republican operative.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">* * </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Manafort and Stone built a glamour firm. The Black in its name belonged to Charles Black, who as a 25-year-old launched the Senate career of Jesse Helms. Later, they lured Lee Atwater, the evil genius who would devise the Willie Horton gambit for George H.W. Bush. The firm had swagger. In the early ’80s, the partners spoke openly to the Washington Post of their annual $450,000 salaries. According to the consultant Ed Rollins, Black would later boast that the firm had schemed to gain cartel-like control of the 1988 Republican presidential primary. They managed all of the major campaigns. Atwater took Bush; Black ran Dole; Stone handled Jack Kemp. A congressional staffer joked to a reporter from Time, “Why have primaries for the nomination? Why not have the candidates go over to Black, Manafort and Stone and argue it out?”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Manafort actively avoided the spotlight, though he had a knack for garnering unwanted attention. He took on clients and causes that even most of his colleagues on K Street considered outside the usual bounds. Black, Manafort, and Stone hired alumni of the Department of Housing and Urban Development then used those connections to win $43 million in “moderate rehabilitation funds” for a renovation project in Upper Deerfield, New Jersey. Local officials had no interest in the grants, as they considered the shamble of cinder blocks long past the point of repair. The money flowed from HUD regardless, and developers paid Manafort’s firm a $326,000 fee for its handiwork. He later bought a 20 percent share in the project. Two years later, rents doubled without any sign of improvement. Conditions remained, in Mary McGrory’s words, “strictly Third World.” It was such an outrageous scam that congressmen flocked to make a spectacle of it. Manafort calmly took his flaying. “You might call it influence-peddling. I call it lobbying,” he explained in one hearing. “That’s a definitional debate.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Strangely, the HUD scandal proved a marketing boon for the firm. An aide to Mobutu Sese Seko told the journalist Art Levine, “That only shows how important they are!” Indeed, Manafort enticed the African dictator to hire the firm. Many of the world’s dictators eventually became his clients. “Name a dictator and Black, Manafort will name the account,” Levine wrote. (Levine’s piece, published in Spy, featured a sidebar ranking the ethical behavior of Washington lobbyists: It found Black, Manafort the worst of the bunch.) The client list included Philippine strongman Ferdinand Marcos (with a $900,000 yearly contract) and the despots of the Dominican Republic, Nigeria, Kenya, Equatorial Guinea, and Somalia. When the Center for Public Integrity detailed the firm’s work, it titled the report “The Torturers’ Lobby.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Indeed, the firm was an all-purpose image-buffing operation. As the Washington Post has reported, Manafort could book his clients on 60 Minutes or Nightline—and coach them to make their best pitch. He lobbied Congress for foreign aid that flowed to his clients’ coffers. He might even provide a few choice pieces of advice about tamping down domestic critics. Manafort understood the mindset of the dictator wasn’t so different from his corporate clients. According to one proposal unearthed by congressional investigators, the firm boasted of “personal relationships” with administration officials and promised “to upgrade backchannels” to the U.S. government.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This wasn’t empty rhetoric. On a Friday in 1985, Christopher Lehman left his job at the National Security Council. The following Monday, he was flying with Manafort, his new boss, to the bush of Angola to pitch the Chinese-trained guerilla Jonas Savimbi, who wanted covert assistance from the U.S. to bolster his rebellion against Angola’s Marxist government. Savimbi briefly left a battle against Cuban assault forces and signed a $600,000 contract.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The money bought Savimbi a revised reputation. Despite his client’s Maoist background, Manafort reinvented him as a freedom fighter. He knew all the tricks for manipulating right-wing opinion. Savimbi was sent to a seminar at the American Enterprise Institute, hosted by the anticommunist stalwart Jeanne Kirkpatrick, a reception thrown by the Heritage Foundation, and another confab at Freedom House. (Kirkpatrick introduced Savimbi, who conscripted soldiers, burned enemies, and indiscriminately laid land mines, as a “linguist, philosopher, poet, politician, warrior ... one of the few authentic heroes of our time.”)</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Manafort’s campaign worked wonders. His lobbying helped convince Congress to send Savimbi hundreds of millions in covert aid. Indeed, every time Angola stood on the precipice of peace talks, Manafort, Black worked to generate a fresh round of arms—shipments that many experts believe extended the conflict. Sen. Bill Bradley was blunt in assigning blame. “When Gorbachev pulled the plug on Soviet aid to the Angolan government, we had absolutely no reason to persist in aiding Savimbi. But by then he had hired an effective Washington lobbying firm, which successfully obtained further funding.” Or as Art Levine concluded, “So the war lasted another two more years and claimed a few thousand more lives! So what? What counts to a Washington lobbyist is the ability to deliver a tangible victory and spruce up his client’s image.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no link</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.mediamatters.org/research/2017/08/30/hannity-gets-his-stories-internet-fever-swamps-ana-navarro-story/217810</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hannity gets his stories from the internet fever swamps: The Ana Navarro story</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Research ››› August 30, 2017 6:14 PM EDT ››› CRISTINA LóPEZ G.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During his Fox News show on August 29, host Sean Hannity elevated a smear campaign targeting Republican CNN contributor Ana Navarro. Hannity’s smears came from a report citing publicly available information showing Navarro has donated to Democratic candidates, which pro-Trump troll Jack Posobiec distributed on Twitter under the hashtag #AnaGate to rally his followers to harass the contributor. This is not the first time Hannity has elevated a narrative that comes from pro-Trump trolls and fringe far-right message boards.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Right-wing trolls are harassing Republican CNN contributor Ana Navarro for donating to Democrats</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Right-wing trolls are waging a harassment campaign against CNN contributor Ana Navarro. Using the #AnaGate hashtag, right-wing trolls and other Twitter users are harassing Republican CNN contributor Ana Navarro, criticizing her for having donated to Democrats, including Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ). [Twitter, #AnaGate, accessed 8/30/17]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pro-Trump troll Jack Posobiec introduced the #AnaGate narrative. On August 24, pro-Trump troll Jack Posobiec -- who formerly identified as a member of the “alt-right” -- reported in a Medium post that Navarro had donated to Democrats and organized fundraisers, citing publicly available campaign documents. Posobiec also took to Periscope to brainstorm potential hashtags for what he deemed a “scandal,” coming up with #AnaGate. Posobiec recently bragged that a retweet of his defense of President Donald Trump's outrageous Charlottesville comments by Trump amounted to an "endorsement," telling the The Boston Globe that "Trump’s 'retweet of me was almost like an endorsement … in a very broad sense,' Posobiec said during an interview with the Globe at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, where he requested to meet. 'It was almost like he was validating what we, the alt-media, are doing.'" [Media Matters, 5/11/17; Medium, 8/24/17; Periscope, 8/24/17; The Boston Globe, 8/28/17]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Follow</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jack Posobiec ? @JackPosobiec</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">BUSTED: Ana Navarro Bankrolled Indicted Democrat Bob Menendez! Will CNN denounce? https://medium.com/@JackPosobiec/busted-ana-navarro-bankrolled-indicted-democrat-bob-menendez-c5dc48ce40db …</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">6:25 PM - Aug 24, 2017</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Photo published for BUSTED: Ana Navarro Bankrolled Indicted Democrat Bob Menendez</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">BUSTED: Ana Navarro Bankrolled Indicted Democrat Bob Menendez</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“CNN should be sued for false advertising” — Roger Stone, on Ana Navarro</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">medium.com</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> 990 990 Replies 8,178 8,178 Retweets 9,844 9,844 likes</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Posobiec cited Roger Stone, who has a record of making misogynistic and racist remarks about Navarro. In his Medium post, Posobiec turned to Infowars regular Roger Stone for comment on Navarro. Stone has a history of making racist and misogynistic remarks about the CNN contributor, calling her “Entitled Diva Bitch” on Twitter and referring to her Latino background by saying “black beans and rice didn’t miss her.” [Medium, 8/24/17; Media Matters, 2/22/16]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Conservative media amplified Posobiec’s narrative. Both Laura Ingraham’s online outlet LifeZette and Breitbart.com amplified the story Posobiec had reported, criticizing Navarro’s anti-Trump stance. [LifeZette, 8/28/17; Breitbart, 8/29/17]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Navarro has been a consistently critical voice against Trump among conservatives. Navarro has consistently been critical of President Donald Trump while continuing to support the Republican party. [Media Matters, 1/29/17, 5/15/17, 6/29/17, 7/2/17]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sean Hannity elevated Posobiec’s narrative on his Fox show</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fox host Sean Hannity gave Posobiec’s smear narrative against Navarro a platform during his show. During the August 29 monologue of his show Hannity, Fox host Sean Hannity parroted “a report” that “so-called Republican Eva (sic) Navarro donated a lot of money to prominent Democrats”. From the August 29 edition of Fox News’ Hannity:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">SEAN HANNITY (HOST): And CNN's so-called Republican commentator Eva (sic) Navarro responded to a tweet from President Trump about leaving for Texas and writing, quote, “As if the people of Texas aren’t already enduring enough suffering… .” Now, what’s interesting about that, we learned today from a report that CNN’s so-called Republican Navarro, well, she’s donated a lot of money to prominent Democrats. What Republican would donate to the likes of Debbie Wasserman Schultz and other left-wingers that are out there and people on the left? It sounds like a fake Republican at the fake news network. More proof that the left is completely unhinged. And it is why we have now actually diagnosed them, considering they want to diagnose everybody else, and we call it the Trump derangement syndrome. [Fox News, Hannity, 8/29/17]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Posobiec gleefully tweeted about his narrative receiving prime-time validation.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Follow</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jack Posobiec ? @JackPosobiec</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hannity is on too #AnaGate</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4:33 AM - Aug 30, 2017 · Washington, DC</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> 12 12 Replies 73 73 Retweets 257 257 likes</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Twitter Ads info and privacy</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> [Twitter, 8/30/17]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jack Posobiec ? @JackPosobiec</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We primetime now https://twitter.com/woodruffbets/status/902714104703578112 …</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3:06 AM - Aug 30, 2017</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> 13 13 Replies 102 102 Retweets 305 305 likes</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hannity has increasingly become a mouthpiece for the pro-Trump fever swamps on the internet</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hannity consistently used his platform to elevate the Seth Rich conspiracy theory. In late May, Hannity devoted considerable airtime to the conspiracy theory that Democratic National Committee (DNC) staffer Seth Rich, who was murdered in the summer of 2016, had provided WikiLeaks with the DNC emails that many experts have concluded were hacked by Russian authorities. Despite his own network retracting the story and the Rich family pleading for the gross exploitation of their son’s murder to stop, Hannity relentlessly pushed the story -- which was born in pro-Trump message boards and did not stand up to scrutiny -- in an effort to quash reports of Russian intervention in the 2016 presidential election. [Media Matters, 5/30/17]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hannity has pushed false claims from pro-Trump outlets. Hannity pushed on Twitter a false Gateway Pundit story that claimed Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) had requested campaign donations from Russia. After the misleading story was debunked by McCain’s Senate office, Hannity deleted his tweet and got defensive over criticisms that he was spreading false information. [Media Matters, 2/23/17]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hannity has parroted claims originating from the message boards that the counterprotestors opposing neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, VA, were paid actors. Hannity used his radio show to promote the conspiracy theory that “antifa agitators” who opposed the neo-Nazi and white supremacist protesters in Charlottesville, VA, were actually actors hired by a publicity firm. [Media Matters, 8/17/17]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> factchech march?</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A Timeline</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone, a longtime political operative who says he has no problem being called “a dirty trickster” with “sharp elbows,” was employed by the Trump campaign for several months early in the presidential campaign. Stone parted ways with the campaign in August 2015 — Trump said he fired him; Stone said he resigned because he felt he could more effectively help Trump’s cause outside the campaign, and that he remained in regular contact with Trump.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In June of the following year, the Democratic National Committee announced that its computers had been hacked by operatives of the Russian government. U.S. intelligence agencies say Russian intelligence had access to DNC computers for nearly a year, from July 2015 to June 2016.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The following day, a self-described hacker identified as Guccifer 2.0 took credit for the hack, and boasted that thousands of files and emails were provided to WikiLeaks.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Aug. 5, Stone penned a story for the conservative website Breitbart, arguing that the Clinton campaign was scapegoating the Russians to hide the embarrassment of being hacked by a single individual. Stone’s story was based on public tweets and blog posts from Guccifer 2.0. Stone did communicate with Guccifer 2.0 in 2016 in a series of Twitter messages between Aug. 14 and Sept. 9 that Stone says he has since published in their entirety. In a lengthy interview with Stone published by Politico on March 27, Stone said that after he posted his Breitbart article, he learned that Guccifer 2.0 — who he said he does not believe to be a Russian agent — was banned from Twitter, and then was reinstated. Stone said he reached out to give Guccifer a social media “high-five,” expressing his support for Guccifer’s reinstatement “because I’m against censorship.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The rest of the messages, Stone says, are pretty innocuous. In one, Guccifer 2.0 writes, “please tell me if I can help u anyhow.” But there is no record that Stone replied to that message. Twice, Stone asks Guccifer 2.0 to retweet his articles, and in one, Guccifer makes a benign comment about an article on election strategy, which Stone replies is “Pretty Standard.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone also revealed during a speech to the Southwest Broward Republican Organization on Aug. 8 that he had “communicated with Assange.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I believe the next tranche of his documents pertain to the Clinton Foundation but there’s no telling what the October surprise may be,” Stone said.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone later clarified that he never spoke directly with Assange, but that the two have a mutual journalist friend — or what Stone referred to in a tea party speech as a “back-channel intermediary” — who told him in August that Assange “has the mother lode on Hillary [Clinton]” and that those emails would be released in October.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone said the information he received was no more specific than that, but enough to prompt him to make repeated statements and social media messages predicting upcoming bombshells related to Clinton. Stone said he also speculated that the hacked emails were related to the Clinton Foundation.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone says his Aug. 21 tweet about Podesta — that it would soon be Podesta’s “time in the barrel” — had nothing to do with hacked emails, though. Two days prior, Trump’s campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, quit the campaign amid media reports about prior business dealings with Russia-aligned leaders in Ukraine.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone said he was aware that Podesta also had business ties to Russia, and that journalists were beginning to look into those. That’s what prompted the tweet, he said.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Indeed, earlier that year, media accounts based on the so-called Panama Papers reported that Podesta’s company, the Podesta Group, had been hired to lobby on behalf of one of Russia’s biggest financial institutions. And in October, the Wall Street Journal published an opinion piece on business ties between Podesta and a Russia-backed investment firm.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In an Oct. 19 story for Breitbart, Stone said Podesta’s business ties to Russia were the motivation for the tweet.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">nb wsj art'l on podesta ussr is peter sweitzer</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.wsj.com/articles/john-podesta-and-the-russians-1477262565</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.local10.com/news/politics/who-is-president-trumps-informal-adviser-roger-stone</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no link</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Who is President Trump's informal adviser, Roger Stone?</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By Bob Norman - Investigative Reporter</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Posted: 4:48 PM, March 20, 2017</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Updated: 6:03 PM, March 20, 2017</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. - Long before accused political dirty trickster Roger Stone became a key player in the election hacking investigation involving Russia, the longtime aide and lobbyist for President Donald Trump was involved in another major political scandal: Watergate.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone, who has an image of President Richard Nixon tattooed on his back, was a member of the former president's notorious CREEP committee, where he was schooled in what he has called the "political dark arts." Using the pseudonym Jason Ranier, Stone oversaw a private investigator who was paid to spy on Democratic candidates during the 1972 election.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">More Politics Headlines</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump adviser Roger Stone calls Pompano Beach hit-and-run 'suspicious'</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rothstein Bankruptcy Sues Legendary GOP Operative Roger Stone</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">GOP Operative Roger Stone Behind Marijuana Effort In Florida</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Operative Roger Stone aims dirty tricks at Local 10 reporter</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Dirty trickster" Roger Stone involved in Granteed smear</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I did a lot of things in 1972 that were not illegal, but were bare-knuckle politics," Stone told Local 10 News in 2012.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As a so-called GOP hit-man, Stone worked for other presidents, including Ronald Reagan and George Bush, but was axed from Bob Dole's presidential campaign after the National Enquirer caught him in a swingers' sex scandal.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For years, Stone was a lobbying partner with former Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort and served as a lobbyist and advisor to Trump for decades after the pair were introduced by notorious attorney Roy Cohn, who served as a right-hand man to red-baiting Sen. Joe McCarthy.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone lived part-time in Miami Beach for a long time, but first gained local notoriety due to his relationship with one of South Florida's most notorious criminals: convicted Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone served as Rothstein's political director before the now-imprisoned ex-attorney's billion-dollar Ponzi scheme crumbled. Stone was sued for $400,000 in a clawback action in Rothstein's bankruptcy case, which he settled for a nominal amount, and was never accused of any involvement in Rothstein's crimes.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone moved from Miami Beach to Fort Lauderdale after striking up a friendship with Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel, whom he helped elect, as well as Israel's campaign strategist, Ron Gunzburger, whom Israel hired after his election as BSO general counsel.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Prior to Israel's 2012 election, a Stone assistant named Andrew Miller gave a mysterious $120,000 contribution to an Israel political committee. After the election, Israel, a Democrat, hired three of Stone's associates – including assistant Dianne Thorne, co-author Mike Colapietro, and Miller's girlfriend, Jennifer Hobbs – on the public payroll at the sheriff’s office after his 2012 election. Thorne left BSO after questions about her truthfulness regarding her educational background were reported and Hobbs has also left her BSO post.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Whether or not someone is an associate of Roger Stone, I wouldn't necessarily know," Israel said in 2013.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While Stone carefully projects a sophisticated persona, Local 10 News captured another side of him when investigative reporter Bob Norman questioned him in 2014 about a $1.5 million federal tax lien filed that had been filed against him.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone lashed out at Norman and his photographer, pushing the camera and flashing his middle finger as he drove away.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2008, the infamous political "dirty trickster" Roger Stone made a big impact on the Broward County sheriff's race with a series of attack ads aimed at Democratic candidate Scott Israel.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That was back when Stone -- who gained political infamy as a "dirty trickster" for Richard Nixon -- was working as the political director for Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein, who backed Republican candidate Al Lamberti, who of course went on to win the race.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Well now Stone is back in a big -- and, yes, dirty -- way in this sheriff's race, and it appears this time he's working in the interest of Scott Israel.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The latest robocall attack on Israel's Democratic primary opponent, Louie Granteed, came last night in the form of an "endorsement" for Granteed from an entity that calls itself Tea Party Miami. Here's the exact words of the woman who voices the call:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I'm calling for Tea Party Miami, one of the largest and most active tea party organizations in South Florida. We recommend conservative law and order Democrat Louie Granteed for Broward County sheriff. Louie Granteed is a tough no-nonsense cop who won't kowtow to minorities, civil liberties groups, or good-government types. Louie Granteed will crack down on illegal immigrants in Broward County. Please remember that Tea Party Miami recommends Louie Granteed for Broward County sheriff. Paid for by Tea Party Miami C-4 organization."</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">What's the real message of that ad aimed at Broward Democrats? That Granteed is a conservative, racist, anti-immigrant thug.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So is that Granteed's message? Of course not. Granteed told me he has never had any involvement with any Tea Party group and had no idea who the Tea Party Miami was. His stance on immigration is actually well-measured; in fact Granteed says the issue is a federal one and opposes local law enforcement agencies taking illegal immigrants into custody unless they have committed a crime with a complaining victim.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Miami Tea Party, for the record, is ... Roger Stone. He and his associates created the group last year; serving as the original chairwoman of the group was Dianne Thorne, Stone's administrative assistant. Now it's someone called Eric Wolfgang Von Tausch, but Stone and his wife are "paid members" of the group.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The group has mirrored Stone's interests all along. For instance, after the Scott Rothstein bankruptcy sued Stone for $400,000 in a clawback action, Tea Party Miami began bashing Rothstein bankruptcy trustee Herbert Stettin, as "Florida's most corrupt judge."</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone claims his involvement in the smear amounts to introducing political consultant Todd Wilder to Von Tausch. Sure, Roger.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tea Party Miami on Saturday sent this email blast endorsing Granteed. Here's the text:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hollywood Police Officer Louie Granteed is one tough cop. That's why Tea Party Miami, the largest and most active Tea Party organization in Miami-Dade County and our affiliate the South Florida Tea Party both recommend Louie Granteed, in the Broward County Democratic Primary for Sheriff August 14th.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Louie Granteed is a real law and order conservative. Granteed is a former Republican who will be tough on crime and crack down on illegal immigrants in Broward county. Granteed is clearly a better choice than Democrat Scott J. Israel, a strong supporter of President Obama and an opponent of racial profiling by the BSO.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Granteed could be depended on not to kow-tow to minorities, civil liberties groups and good government types. Granteed didn't pander by seeking the support of the left-wing Broward based Gwen Cherry Chapter of the Women's Political Caucus. The choice between Granteed and Republican Sheriff Al Lamberti will be a difficult one. We applaud Lamberti for inviting Rep. Allen West to address the BSO 9/11 Memorial.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We recommend Tea Party members who are registered Democrats vote for Granteed.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For Republicans in Broward, Tea Party Miami also recommends former Florida House Majority Leader Adam Hasner for Congress in the 22nd district and Karen Harrington for Congress in the 23rd district and Mike Lameyer for State Senate District 34.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Here we go again. Notice that the criticism of Israel is that he's a "strong supporter of President Obama," something the vast majority of Democratic voters in Tuesday's primary share in common. The other is that Israel is against racial-profiling, aka he's not a racist. You can almost hear Stone chuckling in the background when he sends out this stuff.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Interestingly, the email also mentions that it will be difficult for Tea Party Miami to choose between Granteed and Lamberti, a Republican, in the general election, mentioning that Lamberti invited right-wing Congressman Allen West to a 911 event. Judging by this and other tea leaves, it appears that Stone is ultimately gunning for Lamberti, the man he helped elect last time with Rothstein's money. So maybe the sheriff will get the next Miami Tea Party endorsement. We'll see.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The U.S. intelligence community has long since concluded Russia meddled in the 2016 election, and it was reported shortly after the 2016 presidential election that a GOP superPAC linked to Paul Ryan used illegally hacked material to attack Democratic House candidates. But a bombshell report published on Thursday confirms that Republican political operatives were working with the Russian government to hurt Hillary Clinton and Democrats during the election — the first direct evidence of so-called collusion. </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Wall Street Journal reported that hacked information was posted on a blog run by Aaron Nevins, the political operative, and then passed along to top Trump adviser Roger Stone during the campaign. The Republican operative in Florida received a trove of Democratic documents from the allegedly Kremlin-linked hacker, Guccifer 2.0. For months, both Congress and the FBI have been scrutinizing evidence that associates of Trump may have colluded with Russia during the campaign. </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nevins confirmed to the Journal that he told hacker Guccifer 2.0 to “feel free to send any Florida based information” after learning that the hacker had tapped into Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) computers last summer. From the DCCC, Guccifer 2.0 released internal assessments of Democratic congressional candidates, known as “self-opposition research,” to GOP operatives using social media. Nevins told the Journal that, after receiving the stolen documents from the hacker, he “realized it was a lot more than even Guccifer knew that he had.” The stolen DCCC documents also contained sensitive information on voters in key Florida districts, breaking down how many people were considered dependable Democratic voters, undecided Democrats, Republican voters and the like. Nevins made a war analogy, describing the data he received to Guccifer 2.0 as akin to a “map to where all the troops are deployed.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After Nevins published some of the material on the blog HelloFLA.com, using his own pseudonym, Guccifer 2.0 sent a link of the information to close Trump associate Roger Stone — who is currently under federal investigation for potential collusion with Russia.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I just threw an arrow in the dark,” Nevins, who set up a Dropbox account for Guccifer 2.0 to transfer data, told the Journal. “If your interests align,” the operative concluded, “never shut any doors in politics.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone told the Journal that while he did receive a link to Nevins’s blog from Guccifer 2.0, he didn’t share the stolen data published on the blog with anyone.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In addition to receiving hacked information about Democratic races in Florida, Nevins also received internal details about congressional districts in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. The Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC with close ties to House Speaker Paul Ryan, eventually used the material that was stolen by hackers in attack ads against several Democrats.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Anthony Bustamante, a Republican campaign consultant for Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), told the Journal that he used the stolen information to plan ad buys and better target a mailer effort: “I did adjust some voting targets based on some data I saw from the leaks.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Republicans ignored Democrats’ pleas not to use the hacked material for political gain.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After Guccifer 2.0 targeted the chair of the DCCC, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi sent a letter to Paul Ryan arguing that “the NRCC’s use of documents stolen by the Russians plays right into the hands of one of the United States’ most dangerous adversaries,” and if the National Republican Campaign Committee continued using the materials, the GOP “will be complicit in aiding the Russian government in its effort to influence American elections.” Ryan never responded.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For his part, Trump has repeatedly denied any coordination with Russian officials. The Kremlin has also rejected any connection to Guccifer 2.0. But both the Department of Homeland Security and Director of National Intelligence believe Guccifer 2.0 is tied to Russian military intelligence.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sophia Tesfaye is the Deputy Politics Editor at Salon.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">raw story</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Prosecutors in Ukraine and U.S. Senators investigating Pres. Donald Trump have notified two former top Trump aides that they are wanted for questioning in ongoing investigations regarding lies, corruption and the influence of the Russian government.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The New York Times said on Saturday that Republican “dirty tricks” operative Roger Stone Jr. was ordered by the Senate Intelligence Committee on Friday not to destroy any documents related to Russia or which might be connected to an investigation of Russian attempts to interfere with the 2016 U.S. election.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to CNN, Ukrainian prosecutors have repeatedly appealed to the federal government for help in questioning former Trump 2016 campaign manager Paul Manafort with regards to an ongoing corruption case in the capital city of Kiev.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone is under ongoing scrutiny of multiple federal agencies for his connections to Russian hacker Guccifer2.0, Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange and Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. The Senate Intelligence Committee letter to him is dated Feb. 17, but Stone claims he only received on Friday.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Times obtained a copy of the letter, which ordered Stone to “preserve and retain all hard copies and electronically stored information as specified below in furtherance of the committee’s ongoing investigation into Russian actions targeting the 2016 U.S. elections and democratic processes globally.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Manafort has been wanted by a special prosecution unit in Ukraine since 2014 regarding a corruption case against the country’s former Justice Minister Oleksandr Lavrynovych. He has not been charged with a crime, the court says, but is simply wanted for questioning.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Trump campaign ditched Manafort and replaced him as campaign manager with Kellyanne Conway late last summer when questions came to light regarding his shady business connections in Russia and Ukraine.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Earlier this month, it was revealed that Manafort was being targeted for blackmail by Ukrainians who claimed to have proof that the embattled campaign manager received $12.7 million in cash payments from the campaign organization of pro-Russian former Ukraine Pres. Viktor Yanukovych.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Manafort denies all knowledge of the payments...</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/01/russian-hacking-trump/510689/</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> December, Clinton strategist Podestahinted"}}" style="box-sizing: inherit;"> hinted that he believed the Trump campaign knew about the hacking. He pointed to statements by Russian diplomats that they were speaking with the Trump campaign"}}" style="box-sizing: inherit;">statements by Russian diplomats that they were speaking with the Trump campaign, as well as a tweet by Trump adviser Roger Stone"}}" style="box-sizing: inherit;">a tweet by Trump adviser Roger Stone that suggested Stone knew that Wikileaks had Podesta’s emails two months before the Wikileaks’ release. The Trump campaign has denied that it had any knowledge of the hacking campaign. Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff, has called such allegations “insane"}}" style="box-sizing: inherit;">insane.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some of Trump’s advisers do have close ties to Russia, but, so far, nothing has come out that links his campaign staff to the hacking. But there are many threads to follow.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">From the admission by Stone that he communicated online with Guccifer 2.0, the hacker who claims to have penetrated the DNC, to allegations by Trump associates"}}" style="box-sizing: inherit;">allegations by Trump associates that the hacking investigation is red herring, a ruse created by U.S. intelligence to blame Russia for cyber espionage, the story is bewildering and bizarre. So who knew what and when, and what is the truth? It remains to be seen.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It’s not in dispute that members of Trump’s campaign staff were in contact with Russians in the lead up to the election and in the weeks before Trump’s inauguration. What’s unclear is the substance of those contacts. How many staffers met with Russians and why?</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During the 2016 United States presidential election, the meme was connected to Donald Trump's campaign. In October 2015, Donald Trump retweeted a Pepe representation of himself, associated with a video called "You Can't Stump the Trump (Volume 4)".[3][14] Later in the election, Roger Stone and Donald Trump Jr. posted a parody movie poster of The Expendables on Twitter and Instagram titled "The Deplorables", a play of Hillary Clinton's controversial phrase, basket of deplorables, which included Pepe's face among those of members of the Trump family and other figures popular among the alt-right.[15]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://mediamatters.org/blog/2017/01/19/new-york-times-trump-ally-roger-stone-under-investigation-possible-russia-ties/215068</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The New York Times is reporting that American law enforcement and intelligence agencies are investigating “intercepted communications” that potentially show ties between longtime Donald Trump ally Roger Stone and Russian officials.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The report confirming the ongoing investigation comes after U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that the Russian government meddled in the 2016 election by hacking the Democratic National Committee, as well as reports that the FBI and five other intelligence agencies have been investigating whether money from the Kremlin covertly aided Trump’s presidential run.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In July, reports surfaced that Trump’s foreign policy advisor on Russia and Europe, Carter Page, made almost his entire fortune off of investments in Russia. Soon after, NBC News reported on alleged payments to Donald Trump’s then-campaign manager Paul Manafort from former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych from 2007-2012. Roger Stone, a racist, sexist conspiracy theorist -- who has previously claimed that there’s “greater freedom of the press” and expression in Russia than in the U.S. -- has now also been implicated as another one of Trump’s associates currently under investigation. Media Matters first exposed Stone in August 2016, after he claimed to be in contact with Julian Assange regarding an "October Surprise." In early October, Stone reassured anxious Alex Jones listeners that the "motherload" was coming.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The report, which will appear in the January 20 edition of The New York Times, confirms that intelligence agencies are investigating “intercepted communications and financial transactions” between Russian officials and Trump allies Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, and Carter Page. The report notes that the “continuing counterintelligence means that Mr. Trump will take the oath of office on Friday with his associates under investigation and after the intelligence agencies concluded that the Russian government had worked to help elect him.” From The New York Times:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">American law enforcement and intelligence agencies are examining intercepted communications and financial transactions as part of a broad investigation into possible links between Russian officials and associates of President-elect Donald J. Trump, including his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, current and former senior American officials said.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The continuing counterintelligence investigation means that Mr. Trump will take the oath of office on Friday with his associates under investigation and after the intelligence agencies concluded that the Russian government had worked to help elect him. As president, Mr. Trump will oversee those agencies and have the authority to redirect or stop at least some of these efforts.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The counterintelligence investigation centers at least in part on the business dealings that some of the president-elect’s past and present advisers have had with Russia. Mr. Manafort has done business in Ukraine and Russia. Some of his contacts there were under surveillance by the National Security Agency for suspected links to Russia’s Federal Security Service, one of the officials said.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[...]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The F.B.I. investigation into Mr. Manafort began last spring, and was an outgrowth of a criminal investigation into his work for a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine and for the country’s former president, Viktor F. Yanukovych. In August, The Times reported that Mr. Manafort’s name had surfaced in a secret ledger that showed he had been paid millions in undisclosed cash payments.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Associated Press has reported that his work for Ukraine included a secret lobbying effort in Washington aimed at influencing American news organizations and government officials.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mr. Stone, a longtime friend of Mr. Trump’s, said in a speech in Florida last summer that he had communicated with Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy group that published the hacked Democratic emails. During the speech, Mr. Stone predicted further leaks of documents, a prediction that came true within weeks.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a brief interview on Thursday, Mr. Stone said he had never visited Russia and had no Russian clients. He said that he had worked in Ukraine for a pro-Western party, but that any assertion that he had ties to Russian intelligence was “nonsense” and “totally false.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Roger Stone, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s longtime friend and adviser, repeatedly lashed out at media outlets for reporting that recent campaign hires amounted to a “shake-up” that might have an impact on chairman Paul Manafort’s role with the campaign. Stone said earlier this week that “Manafort’s not going anywhere," but Manafort, who is Stone’s friend and former business partner, announced his resignation from the campaign this morning.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Wednesday, the Trump campaign announced that Steve Bannon had been hired as the campaign CEO and Kellyanne Conway would take on the role of campaign manager. Numerous media outlets reported on the move as a “shake-up” of the campaign’s leadership</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The New York Times reported of Manafort's resignation:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mr. Manafort left nearly a week after a New York Times report about problems within the Republican presidential nominee’s campaign helped precipitate a leadership shake-up. His departure reflects repeated efforts to steady a campaign that has been frequently roiled by the unpredictable behavior of its tempestuous first-time candidate.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mr. Manafort was also dogged by reports about secretive efforts he made to help the former pro-Russian government in Ukraine, where he has worked on and off over several years.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Prior to Manafort’s departure, Stone was lashing out at media outlets like The New York Times for describing the new hires as a “shake-up,” claiming that reporters were being spun by former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For example, in an appearance on WIOD’s Fernand Amandi Show on Wednesday, Stone said that claims that Manafort had been demoted “may be the Corey Lewandowski spin, but it’s just not accurate. Manafort’s not going anywhere. Spoke to him this morning, he’s very pleased with this expansion.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Newsmax TV’s Steve Malzberg Show, Stone said, “The mainstream media interpretation that this is somehow a demotion for Paul Manafort -- that was actually removed from the later editions of the New York Times story because it isn’t true. I recognize that the ousted and now disgraced campaign manager Corey Lewandowski – really an advance man – continues to spin this. But I don’t understand why he thinks that is helpful to the campaign.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After calling Lewandowski a “loser,” who was replaced by “an adult,” Stone added, “I see this as an expansion of the campaign. I don’t think anybody was demoted, and it’s not a ‘shake-up’ because shake-up means that someone lost their job, and no one has lost their job. The team remains intact. [Paul] Manafort, [Tony] Fabrizio, [Kellyanne] Conway, [Steve] Bannon. This is an all-star lineup.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Appearing on The Alex Jones Show, Stone said Bannon was “not replacing Paul Manafort,” adding, “This isn’t a shake-up, it’s an expansion.” Jones agreed and said Bannon was “augmenting things.” After news of Manafort’s departure broke, Stone reportedly told Mic, “There is an easy explanation for this: Manafort became concerned that the contrived and unfounded attacks by him, all peddled by the Clinton spin machine, would become a distraction and fuel the whole Russia-Trump-Putin-Manafort narrative of the Clintons.” He added, "Manafort did what Corey Lewandowski should have done when he was accused of manhandling a woman: He stepped aside. That's a pro."</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://time.com/4659069/roger-stone-donald-trump-book/</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...The New York Times has reported that you’re among a couple of Trump associates under federal investigation for alleged ties to Russia. Is there any truth to those reports? Have you been contacted by anyone in the intelligence community?</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I have not been contacted by anybody in law enforcement. There is absolutely no foundation to this whatsoever. The intelligence community could not have found email transmissions or financial transactions involving me and the Russians and the Trump campaign because there are none. I have no Russian clients. I have no Russian contacts, I have no Russian money. I have no Russian influences. I do like Russian vodka. This thing is a canard. The intelligence community has yet to produce any proof. Were the Russians hacking us? Maybe. But did they affect the election in any way? No.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One of the things people are pointing to is you said during a speech in Florida last August that you have communicated with Assange. And you predicted the document dump. What’s your connection with Wikileaks?</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It’s very simple. As I explain in the book, I have a mutual friend who knows Assange, who’s a journalist and was in London and communicated with him. When he came back, he told me that Assange has devastating political dynamite on Hillary Clinton and he’s going to begin releasing it. I asked when. He said as soon as this Wednesday. So I posted that. That Wednesday, Assange had a press thing where he announced they would have disclosures for the next 10 weeks. Which he has. So everything I said was true. I didn’t know the specifics. I welcome any objective and real investigation. There’s literally nothing to find.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">You’ve claimed you may have been poisoned. Are you feeling better?</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I am feeling better. I became very ill before Christmas. I got progressively worse. For almost 17 days in a row, I had a fever of over 100. I went to the hospital. They conducted blood tests. They were baffled. Blood tests went to the CDC. They found an exogenous substance in my blood that had the characteristics of polonium.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I’m sorry to hear. You said you thought you’d been poisoned in connection with the Russian hacking investigation. Do you have any evidence?</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">No. I’ll never figure out who tried to poison me. Let’s face it: there would be too many suspects. But the Senate Intelligence Committee was going to have hearings. I could see why some people might not want me to do so. You know, you bump off Stone, make it look like the Russians did it: "Wow, the Russians killed their agent because he was going to spill his guts in Congress." Just a theory. The Deep State moves in strange ways.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Wednesday, Apr 6, 2016 12:27 PM PDT</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Donald Trump’s flea-sharing bed dog: Roger Stone, riot organizer and unapologetic racist, is the Trump campaign’s best friend</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One of Trump's best allies and surrogates, Roger Stone, is a major racist who used riots to help Bush win in 2000</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Amanda Marcotte </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After he was charged in the state of Florida for misdemeanor battery for grabbing a reporter at a campaign event, Donald Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski has been the focal point for attention paid to the rather, um, unusual team of unsavory people that Trump has surrounded himself with in his bid for the presidency. But there was (is?) another member of the Trump team that Lewandowski is alleged to have pushed out who has been making some noise lately and deserves more attention: Roger Stone.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone is a long-time right wing operative who is still working with Trump in an unofficial capacity. In a report published Tuesday afternoon, Media Matters found that Stone has been busy scrubbing his Twitter account of a mind-boggling number of racist, sexist, and just plain offensive tweets. A sampling of some of the more colorful ones:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">stonetweet-abramsondie</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">stonetweet-mandingo</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Note: he called Herman Cain “Mandingo” repeatedly.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That this is what goes on in Stone’s head doesn’t really surprise anyone. This is a man who started an anti-Clinton group in 2008 and named it C.U.N.T., to give you an idea of what kind of person we’re dealing with. As Media Matters notes, Stone’s Twitter history got him banned from both CNN and MSNBC, and yet he was still on the Trump campaign team, is still on Fox News regularly, and is still quoted as a Trump surrogate without much mention of how his Twitter feed reads like the bathroom wall at a white supremacist rally.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This isn’t even the first story about Trump advisers being flagrant public racists. It used to be that Stone, Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen, and a man named Sam Nunberg were the entirety of Trump’s campaign staff, until Trump hired Lewandowski, who supposedly pushed Stone and Nunberg out. Nunberg’s fall came shortly after Business Insider outed his racist online history, featuring gems like this:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So two-thirds of Trump’s original staff were people who just can’t help making crude racist jokes online.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nunberg has defected to supporting Ted Cruz now (not sure if Cruz wants him), but Stone still seems to be working for Trump, though it’s hard to say how closely, due to the fact that Stone runs a super PAC and is supposed to not be communicating with the campaign in that capacity.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Either way, Stone is definitely taking the lead on using threats of violence as a weapon to secure Trump’s nomination at the Republican National Convention.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“We’re going to have protests, demonstrations. We will disclose the hotels and the room numbers of those delegates who are directly involved in the steal,” Stone told Stefan Molyneux in an interview this week.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It’s not an empty threat. Even though Stone was pushed out of respectable Republican politics in 1996 after the National Enquirer outed him as a swinger running ads seeking group sex encounters, he ended up playing a central role in helping the George W. Bush campaign muck up the vote-counting process in Florida long enough for Bush to sneak past Al Gore in to the White House.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As Jeffrey Toobin recounted in a 2008 profile of Stone for the New Yorker, Stone was the central figure in organizing the “Brooks Brothers riots” that helped stop the vote recount in Miami in 2000. With targeted advertising and by busing in young Republican elsewhere, Stone was able to orchestrate a threatening presence outside the Stephen P. Clark Government Center.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Inject a rumor — a false one — about the Gore representatives smuggling ballots out of the counting room and boom! Stone got his riot. He led the crowd to rush the doors, stoking a lot of “screaming and yelling”, in his own words. The result was the election officials were so spooked they ended the recount.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The recount in Miami was never re-started, depriving Gore of his best chance to catch up in the over-all state tally,” Toobin wrote.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So yes, when Stone starts saying that he’s going to get hotel numbers and insinuating he’ll provoke riots, it’s a threat with teeth.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The enthusiasm that violent people and racists have for the Trump campaign is not some unintentional side effect or accident. The presence of Roger Stone, who has been with Trump in one capacity or another from day one, shows that this kind of authoritarian politics is baked right into the campaign’s DNA.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">mark ames 2015</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://pando.com/2015/08/11/behind-scenes-donald-trump-roger-stone-show/</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It was just after liftoff on the flight from San Francisco to New York that Roger Stone’s face appeared on the back of Seat 9D, looking straight at me.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Gah! Did my Virgin America flight crash? is Roger Stone’s satellite-fed face my eternal punishment? The power of Christ compels you! The power of Christ compels you!...</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But it was just CNN, a more familiar kind of Hell, and a deadlier one. Not what you want on your exit row TV monitor when you’re nursing a tequila hangover: Stone was giving a Big Exclusive interview to a bright white CNN bot named Poppy Harlow, a Heathers type who famously grieved on-air for the Steubenville rapists, “who had such promising futures, star football players”...</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The big story: Trump fired Roger Stone from his campaign, or Roger Stone quit, depending on whom you believed (which, if you believe either Trump or Roger Stone, please contact me—I have a new Florida Swampland real estate app to sell you).</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Somehow I’d missed the earlier news that Roger Stone—Dick Nixon's dirty trickster, fascist fan of Roy Cohn, lobbyist for some of the worst dictators in the world—was running Trump’s campaign until last weekend. Or maybe I blocked it out—maybe I didn’t want to know, a sign of just how far I’ve reassimilated myself back into mainstream America’s comforting amnesia bubble.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The problem is, I know the Roger Stone story a bit too viscerally well. I even had a brief brush with Mr. Stone during the last presidential election cycle. He responded to a post mortem I wrote on Gary Johnson’s fraudulent 2012 run for president on the Libertarian Party ticket—a political swindle that Stone managed, and whose presence led me to dig deeper into the cesspool of modern third party fake-politics.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After my article came out in NSFWCORP [now owned by Pando], Roger Stone tweeted this compliment at me, calling me “asshole”:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> @MarkAmesExiled Many, many thanks for spelling my name right, asshole.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> — Roger Stone (@RogerJStoneJr) November 9, 2012</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Now to most ordinary folks, a political operative calling a journalist “asshole” looks rather offensive, even scandalous. It’s considered part of his charm, among journalists who tend to come from a pampered class that is easy prey to the charms of a vicious DC thug whose peculiar bluff—“telling it like it is,” crude, macho, is “refreshingly reckless” by the chickenshit standards of most of today’s journalists…</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If you know where Roger Stone comes from, it’s the closest thing to a compliment his species is capable of. Imagine a real life Repo Man guy, only without any of the lower-middle-class fun or the punk rock soundtrack—a monumentally sleazy, pro-business, Republican Party/Chamber of Commerce sewer rat version of the Harry Dean Stanton character, the only version that could possibly thrive in this cheerless, unheroic version of America that we’re stuck in.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Roger Stone’s involvement in Trump’s run for office today is good news for anyone interested in politics who’d like an early-season bullshit cleanser. The more you know about Stone’s (and Trump’s) history, the harder it is to trust the surface, and even harder to trust the margins of that surface – those spaces on the left and right where we're told each election season are where the real politics are at –but in fact are so rotten and so easily manipulated you almost wish you didn’t know.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The three main takeaways you need to keep in mind in the Roger Stone-Donald Trump story are:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Roger Stone’s dirty tricks specialty is manipulating voter fractures, and weaponizing anti-establishment politics to serve the electoral needs of mainstream Republican candidates;</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Roger Stone and Donald Trump have been working together since the mid-1980s, mostly on sleazy campaigns to help Trump’s casino business, but also in politics; </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Roger Stone and Donald Trump worked together in at least two major “black bag” operations manipulating anti-establishment politics to help the mainstream Republican presidential candidate;</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">First let’s start with a brief history of Roger Stone’s dirty tricks—although “dirty tricks” is one of those euphemisms that makes it sound almost fun, rather than depressing and vile. Stone got his start as a hippie-bashing Young Republican college student in the early Nixon years. He eagerly volunteered to work for Nixon’s CREEP (Committee to RE-Elect the President) operatives, who set up and funded a number of illegal campaign operations in 1971-2 to make sure that Nixon won the 1972 election.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Political spooks are a lot like government spooks and their buddies in the underworld—they boast and bullshit a lot, and some of them, like Stone, ham it up as a bluff to swooning journalists. So it’s hard to know exactly which dirty tricks the young Roger Stone was personally responsible for, but the Nixon CREEP team that he was recruited to work for definitely was responsible for destroying the 1972 candidacy of Sen. Edward Muskie of Maine, the candidate that the Nixon team feared the most.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The way they destroyed Muskie will be useful for us today, because Muskie comes from one of the lily-white New England states vulnerable to attacks from the race-focused left, a strategy we’ll see more of in our time.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One of young Roger Stone’s first dirty tricks for CREEP was sending a campaign check for $200 to liberal Republican congressman (and Wilson Sonsini co-founder) Pete McCloskey on behalf of the Young Socialist Alliance, and then forwarding a copy of the receipt to the publisher of the largest daily newspaper in New Hampshire, the Manchester Union-Leader. (Stone was supposed to write the check on behalf of the Gay Liberation Front, but he was too chickenshit about having his name associated with radical gays.)</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Other tricks he and his team were involved in—installing their own mole as Muskie’s personal driver, who then passed on all sorts of confidential documents back to the CREEP team, which then leaked some of them, inciting paranoia in the Muskie staff.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The main thing is that Nixon and his team wanted Muskie out, the Democrats divided, and an unelectable leftist to emerge from the rubble as Nixon’s opponent. What’s painful to swallow is how successful they were in manipulating that outcome.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It was Pat Buchanan who laid out the Nixon ‘72 strategy in a memo titled “Muskie Watch,” advising that the GOP attacks should “focus on those issues that divide the Democrats, not those that unite Republicans.” Buchanan argued:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> “It should exacerbate and elevate those issues on which Democrats are divided—forcing Muskie to either straddle, or come down on one side or the other.” </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Another 1971 Buchanan memo reads,</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Maintain as guiding political principle that our great hope for 1972 lies in maintaining or exacerbating the deep Democratic rift.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That “deep Democratic rift” referred to the far-right populist wing of the party in the South, led by George Wallace; and the left multiracial wing of the party, represented then by black congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, and by McGovern, who wound up winning the nomination.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Buchanan argued that having Wallace—Alabama’s symbol of segregation—run from the far-right in the 1972 Democratic primaries (but not run in November as a third party candidate, which would hurt Nixon) would divide the Democratic Party, and turn voters off. Lo and behold, they succeeded in convincing Wallace to run in the Democratic primaries in a dirty quid pro quo, and Wallace was doing a good job of dirtying and dividing the Dems until a real-life Travis Bickle stuck his pistol out from a crowd and popped Wallace’s spinal cord.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Another Nixon strategy was funding a black left run against the Democrats and against Muskie. Thanks to an amazing, deep-researched piece on Roger Stone on a site called italkyoubored.com, I came across some incredible passages that are a kind of open black box for contemporary politics—unless of course you think Nixon was an exception, and all those bad folks were punished and banished from our peaceable kingdom.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In an October 5, 1971 memo, Pat Buchanan—co-founder of the American Conservative magazine & Nixon’s favorite killer, the kind of guy Roger Stone dreamed of becoming (and one day, destroying)—wrote:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Top level consideration should be given to ways and means to promote, assist, and fund a Fourth Party candidacy of the Left Democrats and/or the Black Democrats....There is nothing that can so advance the President’s chances for reelection – not a trip to China, not four and a half per cent unemployment – as a realistic black…campaign....We should continue to champion the cause of the blacks within the Democratic Party.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As luck should have it, Muskie was hounded at his Florida hotel room during the primaries there by “angry” black picketers—who were secretly under Nixon’s White House supervision—demanding, angrily, that Muskie agree to name an African-American vice presidential candidate. [Source: Rick Perlstein’s "Nixonland"] And just as Pat Buchanan and Nixon hoped – even pledging money to fulfill that hope – New York Democrat Shirley Chisholm announced her independent run for president, the first African-American woman to ever do so. In secret Nixon White House files, Chisholm’s candidacy was part of “Operation Coal”—one of several operations under the rubric “Operation Gemstone” which culminated in the bugging of Watergate, the Democratic Party campaign headquarters.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It’s depressing to think it came out of White House conferences like this, recorded in the secret Nixon tapes:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> SEPTEMBER 14, 1971: THE PRESIDENT, HALDEMAN [CHIEF OF STAFF], AND COLSON [WHITE HOUSE SPECIAL COUNSEL], 12:37-1:32 P.M., OVAL OFFICE</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Nixon continues to rage about the IRS and his friends. Colson then joins the conversation, offering his special contributions to White House dirty tricks.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> COLSON</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Well, Bob Brown has some friends who are going to have signs around the Muskie rallies, [saying Carl] Stokes [the black mayor of Cleveland] for vice president. This raises the point—</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> HALDEMAN</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> I will hope the hell that Watts do go ahead with a black president candidate.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> PRESIDENT NIXON</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> So do I.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> HALDEMAN</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> In fact, Buchanan has come in with a suggestion that may make a lot of sense which is that — he says if we’re going to spend $50 million in this campaign, then 10 percent of it, $5 million, ought to be devoted—</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> PRESIDENT NIXON</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> To the fourth party.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> HALDEMAN</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> —to financing a black—</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> COLSON</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Shirley Chisholm and Julian Bond.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> PRESIDENT NIXON</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Do you think that the blacks will vote for a black party?</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> HALDEMAN</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Some.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> COLSON</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> A lot of them will especially if—</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> HALDEMAN</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Just to show that the Democratic party has no one…But Pat’s point is we’ve got to get a viable candidate — only if they get a viable candidate. If they get a Julian Bond—</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> PRESIDENT NIXON</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Well, let me suggest this. Might — $5 million would finance Eugene McCarthy.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> HALDEMAN</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Well, that’s Howard Stein is working on that. There’s a good story in the U.S News, Newsweek, or something. Stein has outlined the McCarthy plan which is that he is not going to enter the primaries but he’s going to do a major speaking tour next year will go to the convention as people — the Democratic convention as the people’s candidate. If, as is expected, he’s rejected by the convention, he will then go to the fourth party. The problem is that it’s too late then go to a fourth party. You have — it takes time to get a fourth party qualified…[Remember, Wallace? Wallace did a superb job. That’s why with a black party you’ve got to get started (inaudible), so they get qualified for—]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> PRESIDENT NIXON</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> All right, Bob. Put that down for discussion — not for discussion but for action. They should finance and contribute both to McCarthy and to the black thing.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> COLSON</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> That’s a helluva lot—</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> PRESIDENT NIXON</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> We’re recognizing that McCarthy — the black won’t take any votes from us. Just like the damn Democrats contributed to [George] Wallace in Alabama. They did, you know. Jesus Christ, they were praying for Wallace to win that primary.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> HALDEMAN</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Yeah.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> COLSON</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> That’s a helluva lot better use of money than a lot of things.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> PRESIDENT NIXON</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Oh, we spent — waste money on all sorts of things.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> HALDEMAN</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Okey-doke. What he’s saying is, you know, instead of some television commercials—</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> PRESIDENT NIXON</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Absolutely.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> HALDEMAN</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> —we can do this.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> COLSON</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Or billboards.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> HALDEMAN</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Because we’re going to need the television commercials.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> [Excerpts from “Abuse Of Power: The New Nixon Tapes,” by Stanley Kutler; h/t to italkyoubored—M.A.]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">With bizarre attacks and pressure mounting on all sides and Muskie growing increasingly paranoid and peeved, Nixon’s dirty tricksters wound up destroying him in one of those weird insignificant little episodes that somehow get weaponized, go viral, and destroy the candidate. A Nixon CREEPer, maybe Roger Stone, sent a phony letter to the editor to the big New Hampshire newspaper on the eve of the all-important early primary there, claiming to be written by a Muskie supporter who claimed, falsely, that he’d met Muskie in Florida (where Nixon’s White House paid blacks to picket Muskie’s hotel), and asked Muskie how he could possibly understand the problems that black Americans face given the fact that his home state Maine has so few minorities.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The fake letter, published on the front page of the Union-Leader, claimed that Muskie rudely responded that Maine did have its minorities: “Not blacks, but we have Canucks”—and at this, according to the fake letter, Muskie burst out laughing.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As Rick Perlstein writes in Nixonland, the smear hit Muskie from two sides—pissing off blacks, but also New Hampshire’s sizable French Canadian community. As Perlstein explained, “Muskie thought of them [French Canadians], evidently, as New England’s niggers.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Shortly afterwards, Muskie had his alleged meltdown in front of reporters—as snow fell on his face, he lashed back at the Nixon White House, but some national reporters mistakenly described the melting snowflakes on Muskie’s face as tears, and described his anger as a “breakdown.” Muskie was finished. Sort of like how Vermont front-runner in 2004, Howard Dean, was finished off by the one-two of Dean’s screechy “woo!” gesture, and Al Sharpton accusing Dean of being anti-black during the debates.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As it turns out, Al Sharpton entered the 2004 Democratic primaries on the payroll and orders of Roger Stone, who directed Sharpton’s attacks from the race politics-left against Howard Dean. And as the New York Times revealed that year, it was Donald Trump who took credit for introducing Al Sharpton — a one-time FBI informant — to his old friend and lobbyist, GOP dirty trickster Roger Stone.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But I’m getting ahead of myself here. Let’s go back again to Roger Stone, young eager NixonJugend. After Nixon was tossed out, Stone found work as National Chairman for the Young Republicans, and doing black bag jobs for Reagan in the 1980 election against incumbent president Jimmy Carter. Stone’s proudest achievement in that election was working with Joe McCarthy’s henchman, Roy Cohn, and a mobster named Fat Tony Salerno to bribe New York’s biggest third party, the Liberal Party, to put on the ballot that election’s most popular third party candidate, John Anderson. Decades later, Stone still remembered Roy Cohn fondly:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> He didn't give a shit what people thought, as long as he was able to wield power. He worked the gossip columnists in this city like an organ.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Roger Stone wanted to get the main third-party candidate on the New York state ballot. John Anderson was one of those earnest midwestern centrist Republicans who’d pass for liberal Democrats today. Conventional wisdom at the time held that Anderson drew votes from fellow Republican Reagan, but private polling, and Roger Stone’s experience running “third party patsies” told him the real story: Anderson drained votes from the Dem Party president, Jimmy Carter.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone’s problem was that John Anderson waited too long to get his name on New York state’s ballot. So working with Roy Cohn and Fat Tony, the Reagan campaign official bribed Liberal Party leaders to get them to place Anderson’s name on the ballot for them. Here is how Stone tells his story to the Weekly Standard:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Stone, who going back to his class elections in high school has been a proponent of recruiting patsy candidates to split the other guy's support, remembers suggesting to Cohn that if they could figure out a way to make John Anderson the Liberal Party nominee in New York, with Jimmy Carter picking up the Democratic nod, Reagan might win the state in a three-way race. “Roy says, 'Let me look into it.'” Cohn then told him, “'You need to go visit this lawyer'—a lawyer who shall remain nameless—‘and see what his number is.’ I said, ‘Roy, I don't understand.’ Roy says, ‘How much cash he wants, dumbfuck.’” Stone balked when he found out the guy wanted $125,000 in cash to grease the skids, and Cohn wanted to know what the problem was. Stone told him he didn't have $125,000, and Cohn said, "That's not the problem. How does he want it?"</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Cohn sent Stone on an errand a few days later. “There's a suitcase,” Stone says. “I don't look in the suitcase . . . I don't even know what was in the suitcase . . . I take the suitcase to the law office. I drop it off. Two days later, they have a convention. Liberals decide they're endorsing John Anderson for president. It's a three-way race now in New York State. Reagan wins with 46 percent of the vote. I paid his law firm. Legal fees. I don't know what he did for the money, but whatever it was, the Liberal Party reached its right conclusion out of a matter of principle.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> [In retrospect, Stone] seems to feel pretty good—now that certain statutes of limitations are up. He cites one of Stone's Rules, by way of Malcolm X, his “brother under the skin”: “By any means necessary.” “Reagan got the electoral votes in New York State, we saved the country,” Stone says with characteristic understatement. “[More] Carter would've been an unmitigated disaster.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In other words, Roger Stone is boasting about buying American democracy, using the mob and third party candidates. It’s funny, because during last week’s GOP debate, Trump bragged about buying off half the GOP candidates as well as Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi, and gaining all the access he wanted by giving them cash...and he also refused to rule out running as a third party candidate.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> * * *</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 1988, Roger Stone was a Big DC lobbyist, working for Black, Manafort & Stone, whose list of dictator-clients included Zaire’s Mobutu, deposed dictator Ferdinand Marcos, Somalia’s deposed dictator, and the apartheid-backed Angolan death squad thug and witch burner, Jonas Savimbi. Stone got partial credit in creating the most notorious racist political ad in modern times to help elect George Bush Sr in 1988 — the Willie Horton ad, used to frighten white American voters into believing that a President Dukakis would open up the prisons and jails on weekends, allowing sexually-charged black criminals to run wild in white suburban neighborhoods, raping and strangling white women for kicks.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By this time, Trump had already started working with Roger Stone. Both were big fans of Roy Cohn; both enjoyed talking like Goodfellas characters in public and watching the normals swoon over their macho act. But more than anything, both were interested in cashing in on the booming casino business.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sometimes this meant buying favors from politicians to get casinos opened; sometimes it meant running dirty campaigns to get rival casinos closed. This is what happened in 2000, when Trump and Stone were fined $250,000 for setting up a fake “family values” front group in New York, the Institute for Law and Society, to run a series of racist ads against a planned Indian casino in the Catskills that Trump feared would drain business from his casinos in Atlantic City.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So Trump and Stone whipped up anti-Indian racism to protect Trump’s business. The ad they ran featured a dark photo of a hypodermic needle and drug gear, and the text warned:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> The St. Regis Mohawk Indian Tribe proposes to open a gambling casino at the Monticello Race Track in Sullivan County.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> How much do you really know about the St. Regis Mohawk Indians?</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Are these the new neighbors we want? The St. Regis Mohawk Indian record of criminal activity is well documented. This proposed Monticello Indian Casino will bring increased crime and violence to Sullivan County.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That year, 2000, was a busy year for the Donald Trump-Roger Stone partnership.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone had been hired by the George W. Bush campaign to carry out two major black bag jobs that we know of: Sabotaging the Florida recount vote, using a mob of “angry” Cubans and Republican “preppies” to storm a Miami-Dade recount and stop it in its tracks, which Stone — hired for the job by James Baker — succeeded in doing.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">How Roger Stone and Donald Trump destroyed George W. Bush’s potential rivals in 2000 is less well known. That year, George W. Bush faced two known threats, and Roger Stone was tasked with neutralizing them: Pat Buchanan, whose 1992 run nearly crippled Bush’s father in the primaries; and Ross Perot’s Reform Party, which drained enough votes in ’92 and ’96 to ensure Clinton victories.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So in the lead-up to the 2000 election, Roger Stone cleverly cajoled Pat Buchanan into taking control of Perot’s Reform Party, then used his friend Donald Trump to run a rival campaign against Buchanan for the Reform Party candidacy—only to drop out of the race, and attack Buchanan’s Reform Party as a cesspool full of Hitler lovers and racists. Stone inserted moles like William Von Raab, secretly funded by Trump, into Buchanan’s campaign, according to the Village Voice.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The operation wound up destroying the Reform Party’s brand and burying it for good, stinking it up too much for a late entry by Ross Perot. The Reform Party’s chairman, Pat Choate, called the “Trump/Stone operation” a “Republican dirty trick” meant to “disgust people and drive them away from the Reform Party. They were doing everything in their power to make a mess.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The point, however, is that it worked: The Reform Party and Pat Buchanan caused no damage whatsoever to George W. Bush’s election bid in 2000, unlike Ralph Nader’s effect on Al Gore’s run.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After neutralizing the Reform Party and blocking the Florida recount with his hired “Brooks Brothers mob” Roger Stone was rewarded by President Bush by being put in charge of the Bush-Cheney 2000 transition team’s Indian Bureau Affairs appointments. Even in this, Trump did a solid for Stone, signing his name on a fake letter written by Stone in order to sink the nomination of the “wrong” Indian tribal leader who wasn’t Stone’s man. The fake Trump letter ensured that Stone’s man, Neal McCaleb, was given the job as head of Bush’s Indian Affairs Bureau instead. The Indian leader whose nomination was killed by the Trump-Stone letter later complained to the Village Voice,</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> "I don't know why Trump did that,” says Martin, who'd never spoken to Trump. “I don't think he and I have ever been in the same city at the same time.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In early 2004, with former Vermont governor and articulate antiwar candidate Howard Dean electrifying Democrats and antiwar voters and posing a potentially deadly threat to the Bush campaign, Roger Stone secretly funded and staffed Al Sharpton, and sent him into the Democratic Party primaries to smear Howard Dean and suck the life and joy out of his campaign. It worked.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Again, quoting the great Village Voice reporting by Wayne Barrett from 2004:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> While Bush forces like the Club for Growth were buying ads in Iowa assailing then front-runner Howard Dean, Sharpton took center stage at a debate confronting Dean about the absence of blacks in his Vermont cabinet. Stone told the Times that he “helped set the tone and direction” of the Dean attacks, while Charles Halloran, the Sharpton campaign manager installed by Stone, supplied the research. While other Democratic opponents were also attacking Dean, none did it on the advice of a consultant who's worked in every GOP presidential campaign since his involvement in the Watergate scandals of 1972, including all of the Bush family campaigns.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Times quoted Trump in 2004 taking credit for introducing Al Sharpton to Roger Stone. But it was Barrett’s merciless reporting on Sharpton’s “blackface bucks”—the legions of race-baiting Republicans who donated cash and resources to Sharpton’s anti-Howard Dean run—that is something worth re-reading today, as we’re already seeing stunts like using black Tea Party activists to play the same old racism card and thereby sabotage and suck the life out of another popular Vermont candidate, Bernie Sanders....</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The last thing white liberals and lefties want to be caught doing is criticizing any black political leader, even if that leader is a rightwing mole and FBI snitch like Al Sharpton. As Barrett reminded readers in 2004,</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Sharpton and Stone are, in a sense, brothers under the skin, outlandish personalities too large to be bound by the constraints that govern the rest of us. Stone was the registered agent in America for Argentina's intelligence agency, sucking up spy novels; Sharpton was a confidential informant for the FBI, wiring up on black leaders for the feds. Stone is a fashion impersonator, dressing like a hip-hop dandy; Sharpton, having shed his gold medallion and jogger suits, now looks like a smooth banker. Stone was involved in Watergate at the age of 19; Sharpton was a boy-wonder preacher. Stone's mentor from the days of his youth was Roy Cohn; Sharpton's was James Brown. Sharpton is a minister without a church; Stone is almost as rootless, having left the powerhouse Washington firm he helped form years ago. Each reinvents himself daily, if not hourly, as if nothing in their past matters.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In their latest incarnations, Al Sharpton is an MSNBC black liberal and Democratic Party loyalist; Roger Stone is a Libertarian prankster fighting the two-party stranglehold; and Donald Trump is a right-wing populist shaking up the system because by gum, he just doesn’t care and he doesn’t need to care.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That’s one, very dumb, very gullible way of putting it.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Another way of putting it is this: Donald Trump and Roger Stone have spent the past few decades conning the public by exploiting fractures — anti-establishment politics, and anti-establishment outrages. Until now, there’s been a consistent logic and purpose to every single sleazy black bag “Trump/Stone operation”: elect the mainstream Republican candidate, and enrich Trump and Stone.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Do you really think this election is any different?</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yxYAM-Mwi_dOK9je0v03KIeGdbfNHh_EgX7V6xziByM/edit</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">stone hillary hit book 2015 k willey</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://clintonfoundationinvestigation.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/hnqhnu.pdf</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Skyhorse Publishing books may be purchased in bulk at special discounts for sales promotion, corporate gifts, fund-raising, or</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">educational purposes. Special editions can also be created to specifications. For details, contact the Special Sales Department,</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dedicated to the women and men violated by Bill and Hillary Clinton in their scramble for power.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And also to Sean Hannity, Nick Bryant, Matt Drudge, Peter Schweitzer, Daniel Halper, Michael</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Goodwin, Christopher Hitchens, David Sirota (legit, but c\clinton fdn), Paul Sperry, Ed Klein, Brent Scher, Victor Thorn,</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Marinka Peschmann, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, Jim Nelson, Roger Morris, Sally Denton, and Chris</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ruddy.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Foreword by Kathleen Willey</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Introduction by Roger Stone</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Part 1 The War on Women</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chapter 1 The Rhodes Scholar Rapist</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chapter 2 The Many Assaults on Juanita Broaddrick</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chapter 3 By Force If Necessary</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chapter 4 Tossing Flowers</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chapter 5 Attack in the Oval Office</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chapter 6 Pound of Flesh</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chapter 7 Orgy Island</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Part 2 Drugs, Money, and Murder—Clinton-Style</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chapter 8 Blow, Bubba, Blow</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chapter 9 The Boys on the Tracks</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chapter 10 Clinton, Bush, Barry Seal, and the Mena Deal</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chapter 11 The Two-Party “System”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Part 3 Crippling Power</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chapter 12 Madam President</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chapter 13 Black Widow</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chapter 14 The Body</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chapter 15 Loose Ends</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chapter 16 White House for Sale</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Part 4 The Crude and Corruptible Clintons</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chapter 17 Prison Blood</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chapter 18 Clinton Family Secrets</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chapter 19 Hillary’s Fight for Women</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chapter 20 Like Mother, Like Son</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chapter 21 The Quotable Clintons</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Part 5 Old Dogs</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chapter 22 Public Servant, Private Server</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chapter 23 Conflict of Interest</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chapter 24 Uranium One</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chapter 25 Hired Hands</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chapter 26 The Sins of the Foundation</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chapter 27 The Cover-Up Queen</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://mediamatters.org/research/2016/10/26/trump-ally-roger-stone-s-plan-intimidate-voters-polls/214125</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump ally Roger Stone is leading efforts to place “exit poll” watchers in pivotal swing states to prevent Democrats from purportedly trying “to steal the election from Donald Trump.” Voting experts have said Stone’s efforts could lead to voter intimidation, and Stone has a history of issuing violent and intimidating threats.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Longtime Trump Ally Roger Stone Is Leading “Stop The Steal” Efforts</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Roger Stone Is A Longtime Donald Trump Ally And A Discredited Smear Artist. Roger Stone is a longtime adviser and friend to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. He speaks frequently with Trump and worked as a paid adviser to his campaign last year. [Media Matters, 5/9/16]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone Has Repeatedly Claimed Without Evidence That Democrats Are Trying To “Steal” And “Rig” The Election For Clinton. Trump has echoed these warnings during numerous rallies. [Media Matters, 10/12/16]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone Heads The Pro-Trump Group “Stop The Steal.” Stone heads the super PAC Committee to Restore America's Greatness and the related 527 group Stop The Steal. Stop the Steal states on its website that “the Clintons had to cheat and rig the system to steal the Democratic nomination from Bernie Sanders. Why wouldn’t they try to steal the election from Donald Trump?” The group has demanded that there be “targeted EXIT-POLLING in targeted states and targeted localities that we believe the Democrats could manipulate based on their local control, to determine if the results of the vote have been skewed by manipulation.” Its website is currently recruiting volunteers to be “an exit poller.” [Media Matters, 10/12/16, 10/21/16] middleton funder]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone Is Recruiting “Exit Poll” Volunteers From Far-Right Radio Host Alex Jones’ Audience. Stone has been trying to recruit volunteers from fringe sources such as the radio show audience of Alex Jones. Jones is the country’s leading conspiracy theorist and has claimed that 9/11, numerous school shootings, and other tragedies were perpetrated by the government. [Media Matters, 10/12/16, 10/25/16]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Huff. Post: Stone Partner “Planned Voter Intimidation Using Fake ID Badges, Fake Exit Polling.” The Huffington Post’s Christina Wilkie reported that Vote Protectors, which has partnered with Stone and his Stop the Steal group, “planned voter intimidation using fake ID badges" and "fake exit polling”:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone’s group created an official-looking ID badge for its volunteers to wear, and its volunteers planned to videotape voters and conduct fake “exit polls,” efforts that election experts say risks intimidating and confusing voters. Or at least that’s what the group was planning to do before The Huffington Post asked Stone about it on Tuesday. The controversial Trump ally, long known for his bare-knuckled political tactics, said that key proposals on his group’s websites were there without his knowledge, and assured HuffPost that he would operate within the confines of election law.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[…]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A few hours later, Stone emailed HuffPost. “I have ordered them taken down. Bad idea, as is video taping. First I have heard of it. I am only interested in a valid, scientifically conducted exit poll.” Stone later noted that Vote Protectors was collaborating with his group, Stop the Steal, but he said they were not one and the same.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone said that unlike the model currently run by Vote Protectors, his group would “ask each poll worker to sign a sworn affidavit that the information they turn in for tabulation is true based on interviews.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">These affidavits, Stone told radio host Alex Jones Tuesday, could then be used by the Trump campaign to contest the election results. [The Huffington Post, 10/25/16]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Voting Experts Trash Stone’s “Exit Poll” Plan</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Guardian: “Experts Say” Stone Tactics “Could Intimidate Voters.” The Guardian reported that Stone’s efforts were “branded highly irregular by experts, who suggested that organizers could potentially use the polling as a way to intimidate voters.” From the article:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone told the Guardian that around 1,300 volunteers from the controversial Citizens for Trump grassroots coalition would conduct exit polling in Cleveland, Detroit, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Milwaukee, Fort Lauderdale, Charlotte, Richmond and Fayetteville – all locations in pivotal swing states.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Media organizations and political campaigns conduct exit polling for all major elections, but David Paleologos – a polling expert and director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center – said effective exit polling was done in bellwether precincts, not in areas likely to be dominated by a particular political party.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“It doesn’t sound like that’s a traditional exit poll,” Paleologos said of Stone’s planned efforts. “It sounds like that’s just gathering data, in heavily Democratic areas for some purpose. It doesn’t sound like exit polling.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[…]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Experts have taken several steps to remedy the digital vulnerabilities in voting machines in recent years. Last year at least one voting machine system was found to be substantially insecure. Princeton researcher Jeremy Epstein, now of technology firm SRI, discovered that WinVote machines used in Virginia could be accessed comparatively easily over a Wi-Fi connection through simple passwords. Epstein successfully pushed to have the machines decertified.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Epstein told the Guardian that exit polls in particular were a dangerously inaccurate way to gauge the legitimacy of an election. “There’s a lot of evidence that exit polls are not very accurate,” Epstein said. “People don’t tell the pollsters what they actually did. In this election, depending on the neighborhood, people might not want to admit that they voted for Clinton or that they voted for Trump.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[…]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rick Hasen, an election law expert at the University of California, shared Epstein’s concerns over using exit polls as way of measuring the legitimacy of an election and warned: “It doesn’t sound like a scientific way to do things, nor do I think it’s a sound way to ferret out machine problems, it sounds much more like a Roger Stone dirty trick.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[...]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“It sounds like he’s organizing a goon squad that could potentially be intimidating voters in minority areas,” said Hasen. “It does raise the threat of violence on election day at polling places. People are going to have to be vigilant.” [The Guardian, 10/20/16]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone Has A History Of Issuing Violent And Intimidating Threats</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone’s Threat To Release Anti-Trump Delegates’ Hotel Room Numbers Was Criticized As Inciting Violence. During the Republican presidential primary, Stone said he would "disclose the hotels and the room numbers of those delegates who are directly involved in" allegedly stealing the nomination from Trump. Right-wing commentators called Stone's plan an effort to "intimidate delegates" and "another example of how Trump relies on thug tactics and violence," and said he was "willfully inciting violence" that could lead to someone getting shot. [Media Matters, 4/6/16] </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone Has Called For The Killing Of Public Figures. Stone has said that Hillary Clinton should be “executed for murder,” Bernie Sanders is a “soviet agent” who “should be arrested for treason and shot,” and he would “order a mail-order rifle” if Rick Santorum got close to becoming president. [Media Matters, 5/9/16]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/19/politics/roger-stone-donald-trump/</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...Stone loves resilience. It's why the former body builder had Richard Nixon's face tattooed on his broad back.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"It's there to remind me that in life, when things don't go your way, you get back in the game," Stone said in an interview with CNN. "Nixon said, 'A man is not finished when he's defeated, he's only finished when he quits.'"</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When it comes to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential bid, things did not initially go Stone's way. He had one vision for the campaign; Trump had another. But after leaving in August, Stone is back, in a manner of speaking. With the Republicans potentially facing a contested convention, his brand of political trench warfare is now in greater demand than ever.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Late last month, Trump appointed veteran GOP strategist and lobbyist Paul Manafort -- Stone's longtime friend and business partner, dating back to the Reagan years -- to lead his fight for delegates. Sources close to all three men say Stone played a role in that appointment, which gave him a new lifeline into Trump's campaign.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone also heads "The Committee to Restore America's Greatness," a pro-Trump super PAC that has redirected its mission "to help stop the Republican establishment from stealing the Presidential nomination" from Trump -- which, of course, will be the campaign's chief preoccupation between now and the Republican convention in late July.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?cycle=2016&strID=C00589879</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The campaign changes come as Trump has repeatedly charged that the nominating process is "rigged" to block him, a statement Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus dismissed as "hyperbole" in an interview with CNN's Dana Bash on "State of the Union."</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But Stone's most significant role will likely take place this summer in Cleveland. In a contested convention, his mastery of political dark arts could prove instrumental in securing the delegates that Trump needs. He has been to every Republican convention since 1964, and he's worked the floor at every convention since 1972. And even he readily admits that he is capable of employing tactics other operatives wouldn't dream of, let alone try.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">RELATED: Get the latest with the CNN delegate tracker</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While Trump and his campaign can claim no connection with Stone -- after all, he left the campaign last August -- those who know the two men say that they speak regularly, and that Stone is an influential voice in Trump's ear.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Roger is never too far away from Trump ... He's always talking to Donald," a source close to both men said. "Roger and Trump always wind up finding their way back to each other," said another.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Of his contacts with the front-running candidate, Stone says, "I talk to Trump from time to time, but not every day. I don't even necessarily talk to him every week."</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rivals criticize Stone's involvement</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone's resurgence worries Trump's competitors, who appear to fear his role in the delegate fight and at the convention. Last week at a CNN town hall meeting, Senator Ted Cruz said Stone was "pulling the strings on Donald Trump. He planned the Trump campaign, and he is Trump's henchman and dirty trickster."</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The "dirty trickster" charge is one Stone is familiar with: He was Nixon's "dirty trickster" before he was Reagan's "dirty trickster" before he was George H.W. Bush's "dirty trickster." In 2000, he helped George W. Bush in the Florida recount effort by working with local media and Spanish-language press to amplify pro-Bush efforts to shut down the recount in Miami-Dade County, and he later claimed to have obtained the frequencies of walkie-talkies that Democrats were using to communicate so he could listen in on their plans. He has also claimed that he was first to learn about Eliot Spitzer's affairs with call girls, which ultimately led to his resignation as Governor of New York.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"One man's dirty trick is another man's civic participation," said Stone.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"He's the type of the guy who doesn't really pull any punches," said Tony Fabrizio, the veteran Republican pollster who is close to Stone. "Most people have one of two reactions to Roger: They either love him or they hate him. There's no middle ground with Roger. He is just the type of guy who generates heat everywhere he goes."</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone was recently blacklisted from both CNN -- for disparaging remarks he made about CNN political analyst Ana Navarro -- and from MSNBC because of what the network described as his "very well-known offensive comments."</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He was born in 1952 and raised in Lewisboro, New York, about an hour north of Manhattan. He read Barry Goldwater's "The Conscience of a Conservative" as a child and by the time he turned 13 he was volunteering for William F. Buckley, Jr. George Washington University brought him to the nation's capital, and in 1976 he was named national youth director for Reagan's first presidential bid.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Reagan is how Stone got introduced to Trump: In 1979, Stone came to New York to help Reagan's longshot effort to win the state's primary. "New York was Bush country," Stone said. "Trump let us use his plane, let us use phones, let us use office spaces he didn't even own ... We got to be friendly, and in 1981 when we founded Black, Manafort and Stone" -- Stone's former lobbying firm with Charlie Black and Manafort -- the Trump organization was among our first clients." In 1999, Stone helped lead Trump's presidential bid on the Reform Party ticket.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sixteen years later, Trump again called on Stone to play a key role in his campaign. But the formal assignment was short-lived.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At the outset, Stone advocated for traditional methods: polling, analytics, advertising. But Trump had something different in mind: hold rallies, generate controversy, get free media coverage. Stone didn't care for that approach, nor the man tasked with implementing it: Corey Lewandowski, Trump's campaign manager, who didn't much care for Stone, either, sources close to the campaign said. (Both Lewandowski and Trump spokesperson Hope Hicks declined to be interviewed for this story.)</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So Stone left in August, less than two months after the campaign launched. But he never really was gone. He was not ousted, as was originally reported, nor was he forced into exile, as some journalists would claim. He was always there, on the sidelines, talking to Trump on a regular basis, planting stories in the press, influencing things where he could, several sources said.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">What will Stone do next?</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Now, eight months later, Trump's "say anything" strategy has given way to a new phase. He's trying to assemble the 1,237 delegates he needs to clinch the nomination, and he's in desperate need of experienced political infighters who can navigate the contentious fight for delegates. [cruz?]Which means that Stone's services are back in demand.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"If it is exile," Stone said of his predicament, "it's Elba, not St. Helena."</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In fact, if you buy the Napoleonic comparison, Stone is already marching on Paris.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Cruz fears Stone's next "dirty trick" involves inciting Trump supporters at the convention. Earlier this month, Stone called for "protests" and "demonstrations" in Cleveland, and said he would "disclose the hotels and the room numbers of those delegates" who were involved in "stealing" the nomination from Trump.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Though Stone never explicitly called for violence against any turncoat delegates, Cruz, among others, read it as a threat. The Texas senator called on Trump to fire both Stone and Manafort -- another indication of just how closely those two men are aligned.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I don't know if the next thing we're going to see is voters or delegates waking up with horses heads in their beds," Cruz said on Dana Loesch's show on The Blaze. "This doesn't belong in the electoral process. ... [Trump] needs to fire the people responsible. ... He needs to denounce Manafort and Roger Stone, and his campaign team that is encouraging violence, and he needs to stop doing it himself."</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Speaking to CNN, Stone scoffed: "I called on Trump supporters to go to their delegates, find them at their hotel, and ask them to sign a [pledge] to respect the will of the voters. I'm not for violence."</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As for Cruz's preoccupation with him, Stone says, "It's obviously some kind of obsession. He must lay awake thinking about what I am doing."</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Cruz campaign declined to comment.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The big question on the mind of Cruz and the Republican establishment is just what kind of trouble Stone will get into at the GOP convention.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone says he's free to do whatever he wants, since he's not bound by any formal role in the Trump campaign organization.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I'm my own person," Stone said, "I don't have to get clearance for things I want to say."</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I'm going as an FOT," he added. "Friend of Trump."</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$500K superpac</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1Jensen & Assoc$76,5002Citroen Assoc$53,0003</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stop the Steal$50,000 middleton</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4Jensen & Assoc, Apc, Trial Lawyers$29,7905Clear Channel Outdoor$16,000</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">6 Drake Ventures$12,000</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">7Selaty, Michelle$10,0008Yale, Tim$9,0008A Miller Research$9,00010JetBlue Airways$6,935</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Official PAC Name:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">COMMITTEE TO RESTORE AMERICA'S GREATNESS PAC </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Location: SANTA ANA, CA 92704 </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Industry: Republican/Conservative </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Treasurer: BOECK, BRAD </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">FEC Committee ID: C00589879 </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(Look up actual documents filed at the FEC)</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">JOHN POWERS MIDDLETON COMPANIES</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">LOS ANGELES, CA 90067<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">03/01/16<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$150,000</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">STOP THE STEAL</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">SANTA ANA, CA 92704<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">07/12/16<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$63,000</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MIDDLETON, JOHN P</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">LOS ANGELES, CA 90067<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>PHILANTHROPIST<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>04/12/16<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$60,000</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MIDDLETON, JOHN P</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">LOS ANGELES, CA 90067<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>PHILANTHROPIST<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>04/29/16<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$50,000</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MIDDLETON, JOHN P</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">LOS ANGELES, CA 90067<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>PHILANTHROPIST<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>03/09/16<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$50,000</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MIDDLETON, JOHN P</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">LOS ANGELES, CA 90067<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>PHILANTHROPIST<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>03/11/16<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$25,000</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MIDDLETON, JOHN P</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">LOS ANGELES, CA 90067<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>PHILANTHROPIST<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>03/14/16<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$25,000</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MIDDLETON, JOHN P</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">LOS ANGELES, CA 90067<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>PHILANTHROPIST<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>04/15/16<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$15,000</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">SHILLMAN, ROBERT</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">RANCHO SANTA FE, CA 92067<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>COGNEX CORPORATION<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>08/31/16<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$8,000</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">SHILLMAN, ROBERT</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">RANCHO SANTA FE, CA 92067<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>COGNEX CORPORATION<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>09/21/16<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$8,000</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">DAVIS, JOHN R JR</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">AKRON, NY 14001<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>I SQUARED R ELEMENT CO., INC.<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>03/31/16<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$5,000</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">WYNN, JOHN</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">PHILADELPHIA, PA 19103<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>GTC, INC.<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>04/14/16<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$3,000</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">JENSEN & ASSOCIATES, APC, TRIAL LAWYERS</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">COSTA MESA, CA 92626<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">02/04/16<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$2,610</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">JENSEN & ASSOCIATES, APC, TRIAL LAWYERS</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">COSTA MESA, CA 92626<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">11/10/15<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$2,398</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ANDERSON, ALEXANDER</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">SUNNY ISLES, FL 33160<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>JPM COMPANIES<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>04/18/16<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$2,000</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MIDDLETON, JOHN P</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">LOS ANGELES, CA 90067<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>PHILANTHROPIST<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>04/15/16<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$2,000</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MIDDLETON, JOHN P</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">LOS ANGELES, CA 90067<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>PHILANTHROPIST<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>04/18/16<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>$1,000</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CANNON, SUE</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">LAKEWOOD, CO 80227<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>RETIRED</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/vote-protectors-citizen-journalists_us_58111180e4b064e1b4b04a85</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Vote Protectors, an anti-voter-fraud group loyal to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, released a new script Wednesday for its so-called “citizen journalists” to use when they approach voters at the polls. </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The new script was released less than 24 hours after a Huffington Post investigation revealed that Vote Protectors plans to issue fake ID badges to its volunteers, who intend to travel to cities with large minority populations and conduct phony “exit polls” on Election Day. </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The interview guide, below, appears to be scripted like a TV news segment, in which a Vote Protectors volunteer would approach citizens and open with, “This is [volunteer’s name] reporting for Vote Protectors.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The questioner would then ask about “election fraud,” a conspiracy theory promoted by Trump and his campaign surrogates in order to cast doubt on the outcome of the Nov. 8 election. As Trump has fallen further behind Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in recent weeks, his doomsday predictions of widespread “election fraud” have grown more urgent.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">VOTE PROTECTORS</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This is the script that Vote Protectors released Wednesday for its volunteers to approach voters with on Election Day. Its emphasis on “election fraud” could be intimidating to some voters.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The “Interview Prompt Sheet” instructs Vote Protectors volunteers to contrast Trump’s theories about a “rigged election” with President Barack Obama’s refusal to entertain the fantasy of voter fraud as a serious idea. Scores of political scientists, academics and voting rights advocates have all dismissed this kind of “election fraud” as a myth.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The interview questions also appear to be aimed more at promoting a false narrative of election fraud than at gathering newsworthy information. This is similar to Vote Protectors’ other tactics, like creating fake ID badges and filming voters as they approach the polls.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Notably absent from the Vote Protectors site Wednesday afternoon was any sign of Trump’s confidante Roger Stone, whose nonprofit, Stop The Steal, hosts Vote Protectors as a collaborator. On Tuesday, Stone had a prominent “Defend The Donald” blog segment on the Vote Protectors website. On Wednesday, it was gone.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This is what the site’s menu looked like on Tuesday:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">VOTE PROTECTORS</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Wednesday, after HuffPost revealed Stone’s role in the Vote Protectors group, his column, called “Defend the Donald Blogger,” was removed without explanation. This is how the new menu bar appeared:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">VOTE PROTECTORS</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone told HuffPost he didn’t write the new script, adding, “In fact, I have never seen it before.” He also said his website, Stopthesteal.org, was hit with a DDOS attack Wednesday, but that the site “is back up and is now secure.” </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone initially denied the existence Tuesday of Vote Protectors’ plans to have volunteers wear phony ID badges, or to film voters at the polls. But when confronted with evidence of both, Stone said he had been unaware of them and would never have endorsed such obvious voter intimidation tactics.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But as of Wednesday evening, Vote Protectors was still creating fake ID badges and still registering new volunteers using Stone’s “Stop The Steal” banner. HuffPost on Wednesday used their software to create two new ID badges, one for each of the presidential nominees. </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">img]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">VOTE PROTECTORS</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As Election Day nears, voting rights experts agree that education is key to pushing back against voter intimidation efforts like those planned by Vote Protectors.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“It’s important for voters to understand that they should not automatically trust that everyone who walks up to them at a polling station is an official election worker,” said Danielle Lang, deputy director of voting rights at the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center. “On the contrary, I would counsel voters to maintain a healthy skepticism at all times.” </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That said, Lang emphasized that “not even poll workers have a right to determine your eligibility to vote. All they can do is run your name against a list of registered voters. If you are told you’re not on the list, you should ask to cast a provisional ballot.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The bottom line,” Lang told HuffPost, “is that no one should have to leave their polling place without casting some kind of ballot.” </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This story has been updated to include Stone’s comments on the script.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Roger Stone, the youngest staffer on Richard Nixon’s 1972 re-election campaign and a guy who sports a Nixon tattoo on his back, </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">STONE segretti CREEP, NJ 80's gestapo armband poll watchers; bagman for RR vs john anderson?; florida recount (rentamob ailain gonzales list); reward was transition on bur interior thus gambling: dick cheney called to thank for BBR and asked what reward. Bush 43 TANG</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1972 - Roger Stone and Chuck Colson work together in the Dirty Tricks Department of the Nixon White House. "Stone first made news in the Nixon Watergate scandal, when it was revealed that the 19-year-old apprentice McCarthyite had infiltrated George McGovern's 1972 presidential campaign as part of CREEP's sabotage plan." http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Feb04/Ireland0221.htm</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1972 - Republican anti-war liberal Pete McCloskey, who was thinking about challenging Nixon for the Presidential nomination, receives Roger Stone's check from Young Socialist group. Stone immediately tips press as soon as bank clears his phony Young Socialist bank account. McCloskey never runs.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">---</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">STONE: POLITICAL OPERATIVE (Ailes, Rove, Atwater, Floyd Brown (see sep ggl)? James O'Keefe, Odom,</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Roger Stone was born in Connecticut in early Fifties, when it was a bastion of moderate (even progressive? Nelson Rockefeller lost to Goldwater for womanizing?) GOP (a few remnants have escaped the RINO hunters, but Snow retired; RGGI)</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone claims his first dirty trick was telling other kids that Nixon would make them go to school on Saturday (same election that Rove got beat up by a girl JFK supporter?). Engineered a coup at Westchester NY high school.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Conversion b/c of Goldwater book, along with whole generation, YAF etc. worked in the 1964 campaign (at 12?) took the train? dad blue collar, wrong side of tracks, specialized in turning out ethnic (white?) groups in NE, the start of Reagan democrats (getting poor and working/lower middle class to vote against their own interests [Atwater: Nigger, Nigger, Niger!]? (5 jags now, chaffeur)</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Claims moderate NE GOP Lodge was his mentor (actor with Shirley Temple, M Dietrich] turned governor Connecticut; grandson of Henry Cabot Lodge, ancestor George Cabot); he was governor and later delegate to RNC.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The nature of the Brahmins is evident in the "Boston Toast" by John Collins Bossidy.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And this is good old Boston,The home of the bean and the cod,</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Where the Lowells talk only to Cabots,And the Cabots talk only to God</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lodge lost governor because Fairfield County blueblood pissed at highway construction, later named for him. In 1951 persuaded Ike to run as gop; 1952 Lodge lost senate race to JFK (no love lost between the families: in 1916 his grandfather beat Honey Fitz John F Fitzgerald; Lodge's son George lost race to Teddy). Left UN ambassador (grandpa opposed League of Nations) to run as Nixon VP 1960. His wife: The Frelinghuysens have managed to rack up so many oligarchical appearances in Washington that as a family they rank seventh in the “dynasties” of America just behind the Adams (at five) and the Bushes (at six). NJ governor one of few GOP to believe in global warming; </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Goldwater YAF</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone met RMNixon in 1967; he invited Jeb Magruder to speak at GWU, then hit him up for a job (did hit piece on his obit for Fox). Magruder was second to plead guilty in Watergate; became a minister,as did ...</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1968 Nixon CREEP; Stone mentored by Colson, known as the "evil genius," ''walk over my own grandmother'' to get Richard Nixon re-elected. served seven months for obstruction of justice during Watergate era, for break-in to Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office in an attempt to discredit him through character assassination (MO of CREEP, he was not caught in the Muskie caper); also advocated setting a fire at the Brooking Institution thinktank to grab documents [Ellsberg’s report on Viet Nam ] (Brookings was the first think tank, used to be considered liberal; we didn't cross the border, it crossed us]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Colson used Teamster connections to order attack on anti-war hippies (hard hat riot, right after Kent State]. Shenanigans to get Wallace into or out of primaries, depending in what would help Nixon (also had the IRS investigate he and his businessman brother]. Colson ordered a search of Wallace assassin house to find evidence that dems were behind it (or alternatively to get rid of evidence that gop was?). Jeb Bush purged thousands of voters from Florida in the guise of eliminating voter fraud, Dubya bro won by 537 when Stone and Brooks Brothers Riot shut down recount. Jeb did grant clemency to Colson so he could vote.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Colson ordered by Nixon to compile the enemies list (Bill Cosby, Paul Newman); Smear reporter Jack Anderson as queer, then kill him. Colson one of the first to be born again, and started ministry (profitable?) in prison. Poster boy for faith-based initiatives, but bogus study on recidivism.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1972 Stone infiltrated (Goldberg, "groovy,... she checks out") McGovern and Humphrey campaigns by having a GOP staffer get job as driver to feed info to CREEP. Muskie Canuck Letter, tears on TV led him to bail from race; Stone sent 200 dollars to the Young Socialist Alliance in Pete McCloskey's name.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1976 President Ford campaign vs Carter (by Laxalt?)</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1977 Stone claims elected Chair Young Republicans National Convention (Otto Reich OPD front YR ran ads for Iran-Contra http://therearenosunglasses.wordpress.com/2010/02/01/</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Abramoff is lawyer for Senate Committee, but actually whipping votes? He begins to build out his network here? Cohn raised money for North? Channell?</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sharpton as spoiler redux?</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Takes out Elliot Spitzer, the Sheriff of Wall Street</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump?</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">NCPAC is the beginning of the dark ages of polarized negative politics (heightened later by Newt’s blowing up the culture of Congress).</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">NCPAC was created to take advantage of a loophole that limited contributions to $1,000 under the guise of independent expenditures (though we see in even current times these are often run by once and future staffers or political consultants of a politician). Double whammy because lots of money could be raised, but it could be used to attack without reprisals: NCPAC Chairman Terry Dolan (BKSH; closeted gay man who died of AIDS) was quoted as saying, "A group like ours could lie through its teeth, and the candidate it helps stays clean.” The test run was in 1978 (direct mail). In 1980 targets winnowed to five, including McGovern and Frank Church (whose Congressional hearings outed the CIA), Cranston and Eagleton survived. Bozell took over, but NCPAC was basically elbowed out by imitators, but later spawned 537 Swift Boat. Stone moves on to BKSH/BMSK.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yxYAM-Mwi_dOK9je0v03KIeGdbfNHh_EgX7V6xziByM/edit</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">StoneBkSh 65pp</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">still rough</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">dictators p 21</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">bksh p 21</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">7/15</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">STONE: POLITICAL OPERATIVE (Ailes, Rove, Atwater, Floyd Brown (see sep ggl)? James O'Keefe, Odom, </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Roger Stone was born in Connecticut in early Fifties, when it was a bastion of moderate (even progressive? Nelson Rockefeller lost to Goldwater for womanizing?) GOP (a few remnants have escaped the RINO hunters, but Snow retired; RGGI)</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone claims his first dirty trick was telling other kids that Nixon would make them go to school on Saturday (same election that Rove got beat up by a girl JFK supporter?). Engineered a coup at Westchester NY high school.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Conversion b/c of Goldwater book, along with whole generation, YAF etc. worked in the 1964 campaign (at 12?) took the train? dad blue collar, wrong side of tracks, specialized in turning out ethnic (white?) groups in NE, the start of Reagan democrats (getting poor and working/lower middle class to vote against their own interests [Atwater: Nigger, Nigger, Niger!]? (5 jags now, chaffeur)</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Claims moderate NE GOP Lodge was his mentor (actor with Shirley Temple, M Dietrich] turned governor Connecticut; grandson of Henry Cabot Lodge, ancestor George Cabot); he was governor and later delegate to RNC.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The nature of the Brahmins is evident in the "Boston Toast" by John Collins Bossidy.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And this is good old Boston,The home of the bean and the cod,</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Where the Lowells talk only to Cabots,And the Cabots talk only to God</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Lodge lost governor because Fairfield County blueblood pissed at highway construction, later named for him. In 1951 persuaded Ike to run as gop; 1952 Lodge lost senate race to JFK (no love lost between the families: in 1916 his grandfather beat Honey Fitz John F Fitzgerald; Lodge's son George lost race to Teddy). Left UN ambassador (grandpa opposed League of Nations) to run as Nixon VP 1960. His wife: The Frelinghuysens have managed to rack up so many oligarchical appearances in Washington that as a family they rank seventh in the “dynasties” of America just behind the Adams (at five) and the Bushes (at six). NJ governor one of few GOP to believe in global warming; </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone met RM Nixon in 1967; he invited Jeb Magruder to speak at GWU, then hit him up for a job (did hit piece on his obit for Fox). Magruder was second to plead guilty in Watergate; became a minister,as did ...</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1968 Nixon CREEP; Stone mentored by Colson, known as the "evil genius," ''walk over my own grandmother'' to get Richard Nixon re-elected. served seven months for obstruction of justice during Watergate era, for break-in to Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office in an attempt to discredit him through character assassination (MO of CREEP, he was not caught in the Muskie caper); also advocated setting a fire at the Brooking Institution thinktank to grab documents [Ellsberg’s report on Viet Nam ] (Brookings was the first think tank, used to be considered liberal; we didn't cross the border, it crossed us]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Colson used Teamster connections to order attack on anti-war hippies (hard hat riot, right after Kent State]. Shenanigans to get Wallace into or out of primaries, depending in what would help Nixon (also had the IRS investigate he and his businessman brother]. Colson ordered a search of Wallace assassin house to find evidence that dems were behind it (or alternatively to get rid of evidence that gop was?). Jeb Bush purged thousands of voters from Florida in the guise of eliminating voter fraud, Dubya bro won by 537 when Stone and Brooks Brothers Riot shut down recount. Jeb did grant clemency to Colson so he could vote.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Colson ordered by Nixon to compile the enemies list (Bill Cosby, Paul Newman); Smear reporter Jack Anderson as queer, then kill him. Colson one of the first to be born again, and started ministry (profitable?) in prison. Poster boy for faith-based initiatives, but bogus study on recidivism.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1972 Stone infiltrated (Goldberg, "groovy,... she checks out") McGovern and Humphrey campaigns by having a GOP staffer get job as driver to feed info to CREEP. Muskie Canuck Letter, tears on TV led him to bail from race; Stone sent 200 dollars to the Young Socialist Alliance in Pete McCloskey's name.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1976 President Ford campaign vs Carter (by Laxalt?) </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1977 Stone claims elected Chair Young Republicans National Convention (Otto Reich OPD front YR ran ads for Iran-Contra http://therearenosunglasses.wordpress.com/2010/02/01/</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Abramoff is lawyer for Senate Committee, but actually whipping votes? He begins to build out his network here? Cohn raised money for North? Channell?</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">NCPAC is the beginning of the dark ages of polarized negative politics (heightened later by Newt’s blowing up the culture of Congress).</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">NCPAC was created to take advantage of a loophole that limited contributions to $1,000 under the guise of independent expenditures (though we see in even current times these are often run by once and future staffers or political consultants of a politician). Double whammy because lots of money could be raised, but it could be used to attack without reprisals: NCPAC Chairman Terry Dolan (BKSH; closeted gay man who died of AIDS) was quoted as saying, "A group like ours could lie through its teeth, and the candidate it helps stays clean.” The test run was in 1978 (direct mail). In 1980 targets winnowed to five, including McGovern and Frank Church (whose Congressional hearings outed the CIA), Cranston and Eagleton survived. Bozell took over, but NCPAC was basically elbowed out by imitators, but later spawned 537 Swift Boat. Stone moves on to BKSH/BMSK.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">bs: "In 1978, Stone co-founded the National Conservative Political Action Committee (NCPAC) where he is credited with developing the negative campaign into an art form and pioneering the use of negative campaign advertising which Mr. Stone calls "comparative, educational, not negative." [took out Clark Amendment guy]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1980 RR beat Carter & 1984 RR (Stone: Roy Cohn got him to put John Anderson on NY ballot to split votes, bribed, RR got 46%) Jesse Helms considered for VP? Was NY pivotal?</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[Cohn got convictions of CPUSA leaders, involved in the Alger Hiss case; prominent role in Rosenberg trial and execution; this brought him to the attention of the FBI's JE Hoover, who recommended him to McCarthy (picked over RFK for chief counsel as defense from anti-semitic charges). Interrogations in closed "executive sessions" Pulled strings for PR pal GD Schine in army, anti-Army jihad blew up, led to McCarthy's downfall. Private practice in NY (often defrauding his own clients, if only by lack of preparation). Trump, mafia, NY Yankees, Studio 54 (which glamorized drugs, especially for white people; paid him to bribe to get a zoning variance? they went to jail). Famous parties: "If you're indicted you're invited." but also celes and movers and shakers. JBS, Western Goals Fnd, advisor to Nixon and Reagan (grand-nephew of lionel train founder, nasty family legal fight). Cohn was a homosexual, but himself a homophobe, who ultimately died of AIDS-related Karposi's sarcoma.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone claims Cohn made him the bagman in a 1980 payoff scheme to get John Anderson to run on Liberal Party in New York state, in which Reagan won with 46% of the vote (split with democrat Carter).</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1984 RR & B1 vs Mondale/Ferraro (husband biz scrutinize, clean? her ancestors ran numbers) Rollins, Atwater #2</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1986ish Stone helped Ollie North raise money for Contras (death squads) in Nicaragua. (spitz Channell /dolan/Cohn closeted? Lavender mafia?). 1986-7 Jack Kemp, rest of partners with B1)</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1988 Bush 1 vs Dukakis: Stone senior consultant; Lee Atwater, Willie Horton ad. Wife Kitty accused of burning flag, treated for mental illness (novak claims he refused to spread latter). B2 assigned to the office across the hall to learn about campaigns. Pledge of Allegiance (card carrying member? boston harbor; After win, Atwater Chair RNC; Gay tom foley,; Atwater? starts beating up Clinton as potential threat. Howard univ protest, Atwater and pres quit. Atwater diagnosis 1990, died 1991.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1992 BC wins over B1 and Perot. </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone had to quit Dole/Kemp 1996 b/c of swinger magazine ads expose in National Enquirer (denied, elaborate story of employee break-in, later much admitted).vs 1996 Bob Dole, fired Stone after Jack Anderson outed him on dirty tricks</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1996 beat sugar tax for Everglades restoration 1 cent/lb (note that Inhofe the only vote against , at some point; coastal wetland loss a big reason for hurricane destruction, notably Katrina).</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump and Stone 2000 $250K fine for not reporting lobbying expenses (trying to prevent Mohawk from building casinos that would compete with Atlantic City). Fake direct mail effort.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2000 Buchanan Reform Party?:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[The Sex Scandal That Put Bush in the White House</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">How GOP operative Roger Stone destroyed the Reform Party in the 2000 presidential campaign</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wayne Barrett, Jessie Singer - May 18th, 2004 - http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0420,barrett,53586,6.h... </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pat Buchanan ... seized control of ... the Reform Party ... became the party's presidential nominee ... (and) mysteriously disappeared, getting 2.4 million votes less than Ralph Nader, 80,000 less in Florida alone. ... Stone and Buchanan were aides to Nixon and Reagan, and Stone, also a Bush I campaign veteran, was rewarded for his subterranean 2000 efforts with an appointment to the Department of Interior transition team, which he parlayed into a multimillion dollar business as an Indian gaming consultant ....Buchanan's vanishing act—-after Stone cajoled him to run Reform-—left nearly a dozen party leaders contacted by the Voice convinced that he and Stone were conscious agents of doom. ...</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">... "Buchanan hospitality suite" at the Dearborn, Michigan, convention hotel—with soda and hamburgers and occasional champagne—"was paid for by Roger, who, in turn, said he was covering it with Trump's money." .....</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone(s) ... sacking of the Reform Party may be his lasting legacy.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Florida: </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Committee to Take Back Our Judiciary" astroturf to pressure Florida Supreme Court to rule in Bush’s favor (or punish afterwards?). 11/21/2000 extended deadline for recount until the 26th. Began on 22nd.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jim Baker does not deny recruiting him; , Elian Gonzales aftermath (in which the locals saw as Clinton/Gore fail/sellout; a local political operative sold Stone their mailing list], Cuban exile ws local Rush Limbaugh, owned Radio Mambi (Stone says in Latin media, when you sponsor, you control content, e.g., guests, so he put his wife Lyda on, who claimed that Gore was repeating Castro power grab) ; Radio Mambi live from scene; Stone had Winnebago HQ, eavesdropped on dems walkie-talkie and also communicated with his people inside the recount building. 11/22 got word that 2-300 ballots being removed, it was one sample); riot: screaming, running, Stone commanded to follow and not let doors be closed; (most were Spanish? [enron and halliburton jets; post masquerade party?]); later said he regretted because of Gulf 2 dead; </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> “The Brooks Brothers Riot,” a fake grassroots protest by GOP staffers and operatives (flown in on corporate jets from Enron, Halliburton and coal companies) held up a vote recount so the Supreme Court could quash it, taking the presidency from Al Gore, who won not only the popular vote but a Nobel Prize for his work on AGW, and giving it to the most anti-environmental president and VP in history. (BTW, key people from the riot and associated stop the recount activities ended up having important jobs in the administration, increasing corruption and dismantling eco-protections for people and nature).</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2004 RatherGate Terry McAuliffe wondered if TANG docs could be plant that could then be denounced (this was a technique previously used by, later proposed by Barr at Stratfor ). Fake reporter Guckert/Gannon attacked Rather and CBS; had a male prostitution business, and may have met Stones socially at DC Xmas party? Rove? Allbaugh fixer (with Hughes and Rove)?</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2008 had his own 527 org anti-Hillary Clinton group called Citizens United NT (failed at acronym for “bitch”). spreading discredited rumors of a Michelle Obama “whitey” tape during the 2008 Democratic primaries</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2008 Hired by New York State Senate head Joseph Bruno (used helicopter for private use) to get Eliot Spitzer, the Sheriff of Wall Street; </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kirstin Davis Libertarian, legalize pot and prostitution, ( ran for governor office; claimed to procure prostitute for Eliot Spitzer; she was jailed for promoting prostitution 2008); 2007 Stone left threatening voice mail on Spitzer's dad's machine (outcry forced him to resign from Bruno gig? ); her opponent Redlich he accused of being a child molester (though he claims Roy Cohn was not gay, just liked to have sex with young blond boys).</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2008 [, Stone lately has been having second thoughts about what happened in Florida.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"There have been many times I've regretted it,” Stone told me over pizza at Grand Central Station. “When I look at those double-page New York Times spreads of all the individual pictures of people who have been killed [in Iraq], I got to think, 'Maybe there wouldn't have been a war if I hadn't gone to Miami-Dade. Maybe there hadn't have been, in my view, an unjustified war if Bush hadn't become president.' It's very disturbing to me."]end</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Quit GOP because went libertarian; Gary Johnson 2016?</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">w/ BKSH unleashed all kinds of racist/homophobe on politics for decades (some powerful congressional chairs), ironically Stone went libertarian (pot, sex, big bro) but then vendetta w/ NY party?</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Quite early on in the annals of Iran-Contra our pioneering political entrepreneurs make their inevitable appearance. Jack Abramoff crops up in North’s notebook for February 14, 1985, his name misspelled but the beginnings of a great lobbyist unmistakable. On March 26, Abramoff showed up on a list of people helping North to influence the upcoming Contra-aid vote in Congress. Later that day, Abramoff phoned North and told him that a number of “votes” were available in exchange for some or other favor.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Abramoff's CFA experience was extensive enough, however, to make him a character in the Iran-Contra scandal. His ostensible role was to raise support for the Contras through the CFA. "Abramoff was a bit player in Iran-Contra," says Jack Blum, a Washington lawyer who served as a special counsel to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during the Iran-Contra investigation. "That's where he learned that the money wasn't in the ideological skulduggery world. It was in the go-buy-the-government world." But, Blum adds, Abramoff's experiences with various conservative foundations and nonprofits during this period proved valuable later on. "This is when he made all his connections," he says. "It was through them that he learned that it was much more lucrative to work in the commercial end of politics."</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We do not ordinarily remember Iran-Contra for the business opportunities it generated, but in the long, winding history of conservatism-as-industry it remains a particularly instructive chapter. The aforementioned political entrepreneur Spitz Channell, for example, sensed the Contras’ potential early on and used them to become the most successful fund-raiser in all of Washington, circa 1985. Channell’s marks were conservative widows; he made his pitches in person, often using a scary slide show put together by Oliver North about the dangers of Nicaraguan communism. Not only did his donors reap tax write-offs by giving to one of the “nonprofit” groups Channell had set up but they sometimes got to meet President Reagan too, a favor the fundraiser arranged simply by throwing some change to one of the president’s former aides.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone analysis: calls himself king of sleaze, dirty trickster, hit man, although like Segretti begins with fratboy pranks, then gets much darker; (basically institutionalized via Atwater then Rove).</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Associated with Cohn, mob? consistently won formerly moderate North East for neo-cons? NY for RR? {later the New Right goes RINO hunting, moderates basically extinct (Snowe/_).</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> NCPAC key milestone in degradation of political system, as its only function is to raise money for attack ads; simultaneously doubled the money for that purpose, but also gave cover (and to neutralize PAC advantage that began with its creation by unions?).</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So may be responsible for getting Reagan and Bush 43 elected (with a hand in Nixon and B1?). If so , we could have had a second Carter term, and President Gore. Both RR and B43 bankrupted the country, B43 got us into two wars (probably 3 with ISIS) we still have not gotten out of or even started to pay for?). Took being outed as swinger and dirty trickster in close succession to get him out of GOP mainstream gigs, but Jim Baker called him back in in crisis (Brooks Bros). Could a Gov. or Pres. Spitzer have done anything to head off Great Recession? How bizarre that he engineers Spitzer resignation over a pretty run of the mill sex scandal, then promotes the candidacy of procuress who accused him? to replace him.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Well, that’s domestic damage, let’s look at overseas:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3.4 Public Relations: Burson-Marsteller</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Companies and industry groups typically have in-house public relations and marketing, but often hire outside Public Relations firms (especially when they want a buffer), a large industry in its own right, with some estimates for US firms revenue as high as 11 billion dollars. In terms of climate, Burson-Marsteller is the most prominent players. Founded in 1953, Burson-Marsteller (B-M) was bought by Young and Rubicam, which itself became part of the larger WPP conglomerate. [macro trend is corporate conglomeration, in opposition to progressive Era trust-busting, which to be fair was quite elective in terms of enforcement]; we have seen the problems in the body politic; any parallel in PR?]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> It has such a remarkable history of unsavory clients and issues that Rachel Maddow observed that “evil has Burson-Marsteller on speed-dial” (Maddow). In part this is because they have developed expertise in PR damage control (e.g., it handled Bhopal, Three Mile Island and the Exxon Valdez spill). Also they have represented more than their share of dictators (e.g., Savimbi, Marcos, Mobutu). </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Burson-Marsteller in turn owns BKSH (which is both a lobby shop and also manages political campaigns), home of some of the most ruthless political operatives Lee Atwater (involved in infamous Willie Horton ads, a mentor to Karl Rove), Roger Stone (astroturf, NAM, Tobacco, Brooks Brothers Riot) and Charles Black (Nixon, Delay, Helms, Reagan, Rove), all alum of the College Republicans [some YAF?] (See Incubators 5.4). BKSH pioneered the technique of driving up opponents' negatives with “oppositional research” and negative ads, which as we noted in terms of (super-?)PAC influence above became especially common in the 2010 election, funded by untraceable 527 funds (Swift-boating) made possible by the Citizens United ruling (although an off-year election US News and World Report estimates four billion dollars, up from 1.5 billion in 2008).</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">B-M has also long worked for tobacco companies, in particular Philip Morris, and so helped pioneer techniques that stymied health regulations for decades (although Hill and Knowlton laid much of the early groundwork, e.g., forming the Tobacco Institute). These strategies (and many of the same people) were reused in the global warming debate. Hiding science that harms their position, promoting and even manufacturing science that does has been an important strategy (e.g., Fred Singer on secondhand smoke). B-M front groups have been used to try to defeat anti-smoking and climate change legislation (most recently Prop. 23) in California, and stymied action after Rio and Kyoto, in particular Clinton's BTU tax (See 5.5).</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3.4.1 PR “Flacks”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In addition to public relations firms, there are independent "hired guns," ideological entrepreneurs who thrive in the “nutrient–rich” conservative infrastructure ecosystem, who can perform a variety of functions in various types of organizations important to the infrastructure.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A representative case study is Steven Milloy because he has worked as a lobbyist, and is an example of the different forms flacks can take; he has also been key to attempts to discredit global warming. end moderation</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">BKSH one of first to support Reagan </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(also dictators; Savimbi Angola $ 600K fee to get Dole and State Dept for arms; turned down Gaddafi); Mobutu DRC, took over after CIA killed Lumumba, he hung rivals, tortured, 3.7m killed in civil war</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Phil Gramm, Jesse Helms, Tobacco Inst; goal is 1/2 mil/yr. Kelly got money to promote democ in PI, but also paid by Marcos (more Chicago, less Mexico; also both sides of election in US eg Breaux).</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">much more in doc</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">hmmn</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...Once you get past the PR branded version of Gary Johnson and just see him for the conventional hard-right Republican he really is, you're no longer so surprised to learn that the people running Johnson’s presidential campaign were themselves big-name GOP political operatives — the darkest and the dirtiest operatives in the GOP cellar.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Exhibit A: Roger Stone, a self-described “GOP hitman” with a giant tattoo of Richard Nixon’s face etched across his back. Roger Stone —the skeeziest, meanest, most flamboyant and most Russian-nihilistic of any Republican dirty trickster working the field going back a few decades, the Satanic Zelig of Republican black ops, who’s had a hand in just about every major GOP election crime you’ve heard of, and lots more you haven’t heard of. Everyone seems to have forgotten already, but last spring, Roger Stone made a big public stink about how he’s fed up with the Republican Party and the two-party stranglehold, and joined Gary Johnson’s Libertarian Party campaign. Pro bono. Because democratic idealism and principles are what Roger Stone is all about.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Let’s see if this makes any sense in the context of Roger Stone’s record. Starting with the 1972 Nixon re-election campaign, when a hippie-bashing college student named Roger Stone joined Nixon’s dirty tricks team, and impressed them with stunts like planting a fake check from the Socialist Party in a rival’s campaign fund kitty, then leaking that story to the press... Or planting a spy in Hubert Humphrey’s campaign and seeing to it that his spy becomes Hubert Humphrey’s favorite driver on the campaign trail...</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Roger Stone had a hand in the "Willie Horton" ad; he masterminded the Florida "yuppie riot" on James Baker’s behalf, halting the recount long enough to let William Rehnquist decide the elections; and although he won’t admit it on record yet, Roger Stone is most likely responsible for destroying Dan Rather’s career by planting the fake National Guard documents on his producer.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That’s a small sampler, but it’s enough to make anyone with a functioning brain realize that when Roger Stone’s says he’s suddenly decided he’s had a political awakening and he’s now a hardcore libertarian doing volunteer "pro bono" political consulting for Gary Johnson’s campaign... you better assume he’s not telling you the whole story. The whole story is absurd, but obviously Roger Stone is onto something by offering the media such a hack storyline, knowing that precisely because it’s so Hollywood unreal, the Manhattan media elites will swallow it hook, line and sinker.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">To see a perfect example of American media gullibility, read Mark Warren’s attempt at magazine-edgy prose in his Esquire dispatch on Roger Stone called "Roger Stone To GOP: Payback’s A Bitch". It’s his Ivy Leaguer "bitch" that makes it so authentically awful—it’s like he’s found a way to outfit his magazine prose with a black leather jacket. The piece reads as though he’s in on the joke Roger Stone is playing on the two-party system, when in all likelihood Warren himself is the mark, a sucker to keep distracted while Stone does what he does best: fixing elections, voter fraud, electoral theft, all-around sleaze.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Which brings me to the one Roger Stone story which now has four-alarm relevance to this election, and to his decision to work for Gary Johnson’s third party candidacy. I’m surprised this episode isn’t talked about more, but that could be because it’s far too disturbing in a serious not-fun way, especially compared to Stone’s more rock’n’roll public stunts, which give guys like Mark Warren and Dave Weigel a hard-on.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This episode comes from a rather candid interview Roger Stone gave to the Weekly Standard in a 2007, and in it he describes how the most effective election fraud trick of all is using a credible Third Party candidate to split the opposition’s vote. In 1980, Stone’s candidate was Ronald Reagan, and his enemy was incumbent president Jimmy Carter. The wild card in the 1980 election was a popular Illinois liberal Republican named John Anderson, who lost in the primaries against Reagan and decided to run against him and Carter anyway, given his popularity and disgust with both Reagan and Carter.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">John Anderson’s biggest problem was getting his name on the ballots. Roger Stone realized that if Anderson could get on the New York state ballot, it could split the liberal vote and hand the electoral prize to Ronald Reagan. So Stone seeks help from a political operative so evil he makes Roger Stone look like a Mormon: Roy Cohn, Sen. McCarthy’s right-hand henchman during the Red-baiting hearings. Cohn brings a mobster named Fat Tony Solerno with him, and they ask Roger Stone what his problem is and how they might help.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Roger Stone’s problem was simple: He wanted to get "Mr. Clean" outsider John Anderson on the New York state ballot as a third party candidate to drain votes from Carter, but there wasn’t nearly enough time to make it happen. Most people were led to believe that Anderson would naturally split the Republican vote, but that wasn’t the case at all. Privately, polls showed that in tight state races, Anderson’s candidacy caused far more damage to Carter than to Reagan. Here, I’ll quote from the article this amazing episode about how Roger Stone stole New York for Ronald Reagan:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone, who going back to his class elections in high school has been a proponent of recruiting patsy candidates to split the other guy's support, remembers suggesting to Cohn that if they could figure out a way to make John Anderson the Liberal party nominee in New York, with Jimmy Carter picking up the Democratic nod, Reagan might win the state in a three-way race. "Roy says, 'Let me look into it.'" Cohn then told [Fat Tony Salerno], "'You need to go visit this lawyer'--a lawyer who shall remain nameless--'and see what his number is.' I said, 'Roy, I don't understand.' Roy says, 'How much cash he wants, dumbf--.'" Stone balked when he found out the guy wanted $125,000 in cash to grease the skids, and Cohn wanted to know what the problem was. Stone told him he didn't have $125,000, and Cohn said, "That's not the problem. How does he want it?" Cohn sent Stone on an errand a few days later. "There's a suitcase," Stone says. "I don't look in the suitcase . . . I don't even know what was in the suitcase . . . I take the suitcase to the law office. I drop it off. Two days later, they have a convention. Liberals decide they're endorsing John Anderson for president. It's a three-way race now in New York State. Reagan wins with 46 percent of the vote. I paid his law firm. Legal fees. I don't know what he did for the money, but whatever it was, the Liberal party reached its right conclusion out of a matter of principle." I ask him how he feels about this in retrospect. He seems to feel pretty good--now that certain statutes of limitations are up[...] "Reagan got the electoral votes in New York State, we saved the country," Stone says with characteristic understatement. "[More] Carter would've been an unmitigated disaster."</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sounds familiar, don’t it? Just substitute "Libertarian" for "Liberal Party," "Obama" for "Carter," and "Gary Johnson" for "John Anderson" and you can see what Stone might really have had in mind when he announced earlier this year that he was at last dumping the terrible Republican Party.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.nsfwcorp.com/dispatch/gary-johnson-swindle/</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://antifascistnews.net/tag/fred-trump/</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">DONALD TRUMP’S KKK CONNECTION RUNS DEEPER THAN YOU THINK ... As the media pundits expect Donald Trump to clean up on tonight’s Super Tuesday run, Trump’s recent response to the endorsement of David Duke is getting more headlines than his usual racist antics. Duke recently put forward a formal announcement, stating that if you care about your “race” then you are “required” to vote for Trump. Duke is one of the best known white nationalists in the world, formerly becoming state representative in Louisiana before running for Governor, and almost winning with 55% of the state’s white vote. Duke is one of the few open racists to see any electoral success into the 1990s, where he continued to support his past KKK and neo-Nazi affiliations, deny the Holocaust, argue for racial differences in intelligence, and run his organization, the National Association for the Advancement of White People.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Duke is only one on the long list of white nationalist endorsements. Recent, Jared Taylor of American Renaissance voiced a robocall in support of Trump in Iowa, which was funded by the nationalist American Freedom Party. The Radix Journal, The Right Stuff,Counter-Currents Publishing, Occidental Dissent, The Daily Stormer, and many more have jumped behind Trump, using his open nativist rhetoric as the mainstreaming of their own racism. Every one of these organizations have shared membership with various incarnations of the KKK, drawing them straight to Trump, yet Donald’s KKK connections move even beyond that.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After Duke’s endorsement, Trump was cornered on CNN and asked to denounce Duke and the Ku Klux Klan.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I don’t know anything about David Duke. I don’t know what you’re even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacist. I don’t know. I don’t know, did he endorse me, or what’s going on?</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump later said that he had a “bad earpiece,” but in reality he was refusing to denounce a base that has thrown more resources than expected at him. While he may play ignorance, he actually knows exactly who David Duke is and where his politics come from.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a 2000 report by ABC News, Donald Trump was interviewed about the Reform Party and its connections to the paleoconservative and racist right-wing.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As you know, the Reform Party has got some pretty big problems. Not the least of which is Pat Buchanan, David Duke, Fulani, and it’s a problem.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He then went on to bring up the same reference with the New York Times discussing the relationship between the Reform Party and the New York Independence Party.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Although I am totally comfortable with the people in the New York Independence Party, I leave the Reform Party to David Duke, Pat Buchanan, and Lenora Fulani. That is not company I wish to keep.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It is difficult for Donald to now claim that he knows nothing about David Duke, and therefore will not condemn him as the Anti-Defamation League has requested. He was endorsed by Duke quite a while ago actually, and when he originally found out he smiled and joked “I even got endorsed by that KKK guy.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump’s connections to the KKK actually go much deeper into his family tree, which is a politic that we have seen played out in his new public persona. Fred Trump, Donald’s millionaire father, has been well known for his work with the New York KKK. He was arrested after a Klan riot in Queens in 1927. The arrest was a part of a 1,000-person racial brawl that came after a rally intended to restore the “Native-born Protestant Americans” to New York City. This was in line with the deep anti-Catholic views of the New York KKK of the period, which also said the police were mainly made up of Roman Catholics. The flier that they were handing out for the event read:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Liberty and Democracy have been trampled upon,” the flier stated, “when native-born Protestant Americans dare to organize to protect one flag, the American flag; one school, the public school; and one language, the English language.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The language of this flier seems awfully familiar given Trump’s recent rhetoric about Latino/a and Muslim Immigrants.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fred Trump went on to “jumpstart” the campaign of arch-racist Barry Goldwater, where they also got backing from the John Birch Society. With influence from Roy Cohn, Goldwater went on to develop what was later called the “Southern Strategy,” which plays on Southern racism using “dog whistle” terms to signal to the base. Cohn went on to become Trump’s “mentor,” and helped him to countersue a group that was suing him for discrimination against African Americans in his business. Cohn eventually introduced him to Roger Stone, a man who has walked the line between the right-wing of the GOP and Libertarian Party and openly racialist, nativist, and white nationalist movements.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Since Donald’s recent misstep on CNN, he has been roundly denounced, even by the GOP establishment. Joe Scarborough has dropped him entirely with disgust, and Paul Ryan decided to speak up publicly in a press statement.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There has been a lot of talk in the last 24 hours about one of our presidential candidates and his seeming ambivalence about David Duke and the KKK, so let me make it perfectly clear. That is not the view of Republicans who have been elected to the United States Senate, and I condemn his views in the most forceful way….If a person wants to be the nominee of the Republican Party, there can be no evasion and no games. They must reject any group or cause that is built on bigotry. This party does not prey on people’s prejudices. We appeal to their highest ideals. This is the party of Lincoln…his is fundamental. And if someone wants to be our nominee, they must understand this. I hope this is the last time I need to speak out on this race.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Neither of these men are the bastion of progressive values, so their disgust is a good sign of how far outside of any conventional discourse Donald Trump has become. With the recent violent stabbing of anti-fascist protesters in Anaheim by California by KKK members, few are willing to accept this tacit support for the KKK that Trump has given.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">David Duke has gone to Twitter to continue to support Trump openly, decrying the “corporate media” for distorting his views and libeling Trump. Donald himself has recently given a speech that his presidency would further criminalize libel, a journalistic dishonesty that is already illegal. He may have trouble understanding that the reporting on him has actually been straight forward, yet he will not accept that he simply does not look good after ranting and raving on stage.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As votes are being cast today, we are about to learn a lot about what American whites are willing to accept to protect their last vestiges of privilege. Anti-racist author Tim Wise started his career with an organization fighting David Duke’s two political runs in Louisiana. After Duke got more than half of the white vote even though the media coverage clearly revealed his open racial politics, Wise said that he had to reckon with what was happening to whites. He labeled this turn “Dukism,” the ability for these whites to overlook his Nazism. Anti-fascist writer Alexander Reid Ross has given the current period Trumpism, and has a similar pattern to both David Duke and Pat Buchanan, two people that Trump had previously condemned. In periods of crisis and strife, working class whites are presented with a choice on how they will deal with the country’s future.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hopefully, this is not the choice they will make.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">DAVID DUKEDONALD TRUMPFRED TRUMPKKKPAUL RYANROY COHN</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://itsgoingdown.org/trumpism-pt-2-american-fascist/</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On a fast-pace, FOX News talk show discussing the recent beating of a Black Lives Matter protestor at a Trump rally, the presidential hopeful phoned in with an ambivalent tone. First contemplating the host’s term “roughed up,” the Don returned to the notion with more effrontery: “maybe he should’a been roughed up.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Activists around the world signaled despair at the thought that the local violence against a Black Lives Matter protestor would translate to open season against protestors across the US. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it did, in Minneapolis, where white supremacists fired on a peaceful gathering of Black Lives Matter demonstrators, sending five to the hospital. According to reports, before they fired the shots, the culprits yelled, “Race war and Trump 2016!” Trump’s parallel non-response came in the form of a tweet—a meme with false information about “black-on-white crime” traceable to a neo-Nazi handle.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Despite the fact that even mainstream media sites and even conservative commentators have begun to note the proximities between Trump’s ideology and fascism, some more academic commentators still seem to be on the fence. One article states that describing Trump as a fascist “obscures the fact that Trump’s demagogic hate-mongering is deeply rooted in mainstream U.S. politics.” Some have even gone as far back as the 19th Century “Know Nothings” to identify Trump’s style.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We have seen Trump’s recent statements to the effect of issuing special IDs (perhaps badges?) to Muslims in the US and shutting down “certain” Mosques reflected in the opportunism of Republicans refusing Syrian refugees. Both seemed to land symbolically too close to the anniversary of the US’s rejection of the St. Louis carrying Jews fleeing from Nazi Germany, with the US Holocaust Museum pointedly condemning the treatment of Syrian refugees. We could further note that, according to his ex-wife, Trump used to read from a book of Hitler’s speeches, My New Order, kept in a cabinet near his bedside. There are also reports that when he visits, Trump’s cousin “clicks his heels and says, ‘Heil Hitler.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While it is very useful to observe racist tendencies in the US and Europe before fascism (and even alongside it), I would argue for an alternative viewpoint. Returning to the 19th Century is provocative, but we would do well to identify the important influence fascism has had on the US (and vice-versa) not just as a detail, but as a significant milestone. Trump’s chatter belongs just as much in the fictional Hotel Wessex at the opening of of Sinclair Lewis’s 1935 warning of American fascism, It Can’t Happen Here, as it does in his own mega-hotels.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">All in the Family</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As is well-known, the Don’s father, Fred Trump, likely took part in the Klan’s militant street activity during the 1920s, which many would suggest represents a simple, US-American phenomenon. In fact, the Klan had heavy cross over with the American Legion, the leader of which announced in 1923, “Do not forget that the Fascisti are to Italy what the American Legion is to the United States” (don’t worry, we won’t). Just over a decade later, the Klan would join a united paramilitary organization called the Storm Troops with the corporate-funded Silver Shirts, the German American Bund (the Nazi Party in the US at the time), the Black Legion, and other racist neo-fascist groups. While the Klan is distinctly US-originated, by the end of the 1930s, they were intertwined with the US’s homegrown Nazis, and by the 1970s were inextricably united with David Duke’s brand of neo-fascism.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It wasn’t just the Klan, though. In 1976, correspondence between J Edgar Hoover and his “pen-pal” Nazis running Interpol during the late-1930s emerged, showing that Hoover’s autographed picture hung on the wall of Interpol’s offices in Nazi Berlin, and he remained on good terms with Nazi high officials until three days before Pearl Harbor. He became Interpol vice president in 1946, and refused to use his power to incarcerate Nazis war criminals on the run. Instead, through the State Department, the OSS, and FBI, the US brought Nazi scientists to the US, and helped coordinate the escape of numerous high ranking Nazis. To view neo-fascism as foreign to US groups like the Klan and neo-Confederate organizations is to ignore how it was absorbed in this country and to what utility.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Klan has never been the sole or even principle point of intersection for US fascism; formal, official Americanism has always been the lynchpin. During the 1920s, the US’s great industrial and finance moguls, from Hearst, Ford, Du Pont, and GM to the house of JP Morgan, Jr., went fascist, and big business groups like the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), a leading purveyor of Americanist propaganda, joined them. In 1923, after Mussolini’s March on Rome, the counsel of NAM delivered a speech to their convention called il Duce an “extreme leader, not only converted by the lightning stroke of intelligence and falling from his error like Saul of Tarsus from his horse, but leading through the streets of a reunited country a great body of citizens,” liberating Italy from “the blighting hand of radical socialism.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fascism and the Red Scare</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Along with the NAM, the America First Committee, founded by publishing magnate Henry Regnery, warned that intervention in WWII would be traumatic to the US’s small and medium-sized manufacturers, insisting that the US maintain neutrality. One of NAM’s most well-regarded propagandists was a columnist named George Sokolsky, who famous anti-fascist journalist George Seldes aptly called an “agent [of] fascist [interests].” By the time the US entered the War, the NAM had abandoned its pro-fascist position, but it maintained the same spirit and ideology, shifting the focus to anti-communism.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While the American Legion’s Americanist Committee spurred the anti-communist movement toward McCarthy’s show trials, Sokolsky played the part of “clearance man” for an “American Fascisti” that now enforced the Black List in Hollywood. Senator McCarthy attempted to stay clear of associations with fascism. However, by 1948, McCarthy’s awkward enthusiasm for the liberation of German POWs had become impossible to hide, as he dove into the Malmedy war crimes case along with Regnery and Rudolf Aschenauer, a high ranking official of the Socialist Reich’s Party (the heir of the Nazi Party), which helped to derail denazification in Europe.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">McCarthy also developed a relationship with the well-known fascist agent Francis Parker Yockey on his trips to Germany, according to the latter’s friend John Anthony Gannon, and a letter obtained by the FBI, penned in 1952, reveals that McCarthy went so far as to ask Yockey to ghost write a speech for him. The manuscript, “America’s Two Ways of Waging War,” also intercepted by the FBI, concludes in the following fashion: “We shall liberate our land from the domination of traitors and then, by the help of the Almighty God, we shall restore the word America to its old meaning in the world before all nations. By the deluge of our votes, by the irresistible storm of our organized protest, we shall sweep America clear of its inner enemies and onward to its God-given Destiny.” </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Yockey’s tailor-made mission to make America great again was likely going to be unfurled at a rally planned later that year for which McCarthy was a keynote, hosted by the fascist successor to the German American Bund and “floor managed” by infamous Nazi H. Keith Thompson. After negative press in The Daily Compass and The New York Post, McCarthy pulled out.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Americanism Comes to the Don</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Perhaps partly as a form of PR, McCarthey enlisted a hot, young, Jewish columnist and lawyer named Roy Cohn as his chief prosecutor for the Red Scare. After illegally convincing judge Irving Kaufman to hand down sentences of execution to Julius and Ethel Rosenberg while acting as a prosecutor in the notorious anti-communist espionage case, Cohn found his way to McCarthy through Sokolsky, who he considered his father figure. One of the more well-funded circles that Cohn gained credibility by helping to establish was the Young Americans for Freedom (YAF), an anti-communist youth group notorious for singing fascist hymns.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The master of national sleaze, Cohn’s rancor was particularly vitriolic toward Jews. According to Robert Sherrill writing in The Nation, “[Cohn] spent a great deal of his life tormenting Jews to show that, down deep, he could be just as anti-Semitic as the most bigoted WASP.” After Cohen went on what one historian calls a “book-burning” romp through Europe with his semi-secret boyfriend, McCarthy started to feel the heat. When Cohn’s boyfriend was drafted into the army, his tactics of pulling strings, bribing, and blackmailing backfired, and McCarthy found himself in a full-scale war with the Army, leading to the collapse of McCarthyism.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> In the aftermath, McCarthy would drink himself into a death spiral, and some of the leadership of the NAM, including leader James O Welch, moved on to spearhead the John Birch Society, which amassed a sizable constituency of fascists, masking their anti-Semitism in cryptic anti-communist conspiracy theories. In the words of Chip Berlet and Matthew Lyons’s impeccable book, Right Wing Populism in America, “it was at the NAM, during the height of the Red Menace hysteria, that Welch honed his Americanist philosophy.” In 1964, the Birchers threw most of their influence behind Barry Goldwater, whose campaign was jumpstarted by a German émigré turned New York real estate entrepreneur named Fred Trump.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Although even Richard Nixon and Pat Buchanan felt that Goldwater went too far at times, his campaign established “the Southern strategy.” Like Cohn and Sokolsky, the Birchers and Goldwater shared what Cohn’s biographer von Hoffman calls, somewhat tepidly, an “apparent willingness to accommodate himself to European fascism.” As time went on, Cohn would sink into a role as one of the Birchers’ leading intelligence men along with members of La Rouche’s network in what would later become known as the Council for Inter-American Security (CIS), infamous for snooping on the Committee in Solidarity for the People of El Salvador (CISPES). By the onset of the 1970s, Cohn’s public life involved representation of mobsters, Studio 51, and a certain élite. In these circles, at a place for Manhattan high rollers called Le Club, Cohn met Fred Trump’s son, Donald.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">With Roy Cohn, Down and Dirty</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The two must have gotten along swimmingly, because Cohn became Trump’s mentor, guiding him through lawsuits and counter-lawsuits as his business grew. It was Cohn who told the young Don to countersue after being charged with discriminating against black people in 1973—a policy perhaps incurred from his father’s era. Although he lost the countersuit, Trump would revolutionize his dad’s old business into a lavish, luxurious, and extremely modern enterprise. The posterboy of the highflying modernism of the 1980s, Trump outfitted his hotels and casinos with sumptuous furnishings and the latest in technology. He became a Bloom County cartoon character for some, a symbol of the “new man” of the 1980s for others. Either way, he represented a morally bankrupt class that never stepped foot on a tightrope that didn’t have a golden safety net beneath it.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During his relationship with the ne plus ultra of yuppie playboys, Cohn also insisted on a reputably conservative public profile. By the early 80s, he even claimed to reject the John Birch Society, even as he joined the advisory board of the Western Goals Foundation, a private intelligence group organized by leading Birchers that openly worked with Nazis like Hitler’s unreconstructed spy chief, Reinhard Gehlen, who had been rescued from war crimes trials by the CIA’s first chief, Allen Dulles, in order to help coordinate clandestine anti-communist resistance. By the mid-1980s, Western Goals had become embroiled in the Iran-Contra scandal due to the workings of the CIS, among others, which Cohn had been a part of since the 1950s. (As reported by Antifa in 1996, the CIS’s hierarchy included Klan and Aryan Nations collaborator Larry Pratt, who went on to co-chair Pat Buchanan’s 1992 presidential run, as well as Buchanan, himself, who we’ll come to later in this article.)</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A UK copy-cat organization called Western Goals Institute formed in the late-1980s, throwing its support behind Le Pen, who historian Martin A. Lee calls the “neofascist führer” of the French radical-right party, Front National. One of the top funders for Western Goals Foundation was the Bircher son-of-an-oil-magnate Nelson Bunker Hunt, who also helped bankroll the Council for National Policy, tied to the leadership of US Nazi Willis Carto’s old Nazi comrade, Roger Pearson (a former member of the editorial board for the Heritage Foundation, which politely allowed Trump to pull out of his September, since his birther ideas are beyond the pale).</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While up to his eyeballs in fascism, Cohn attempted to keep his conservative slate clean by fighting legal rights to gay people, although he was gay, himself, and later died of AIDS. Underneath the alleged mob links, drugs, and corruption there remained strong bonds between Trump’s mentor to the fascist-fused Americanism of the War years, brought through McCarthyism by the leadership of NAM into the John Birch Society, and further into the Western Goals Foundation.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Meet Roger Stone</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This year, Trump enlisted as his campaign manager another of Cohn’s protégés, Roger Stone, who Mark Ames profiles on Before It’s News: “Roger Stone is a Libertarian prankster fighting the two-party stranglehold; and Donald Trump is a right-wing populist shaking up the system because by gum, he just doesn’t care and he doesn’t need to care,” Ames writes. “That’s one, very dumb, very gullible way of putting it.” Another way of describing Roger Stone, according to Ames, is “Dick Nixon dirty trickster, fascist fan of Roy Cohn, lobbyist for some of the worst dictators in the world.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone met Trump through Cohn in NYC around the 1979 Reagan campaign, but was brought into the world of politics in the early 1970s, at the age of 19, by Donald Segretti, who initiated the teenage Stone into the Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP). Notably using American Nazi Party members to shift voters from the American Independent Party to the Democratic Party, among other dirty tricks, CREEP’s fellow members included Pat Buchanan, who once described recollections of Holocaust survivors’ as “group fantasies of martyrdom,” and G. Gordon Liddy, a bizarre man obsessed with pain tolerance and willpower who grew up with an avowed admiration for Hitler and later became ghostwriter for J. Edgar Hoover. Liddy would remark, “at assemblies where the national anthem is played, I must suppress the urge to snap out my right arm.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After Watergate, Stone linked up with notorious lobbyists Charlie Black and Terry Dolan—another publicly anti-gay but closeted gay man who died of AIDS—to found the National Conservative Political Action Committee (NCPAC) as a revision of the old Barry Goldwater campaign. Both Black and Dolan were former YAFers of the fascist songbook era.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Other than helping Ron “Stormfront” Paul to his first election victory in Texas, the NCPAC formed Conservatives Against Liberal Legislation (CALL, later renamed Conservatives Alliance), connected to Carto’s neo-Nazi outfit Liberty Lobby. In turn, CALL created the National Coalition for America’s Survival, which included the reincarnation of the grandaddy of them all, the America First Committee, headed up by Art Jones, an infamous neo-Nazi.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone also formed a heavyweight power-broker consulting firm with Black, Paul Manafort, and Lee Atwater (later BMSK), which started out on the Reagan campaign and Donald Trump’s casino business, and later became notorious for representing the apartheid-supported army of witch-burning opportunist Jonas Savimbi in Angola.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">However, Stone came into his own by fixing votes. His methods were honed in New Jersey during the 1980s, where he employed a “National Ballot Security Task Force” to patrol majority-black and latino precincts while wearing what the local NAACP president described as “Gestapo armbands.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Holocaust Denial and Nativism</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Throughout the 1990s, Trump was Stone’s most well-known client, and his casino industry hijinks, including manipulation and sabotage of Native tribes, are infamous. In 2000, Stone pitted the Don against Pat Buchanan for the Reform Party ticket, but the Trumpster backed out after having pointed out, ironically, that fascists were supporting Buchanan’s campaign. Later that year, Stone would become infamous for orchestrating the “Brooks Brothers Riot,” which shut down the presidential election recount in Miami-Dade, prompting New York Rep Jerald Nadler to call out “a whiff of fascism in the air.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After riding high with Bush, Stone’s went in for a change, and he turned to the libertarians, eventually sparking a relationship with libertarian candidate Gary Johnson that would involve Roy Cohn, the mafia, and the white nationalist Tanton network. Continuing forward, Stone went on a neo-fascist media hub called Red Ice Radio hosted by Hitler fan, Henrik Palmgren, to chat about Cohn and the “legitimate threat of domestic communism” during the McCarthy era. Stone’s visit came at the tale end of an intense season of guests such as “white man march” activist Kyle Hunt, Norse reconstructionist Stephen McNallen, and Holocaust denier Dennis Wise.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some of Stone’s libertarian intrigues surrounded Scott Israel’s campaign for the Sheriff’s office of Broward County. Last year, the Sheriff’s office told the South Florida Gay News it would cost nearly $400,000 to release the office’s internal homophobic emails. This year, the department faced a major scandal when four Ft. Lauderdale cops were caught regularly sending racist texts including sexualized murder fantasies and creating a promotional Klan video.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Since leaving the Trump campaign, Stone has pitched a possible run for Senator under his home ticket, the Libertarian Party of Florida. The only other party candidate is a surreal character who calls himself Augustus Sol Invictus—a goat sacrificing, eugenics spewing, fascist-symbol-using Thelemite.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Due to his connections to the extensive “immigration reform” network of John Tanton, there is speculation that, before leaving, Stone left the Don with the numbers of 11 million “illegals” to deport before departing. As the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) explains, Trump’s immigrant policy is “almost indistinguishable from the policy proposals made by John Tanton, a white nationalist who founded the Federation for American Immigration Reform and essentially created the modern nativist movement.” This is the same platform admired by the neo-fascist National Policy Institute’s Richard Bertrand Spencer, Tanton’s close friend, who sees it as a major step toward “peaceful ethnic cleansing.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Whiff of Fascism?</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Beyond simply co-opting the platforms of white nationalists, the Trumpster’s own “whiff of fascism” moment might have been that time when his campaign circulated an add with an American flag just transparent enough to view an image of a Nazi war re-enactment. His campaign apologized and retracted the image, but have remained defensive about most other innuendos and outright threats. For example, at a rally in Rochester, New Hampshire, the Don fielded a question asking, “When can we get rid of [Muslims]?,” infamously responding, “We are going to be looking at a lot of things.” Like a schoolboy, Trump later whined that “it was the first time in my life I got in trouble for not saying anything.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Or perhaps one could detect a whiff when Trump suppressed journalists like Jose Diaz-Balart in Texas and Jorge Ramos in Iowa, telling the former, “You’re finished” and the latter to “go back to Univision.” When the brutal beating of a Black Lives Matter protestor at a Trump event was met with the statement, “maybe he deserved it,” it seemed as though Trump’s campaign had more clearly presented itself in relation to fascism, defined by journalist Arun Gupta as “a cross-class project of national renewal based on psycho-sexual appeals of racial purity and militarism, aimed against sections of the working class and bourgeoisie alike.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There are more substantial underpinnings, however, which require a more thorough investigation of the content of fascism, itself, as well as Trump’s own flare for revolutionary rhetoric and violence. That much will be forthcoming in the next column.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">willey and troopergate redux, schwietzer</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his conservative media allies have been aggressively promoting Crisis of Character, an upcoming book by former Secret Service officer Gary J. Byrne that purports to reveal the inside story of serving under President Clinton and then-first lady Hillary Clinton. But rather than provide insight into their character and leadership style, Byrne is just the latest in a line of authors to package unverified gossip about the Clintons in book form.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Media Matters obtained Crisis of Character ahead of its June 28 publication date. Before its official release the book is already receiving the familiar red carpet treatment for anti-Clinton books in conservative media.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And it’s not a coincidence that Crisis of Character is being promoted by conservative outlets like the New York Post, the Drudge Report, the Daily Mail, Breitbart.com, Trump ally Alex Jones, and on Fox News. The National Enquirer, one of the only publications to endorse Trump, promoted the book and called Byrne “daring.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Writing on Facebook about the conservative media coverage of his book, Byrne said, “I must have done something right in my life” to be “in big red font on front page of Drudge’s website.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[trump vid]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sean Hannity and Trump promoted the book and used it as a springboard to attack Clinton’s fitness for office on the June 8 edition of Hannity's Fox News program. After listing some of the main attack narratives from the book -- claiming Clinton is “impulsive” and lacks “the temperament” to be president -- Hannity asked Trump, “You think the media is fair in their coverage of that versus how they cover you?” Trump, of course, gladly swung at the softball, claiming the book has gotten “very little coverage which is really amazing because basically it says her temperament is a disaster, which I know. And you know.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump has also promoted Crisis of Character on Twitter, writing, “A former Secret Service Agent for President Clinton excoriates Crooked Hillary describing her as ERRATIC & VIOLENT” and “Secret Service Agent Gary Byrne doesn't believe that Crooked Hillary has the temperament or integrity to be the president!”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This is part of a pattern for Trump. He has previously cited anti-Clinton conspiracy books from authors Ed Klein and Roger Stone and Robert Morrow, promoting their work in interviews, campaign rallies, and on his Twitter account.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But in reality, Crisis of Character appears to be more about score-settling by Byrne and a vehicle to insert himself into the ongoing conservative media narrative about Clinton. The book is filled with the sort of vitrolic attacks on the Clintons and other progressives and fulsome praise for conservatives that fill so many other anti-Clinton tomes. The original information that his publisher claims he can provide based on his service in the Clinton White House cannot be trusted, as it clashes with his own words given in testimony to Ken Starr.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Byrne holds himself up as a truth-telling whistleblower, forced to reveal what he learned out of a sense of duty to the country (he compares Clinton being elected president to the 9/11 attacks), but in reality the book re-heats stale conservative attacks that have already gone through the conservative media pipeline repeatedly for over twenty years (including the conspiracy theory that the Clintons may have had former aide Vince Foster murdered).</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Byrne Hates The Clintons, Loves “Papa Bush”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After a laundry list of complaints about the Clintons and specifically Hillary Clinton, Byrne writes in the introduction that he has “not written a word of this book with a political agenda.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He complains that she engaged in “obscenity-laced tirades” that were “like watching Humphrey Bogart in The Caine Mutiny obsessing about a quart of missing strawberries.” Byrne’s purple prose continues as he gripes about Clinton’s “leadership style – volcanic, impulsive, enabled by sycophants, and disdainful of the rules set for everyone else.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That disdain for Clinton echoes throughout the entire book, and is a theme he returns to again and again. He describes Hillary Clinton as “spoiled,” accuses her of throwing “massive tantrums,”calls her a “joke” who was “all bark, no bite, but in a very real power position,”describes her as “the world’s biggest Bridezilla” and calls her “high-strung” and “a cheerless grifter always on her scheming way to someone or something else more important than the person directly in front of her.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He blames Clinton for the fact that “some agents literally went mad,” and accuses her of fostering “a ‘f--- it’ mentality” that “trickled down,” leading to Secret Service agents turning to alcohol, drugs, performance enhancers and “even prostitutes.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In an early sign that the book is warmed-over conservative agitprop, Byrne recaps stories about Gennifer Flowers, Paula Jones, and Whitewater as examples of the “scandals” that “tarnished the Clinton brand and presidency.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By comparison, Byrne is effusive in his praise for former President George H.W. Bush, whom he worked for at the White House. He repeatedly refers to the Republican as “Papa Bush.” He describes him and first lady Barbara Bush as “100 percent class.” In Byrne’s eyes, “Papa Bush” “understood what it meant to be presidential.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Cementing his admiration for Bush, Byrne notes that during the 1992 presidential campaign, “seeing how candidates and pundits critiqued the president wounded me.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Foreshadowing the invective to come, Byrne admits that he felt “sentimental regarding Papa Bush” during the transition to President Clinton.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Byrne Vs. The Left</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Byrne wears his conservative politics on his sleeve throughout the book. Early on he complains that a female partner was “obviously hired to fill a quota,” describes her as “clueless,” and notes that “diversity encroached on merit.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He invokes the phrase “What difference did it make (to borrow a phrase from Mrs. Clinton” while attacking the Assault Weapons Ban, which he complains “accomplished nothing beyond humoring gun control advocates.” (For years, conservatives have misrepresented Clinton saying “what difference, at this point, does it make” about talking points used after the Benghazi attacks to suggest she was dismissing the deaths of Americans.) Byrne also accuses President Clinton of having an “anti-Second Amendment sentiment.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The author blames a “creeping liberal mindset” for recent problems with security at the White House, arguing that “we need to empower the warrior mindset, not the liberal one.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">With disdain he criticizes the “grossly immature” Clinton administration staff who “wore jeans and T-shirts” as they engaged in “grand ideological bull sessions.” He writes that this approach led to “the incident at Mogadishu,” and invokes their “constant insistence” that law enforcement officials like the Uniformed Division “had to look like their perception of good guys.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Byrne complains that a 1995 incident in which Secret Service agents used gloves when an HIV-positive delegation visited the White House resulted in “the charge of the Politically Correct Brigade.” At the time, White House press secretary Michael McCurry said, “It's safe to say that the chief of staff and others were distressed by that and believe it to be an error of judgment.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Byrne’s Vince Foster Conspiracy Theory</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The most gratuitous swipe at Hillary Clinton’s purported attitude is Byrne’s version of White House aide Vince Foster’s suicide. (Foster’s suicide has been the focus of conspiracy theories by conservatives for years, including most recently by Trump.) He notes that “word circulated that she berated him mercilessly.” Byrne claims that “the first time I saw Foster I figured he wouldn’t last a year,” and that he “looked uncomfortable and unhappy in the White House.” He compares Clinton’s staffers like Foster to “battered wives: too loyal, too unwilling to acknowledge they’d never assuage her. They had no one to blame but themselves, but they could never admit it.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Byrne then regurgitates one of the long-since debunked conspiracy theories surrounding Foster’s death, writing about “a rumor” among law enforcement that Foster’s suicide weapon “had to be repaired in order for the forensics team to fire it.” Byrne claims that this and other stories made the death “spooky” and cites Foster’s suicide note in which he says “I was not meant for the job or the spotlight of public life in Washington.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Byrne doesn't only question whether the Clintons murdered Foster, he also suggests he was worried that they might have wanted to kill him as well.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Byrne writes that on a couple of occasions while he was being interviewed by lawyers as part of Independent Counsel Ken Starr’s Whitewater investigation, he “placed myself on the couch facing the door with my sidearm loaded… ready at the slightest sound to draw and fight.” He added that he felt he has “put a target on his family.” Byrne goes on to detail in the following pages how he feared that the Clintons might try to kill him. He writes that he came to question whether the Clintons might have been “behind so many of the suspicious -- or merely coincidental -- deaths surrounding their activities,” including Foster’s death. He adds, “It was my word, and my word only, against the most powerful people in the world. I’d seen them lie and intimidate. It wasn’t a stretch to think that things might escalate."</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">White House Testimony Embellishment</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Byrne was sometimes on duty when Monica Lewinsky went to the Oval Office to see Bill Clinton. He goes on at length about how he curtailed Monica Lewinsky’s attempts to get access to the Oval Office.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the midst of that narrative, Byrne writes about a time he “shooed her like a stray cat” to which she “hissed another lame excuse” for why she was around.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Eventually Byrne was required to testify about Lewinsky for Ken Starr’s investigation (to his credit, Byrne concedes that by this point the investigation had nothing to do with Whitewater, the real estate deal that initiated it in the first place).</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Byrne claimed that he saw “lipstick” on a towel from someone “entertaining the president late at night,” and writes that he made the allegation that it came from the West Wing receptionist when he later testified.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But this story was less definitive when Byrne testified. In 1998, Byrne said he had “no idea” who the lipstick belonged to and speculated that it “could have been the First Lady’s, I have no idea,” then later said he had "connected it" with a receptionist. Was it even lipstick? He told Starr he didn’t know “if there was actually lipstick” on the towels but “got the impression” that lipstick was present.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Starr Report also noted in reference to Byrne’s testimony that “some details of his account varied in different tellings.” Byrne also testified at the time that Secret Service agent John Muskett told him that he found Clinton and Lewinsky in a compromising moment, but Muskett denied it. Byrne even testified that his account of Muskett’s story may have incorporated some gossip, and that he was relying on memories of events that occurred “two and a half, almost three years” before the testimony. It has now been 21 years since the events allegedly occurred.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">An Associated Press report from the time noted that Byrne “felt compelled to remind the prosecutors that he was merely relaying gossip he had heard. ‘It was based on other, other innuendoes and accusations, little tidbit rumors, that kind of stuff.’”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Why Did Gary Byrne Write This Book?</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the afterword, Byrne does his best impression of a Fox News host and re-tells the conservative version of numerous anti-Clinton stories. He discusses her private email server, the Clinton Foundation -- citing Peter Schweizer’s error-riddled book Clinton Cash as evidence -- and unsurprisingly lays the blame for the Benghazi incident at Hillary Clinton’s feet: “Hillary Clinton lied about the reason for the Benghazi attack.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Byrne warns that the prospect of Clinton running for president makes it feel “as if America were trapped in some great, cruel time machine hurtling us back to the land of Monica and Mogadishu and a thousand other Clinton-era nightmares.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He explains, “my obligation today is to raise my voice, to help safeguard the presidency from Bill and Hillary Clinton.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Byrne concludes, “On 9/11 we vowed ‘Never forget.’ But we always somehow do,” adding, “I realize better than most Americans that we have pretty much forgotten what an amateur-night, three–ring circus the Clinton White House was. But I haven’t forgotten.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The New York Times reported on the influence of The Clintons’ War on Women in Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s attacks on Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, but failed to mention the extreme misogyny of the book’s discredited co-authors, Robert Morrow and Roger Stone.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">NY Times Highlights Trump’s Latest Attacks Against Clinton’s Marriage Without Providing Context About The Book That Sourced Them</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">NY Times: Trump To “Put The Clintons’ Relationship At The Center” Of His Latest Line Of Attack. The New York Times reported that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump “unleashed a slashing new attack on Hillary Clinton over Bill Clinton’s sexual indiscretions on Friday as he sought to put the Clintons’ relationship at the center of his political argument against her before their next debate.” The Times pointed out some Trump advisers, mainly Roger Stone, are suggesting Trump focus “on accusations that Mrs. Clinton tried to discredit women who said they had been harassed by Mr. Clinton,” and mentioned Stone wrote a book full of accusations against the Clintons called The Clintons’ War on Women. From the September 30 The New York Times report:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Donald J. Trump unleashed a slashing new attack on Hillary Clinton over Bill Clinton’s sexual indiscretions on Friday as he sought to put the Clintons’ relationship at the center of his political argument against her before their next debate.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[...]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some of Mr. Trump’s advisers have tried to suggest focusing on accusations that Mrs. Clinton tried to discredit women who said they had been harassed by Mr. Clinton. Chief among those suggesting this approach is Roger Stone, the longest-serving Trump adviser, who wrote a book called “The Clintons’ War on Women,” laying out accusations from Juanita Broaddrick and Kathleen Willey, who have accused Mr. Clinton of sexual assault — accusations the Clintons or their lawyer David Kendall have denied. [The New York Times, 9/30/16]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">NY Times Ignores Unhinged Misogynist Robert Morrow, Co-Author Of The Clintons’ War on WomenWho Has Wished Death On Hillary Clinton</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Morrow Has Hoped For Hillary Clinton’s Death. In his posts on social media, Robert Morrow, the co-author of The Clintons’ War on Women, has hoped for “angry bull dyke” Hillary Clinton’s death, saying “the Taliban was created to deal with people” and that “I hope” both Hillary and Bill Clinton “die.” Morrow has also reportedly received a visit from the Secret Service. [Facebook, 4/18/14, 1/16/13; Tampa Bay Times, 2/29/08; Media Matters, 9/3/15]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Morrow Has Written Bizarre Sexual Posts About Hillary Clinton. Morrow’s writings include bizarre sexual posts about the Democratic presidential nominee, once asking on Facebook whether anyone needed to borrow his “Hillary Clinton blow up doll” since he was “finished with it for tonight.” On May 23, 2015, he asked his Facebook followers “What is a greater threat to the USA: ISIS or Hillary Clinton’s vaginal odor?” Similarly, he said Fox’s Bill O’Reilly “should have to lick Hillary Clinton’s pussy” for being “a lying piece of shit” and “untrustworthy.” Morrow also said that Clinton has “maggots ... coming out of her pussy” and has posted a “Hillary Clinton masturbation update.” [Facebook, 4/24/15, 5/23/15, 3/2/15, 4/17/14, 11/13/13; Media Matters, 9/3/15]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tampa Bay Times: Morrow "Pretty Much Devotes His Life To Hating The Clintons And Spreading Wild, Unsubstantiated Allegations About Them." From a 2008 profile:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Chelsea is the seed of Web Hubbell and not Bill Clinton. Would I bet my life on it? No. I would bet my pickup truck," he declares between bites of salmon. "Hillary Clinton was sleeping with both of her law partners, Webb Hubbell and Vince Foster. And she's a lesbian, too."</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Morrow, a perpetually indignant, single 43-year-old, pretty much devotes his life to hating the Clintons and spreading wild, unsubstantiated allegations about them. There are untold numbers of Robert Morrows in America, people obsessed with Clinton hatred and Clinton conspiracy theories the way other Americans might be consumed with Star Trek, Beanie Babies or the Florida Gators.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But soon it could be time to find another purpose in life besides worrying about a Clinton in the White House. If Clinton fares poorly in the must-win states of Texas and Ohio on Tuesday, Robert Morrow and others will be looking for a new hobby.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I've got other aspects of my life when I'm not, you know, stopping Clinton pond scum," insists Morrow, who has no steady job but enjoys a family inheritance. "Um, I like to work out at the gym. I like to go hiking. I like to ride my bicycle."</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[...]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Morrow started his anti-Clinton crusade about three years ago, when he decided he needed to devote himself to making sure Hillary Clinton never wins the White House. He can't pinpoint what set him on this path beyond his conviction that the Clintons are ruthless "sociopaths that need to be crushed and defeated."</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">With no job except occasional day trading of stocks, Morrow spends anywhere from one to 10 hours a day researching Clinton dirt or e-mailing and phoning reporters across the country about his conclusions. [Tampa Bay Times, 2/29/08]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Times Also Did Not Provide Context About Dirty Trickster And Trump Ally Roger Stone</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Roger Stone Is One Of Trump's "Most Visible And Vocal Surrogates." Roger Stone previously worked as a top political aide to Trump's presidential campaign before exiting in August 2015. Stone says he and Trump are "on cordial terms. We talk ... Trump has been my friend for 35 years. He's still my friend." Since then, Stone has helped spread falsehoods and conspiracy theories to smear the Clintons, including that they are “plausibly responsible” for the deaths of roughly 40 people.. [Media Matters, 9/5/16, 6/5/14; Talking Points Memo, 9/2/15; Politico, 8/8/15]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone Established Anti-Hillary Clinton Called "C.U.N.T." In 2008, Stone established the anti-Hillary Clinton 527 group Citizens United Not Timid. The group -- now defunct -- emphasized the acronym by bolding the first letter in each word. The group claimed to "educate the American public about what Hillary Clinton really is." Stone said he established the group because “that’s what you hear, particularly from males” and that he couldn’t come up with the acronym words for his preferred name option, “B.I.T.C.H.” [Associated Press, 8/11/15; Media Matters, 2/20/08, Weekly Standard, 1/28/08]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Donald Trump Has Promoted Stone And Morrow’s Book</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump Promoted Stone And Morrow's Book On Twitter. Trump wrote in an October 14 tweet that linked to the book's Amazon.com page: "The latest book on Hillary--Wow, a really tough one!http://www.amazon.com/dp/151070678X @RogerJStoneJr." [Twitter.com, 10/14/15]</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone is writing a book based on his conspiracy theory that the Clintons murdered John F. Kennedy Jr. Stone is an longtime ally and friend of Donald Trump, who has previously used the discredited operative's research in attacks against the Clintons.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone worked as a top political aide to Trump's presidential campaign before exiting in August. Stone is a notorious "dirty trickster" who formed the anti-Hillary Clinton group C.U.N.T. in 2008 and has spent much of the 2016 cycle pushing smears about the Clintons. He has a history of using racist and sexist attacks against media figures, and was recently banned by CNN and MSNBC. He currently heads the pro-Trump super PAC Committee to Restore America's Greatness and is a frequent Trump supporter in the media. Stone has been under heavy criticism recently because of his stated plan to "disclose the hotels and the room numbers of those delegates who are directly involved in" allegedly stealing the nomination from Trump at the Republican convention.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone last month appeared on the internet radio show of fringe conspiracy theorist James Fetzer, who believes the Holocaust, Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, and 9/11 attacks were faked. During a brief aside, Stone mentioned he was writing books about Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and the alleged murder of John F. Kennedy Jr. “by the Clintons”:</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ROGER STONE: I have coming up next year a book which I make the case that John F. Kennedy Jr. was murdered. And he was murdered by the Clintons because he was in the way. Now I have extraordinary new evidence that nobody else has seen.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fetzer later told Stone that JFK Jr. was assassinated and offered to give Stone “leads” proving it. Stone responded, “That’s great to know, Jim. As you know, there’s really nobody in the researcher community that I respect more than you.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">JFK Jr. died after a plane he was piloting crashed in July 1999. The National Transportation Safety Board found that his plane crash was an accident and the probable cause was the “pilot's failure to maintain control of the airplane during a descent over water at night, which was a result of spatial disorientation. Factors in the accident were haze and the dark night."</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump has sourced some of his attacks against the Clintons to Stone. During a January 5 appearance on Fox News' Hannity, host Sean Hannity asked Trump about calling Hillary Clinton an "enabler" of "one of the great woman abusers of all time," President Bill Clinton. Trump responded by referencing Stone’s book The Clintons’ War on Women, stating that "a major book's been written about it, and it's a book that's a very well respected book. And it was not a pretty picture, what she did." Stone co-authored the book with fringe conspiracy theorist Robert Morrow. </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The New York Times noted in December that Trump “appears to be taking a page from the playbook of his former political adviser Roger Stone” with his attacks on the Clintons. </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In October, Trump tweeted a link to Stone’s The Clintons’ War on Women book and commented, “The latest book on Hillary—Wow, a really tough one!” Stone has said that he and Trump talk “From time to time. … We're still talking politics. I'm involved with a PAC that is specifically doing one narrow thing, which is collecting evidence of voter fraud.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone previously wrote that the Clintons did not murder JFK Jr. In The Clintons’ War on Women, Stone argued the Clintons are “plausibly responsible” for the deaths of roughly 40 people, but added, “They are not responsible for the death of John F. Kennedy, Jr., as some researchers have claimed”: </font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There is no question that some Clinton critics are excessive. There are widespread claims that the Clintons are responsible for the death of as many as eighty-three people whose knowledge stood in the way of their political ascent. Based on our investigation, the Clintons are only plausibly responsible for the deaths of half the people on this list. They are not responsible for the death of John F. Kennedy, Jr., as some researchers have claimed, though the number of individuals who are both knowledgeable of and pivotal to the Clintons’ grasp for power who die in plane crashes defies mathematical odds.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During a March 9 appearance on the internet-based program Caravan to Midnight, Stone said JFK Jr. was murdered and “almost everything you’ve been told about his plane crash and death is false or embellished or cooked.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Last year, Stone tweeted that “The MURDER of JFK, Jr. will be the subject of my next book #Clintons #guilty” and “JFK Jr was planning on running for NY Senate seat @HillaryClinton wanted. Poor bastard.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">19 Oct 15</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Michael Delauzon @MichaelDelauzon</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@RogerJStoneJr Wasn't convenient that JFK Jr died before he could announce his run for US Senator of NY against Hillary? She would have lost</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Roger Stone @RogerJStoneJr</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@MichaelDelauzon The MURDER of JFK, Jr. will be the subject of my next book#Clintons #guilty</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">8:31 PM - 19 Oct 2015</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> 2323 likes</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Roger Stone’s Scheme To “Prove” Clinton Stole Election From Trump</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">bruceewilson / October 24, 2016</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Only days before the 2016 presidential election, an October 14th-20th Reuters/Ipsos survey has shown that nearly 70 percent of Republicans believe “a Clinton victory would be because of illegal voting or vote rigging”.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During his third and final debate with Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, GOP nominee Donald Trump refused to promise to accept the results of the upcoming election. Trump later clarified his position — “I will totally accept the results of this great and historic presidential election, if I win.” More recently, Trump’s son Eric has said his father will accept the election results “if it’s fair”.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Meanwhile, a longtime Trump adviser and dirty tricks political operative — who back in 2000 helped stage a riot that shut down the Florida vote recount in the 2000 presidential election — has just launched a venture, allegedly to find evidence of 2016 election vote fraud, that appears based on the certainty that there will be significant Democratic Party-linked electoral fraud in the upcoming election.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It’s called “Stop The Steal” — a Roger Stone project which has popped into existence more or less simultaneously with the emergence of a new far-right conspiracy theory alleging a George Soros plot to steal the 2016 election from Trump by manipulating electronic voting machines.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In short, Donald Trump might really be planning the high risk strategy, with a murky end-game, of undercutting the legitimacy of a Hillary Clinton 2016 election win — a strategy telegraphed months ago by his political operative Roger Stone just as Trump’s poll numbers began to sag.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Back on July 30th, in an appearance on the alt-right Milo Yiannopoulos show, Stone laid out the script, advising that Donald Trump should “constantly” repeat messages such as,</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I am leading in Florida. The polls all show it. If I lose Florida, we will know that there’s voter fraud. If there’s voter fraud, this election will be illegitimate”.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And since his poll numbers began to collapse in early August, Trump has dutifully followed Stone’s script, by ceaselessly predicting electoral fraud in the upcoming 2016 election. Trump’s rhetoric deeply worries scholars. Harvard professor Steven Levitsky told the New York Times,</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“To a political scientist who studies authoritarianism, it’s a shock. This is the stuff that we see in Russia and Venezuela and Azerbaijan and Malawi and Bangladesh, and that we don’t see in stable democracies anywhere.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During his July 30th Yiannopoulos show appearance, Roger Stone also predicted that theft of the 2016 election would lead to “a constitutional crisis, widespread civil disobedience” and even a “blood bath”.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Now, with Trump’s poll numbers even lower and a Clinton win likely, Stone appears to be preparing the post-November 8th surprise.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If Hillary Clinton takes the 2016 presidential election, within days after the November 8th vote Donald Trump, who has for months now been predicting electoral fraud, may well announce that he has empirical evidence to “prove”, or at least strongly indicate, that such fraud has really taken place.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If so, some of that evidence — which probably won’t be taken very seriously by professional pollsters but will help cement, in the minds of Trump supporters, the conviction that the election was stolen from Donald Trump — will probably come from Stone, whose role in the current election includes claiming “backchannel” communication with Wikileaks, an ongoing source of anti-Clinton leaks in the 2016 election.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Roger Stone’s most famous dirty tricks feat might be the 2000 election manufacturing of the notorious “Brooks Brothers riot” in which paid GOP operatives violently stormed Florida’s Miami-Dade County election board, an act of sabotage which helped shut down the board’s recount of votes that might have reversed George W. Bush’s razor thin lead in Florida and put Democrat Al Gore in the White House.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sixteen years later, Stone appears to be at it again.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a Thursday, October 20th radio show interview, Roger Stone told Sam Bushman, host of the Liberty Roundtable radio show — a nationally syndicated alt-right talk radio show which back on March 1st featured a widely noticed interview with Donald Trump, Jr. — about Stone’s apparent plan to run his own exit polling operation in various states on November 8th.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone claimed he already had one hundred committed volunteers, with more on the way. As he explained it to Bushman, at a little past eighteen minutes into the second one-hour segment of Sam Bushman’s Monday through Friday two-hour show,</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“We have a little program I’m working with, called stopthesteal.org, where we are collecting volunteers to work certain targeted precincts, in certain targeted counties, in certain targeted states, where we think they may steal, where we think they may manipulate the machines.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If you compare the exit poll results with the results of the machines on a one-by-one basis, and there’s a wide swing, you would know that you have voter fraud…</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(…)</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">You can’t just get out there and say ‘This is rigged’ because you lost. But we are going to attempt to amass the evidence — and hopefully we’re wrong. Hopefully it’s unnecessary. And there’s the real answer. But these machines can be rigged easily and this is the only way to check and see if they are. Exit polls are more valid, more accurate than other polls because people don’t know, when they’re leaving the polling place, who has won yet. There’s a tremendous tendency to gravitate to the person, you know, who wins.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone proceeded to explain Hillary Clinton’s consistent lead over Donald Trump in national polls as the result of a vast conspiracy of pollsters to “set a public expectation level” that would neatly coincide with the November 8th voting results which would be the produced by electronic voting machine fraud.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So, “if the final poll shows that Hillary wins by nine, let’s say, hypothetically, and Hillary wins the machines by nine, you’ll see they’ve been coordinated,” reasoned Stone.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And who controlled the electronic machines that would steal the 2016 election away from Trump ?</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bushman’s co-host Curt Crosby then asked Roger Stone about a (discredited) conspiracy theory, first advanced on October 18th by the Daily Caller media website, which suggested a connection between billionaire investor George Soros and an international voting technology company, Smartmatic, alleged to control voting machines in 16 US states. Seeming to endorse the claim, Stone replied,</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Yeah, I saw the story about Soros having a stake in machine company. I would point out that the people who owned the Diebold machines, I think their company’s now called Premier Election Services — I don’t know how much more generic you can get — they were very close to the Bushes. I’ve always believed the machines were rigged by George Bush, George W. Bush, against Kerry in Ohio, in the second Bush election.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So, I believe both sides engaged in this.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Following the Daily Caller, host of the popular conspiracy theory website Alex Jones suggested that if Hillary Clinton wins the 2016 election, George Soros could become the de-facto “shadow president” of the United States.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The fact-checking website Snopes.com has assessed the Daily Caller story claims to be “false”, and the Smartmatic company states it “will not be deploying its technology in any U.S. county for the upcoming 2016 U.S. Presidential elections.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Underscoring that statement is the fact that in 2007 Smartmatic sold its major U.S. Sequoia Voting Systems division, to a group of private investors, as part of the company’s strategic move away from the U.S. market. As reasons for its divestment from the U.S. market, Smartmatic cited,</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“the difficult climate in the United States marketplace, tainted by a non-stop debate against foreign investment, especially in the election technology area”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Daily Caller conspiracy theory story evokes a longstanding obsession of the American far-right concerning an allegedly impending foreign takeover of U.S. government that will enslave the American people.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In many of the seemingly endless versions of this conspiracy theory genre, which has been floating around since the late 1980s, when an evil cabal — that might include Jewish financiers, globalists, the United Nations, or the anti-Christ — achieves control of U.S. government, foreign or UN troops then emerge from secret lairs, in national parks or U.S. military bases, to summarily execute countless Americans and force the rest, tens of millions or more, into concentration camps.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In one version of this conspiracy theory that was popular in the 1990s, Jewish financiers and the Illuminati (who were controlled by the anti-Christ) were conspiring against the American people, and the most visible figures in the plot were President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton who, within the satanic Illuminati hierarchy, was said to outrank her husband Bill.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Now Hillary Clinton, who in decades of encrusted conspiracy theory has long been linked to an evil conspiracy to enslave (or worse) the American people, is poised to become president.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And on hand to gather evidence to “prove” Clinton’s theft of the 2016 election, via Soros-linked manipulation of voting machines, will be Roger Stone and his motley crew of exit pollers.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And if Hillary Clinton does win, Stone’s “evidence” (including sketchy exit poll data) will provide Trump supporters a convenient entry point into the newly emergent mythos concerning the theft of the election.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The legend of Soros control (and manipulation) of American electronic voting machines will then proliferate and acquire the multiple levels of intricate, self-referential detail characteristic of the “birther” conspiracy theories that challenged President Barack Obama’s American citizenship.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But Stone’s key claim — that “exit polls are more valid” than others polls (and thus the best benchmark for determining possible election fraud according to Stone) — is a rather dubious one.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In reality, American-style exit polls tend to be inaccurate, and for a number of reasons. One is that younger voters are more likely to participate in them than older voters. As explained in a June 27, 2016 New York Times story titled Exit Polls, and Why the Primary Was Not Stolen From Bernie Sanders,</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The exit polls try to correct for this bias by giving more weight to older respondents. The way it works is pretty novel: Interviewers guess the age of voters as they leave the polling place.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That crude patch only goes so far :</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the 1992 election, exit polls showed Bill Clinton winning Texas (the state went to George Bush, Sr.) In the 2000 election, exit polls showed Al Gore winning the states of Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, and North Carolina (he lost all four, by huge margins.) 2004 election national exit polls showed John Kerry three points ahead of George W. Bush (for more on the unreliability of exit polls, see 1,2).</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As a seasoned political operative whose career goes back to the Nixon presidency, Roger Stone is presumably well aware of the unreliability of exit polls. So what’s he up to ?</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The likely true purpose of Stone’s exit poll scheme will be to generate a pseudo-empirical body of evidence pointing to the very sort of electoral fraud Donald Trump has been warning of since the start of August. And, the beauty of it is that Roger Stone won’t even necessarily need to rig his exit polls.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Stone/Trump “election will be rigged” PR campaign seems to have begun in earnest starting with an August 1st Fox interview in which Donald Trump told Sean Hannity,</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I’m telling you, November 8th, we’d better be careful because that election is going to be rigged. And I hope the Republicans are watching closely or it’s going to be taken away from us.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The timing was notable — only a few days earlier, on July 27th, aggregated national polls had shown Donald Trump opening up a slim 1.1% lead, 45.7% to 44.6%, over Hillary Clinton. It was probably the high water mark of the Trump campaign.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But only a few days later, Trump’s polling numbers began to crash. By August 1st, Trump’s polling was down to 42% and Hillary Clinton had opened up almost a 4 percent lead. By August 9th, Clinton’s lead over Trump was almost 8%.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That was the context for the start of Donald Trump’s “rigged election” talk. His poll numbers were collapsing, along with presidential aspirations. Trump then seemed to follow Roger Stone’s lead.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Only two days before Trump told Sean Hannity that the “election is going to be rigged”, on July 30, Stone had joined alt-right star Milo Yiannopoulos in an interview on Yiannopolous’ eponymous podcast show that was showcased by Breitbart news. In the deeply disturbing interview, Stone told Yiannopolous,</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I think we have widespread voter fraud, but the first thing that Trump needs to do is begin talking about it constantly. He needs to say for example, today would be a perfect example: ‘I am leading in Florida. The polls all show it. If I lose Florida, we will know that there’s voter fraud. If there’s voter fraud, this election will be illegitimate, the election of the winner will be illegitimate, we will have a constitutional crisis, widespread civil disobedience, and the government will no longer be the government.’ ”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone went on to predict, to Yiannopoulos, a “bloodbath” if the 2016 election were stolen from Trump.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Roger Stone’s 2016 accusations of electoral fraud actually predate the general election. Back in April 2016, Stone suggested to Politico that Donald Trump’s Wisconsin GOP primary loss to Ted Cruz was probably due to voting fraud via electronic voting machines.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone cited, as a source for claim, the work of mathematician Richard Charnin — who has asserted, on the basis of (unreliable) exit poll results, a pattern of election fraud in Wisconsin in the 2012 and 2014 elections.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Then, in an August 16, 2016 op-ed published by The Hill, Can the 2016 election be rigged? You bet, Roger Stone focused on the very real fact that electronic voting machines which produce no backup paper records and are demonstrably very easy to hack are in still in wide use in states across the country. Stone again cited the work of Richard Charmin.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“We are now living in a fake reality of constructed data and phony polls. The computerized voting machines can be hacked and rigged”, warned Stone in his August 16th The Hill op-ed.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That statement featured two of the three pillars in Roger Stone’s narrative that’s likely to be deployed post-November 8th, in a PR campaign to sear into the minds of Trump supporters the unshakeable belief that the election was stolen from Donald Trump :</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1) Electronic voting machines can be easily hacked (this is proven and uncontested), and through their hacking many national and state elections have been stolen (alleged by Democrats, Republicans, and Independents but contested).</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2) Most of the national and state surveys of voter preference leading up to the 2016 election have been rigged against Donald Trump, in favor of Hillary Clinton (neither Trump nor his surrogates have produced a shred of evidence to back up this claim.)</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3) Exit polls are a reliable benchmark for determining possible electoral fraud (exit polls are in fact notoriously unreliable— see 1,2,3).</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Of course, Roger Stone’s exit polls probably won’t be the sort of extensive, rigorous, and methodologically sophisticated (not to mention expensive) exit poll surveys done elsewhere around the world (but not in the U.S.) to confirm the veracity of vote counts.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stone’s polls will, if anything, likely be even less rigorous than the comparatively lax U.S. election exit polls traditionally carried out by Edison Research, which typically have a significant margin of error.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So even if he doesn’t tamper with his raw data, Stone’s exit poll data will almost inevitably demonstrate substantial deviations from the recorded voting results. All Stone will need to do is select some data sets which show the greatest deviations and gift-wrap them for rightwing media.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Of course, there’s no reason whatsoever to trust data produced under a project, concerning the veracity of the 2016 election results, that’s headed by a hardened, partisan political operative who has admitted to covertly manipulating at least one prior presidential election.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Not to mention that Stone has asserted the American moon landings were faked and heavily praised conspiracy theorist James Fetzer who, “has claimed that the Holocaust, Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, and 9/11 attacks were faked”.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nonetheless, Stone’s suspect data, trumpeted by Donald, will confirm the worst suspicions of Trump voters desperate for explanations of how Donald Trump’s meteoric political ascent could have so quickly crashed to earth : The pre-election polls were rigged for Hillary. The voting was rigged for Hillary. The exit polls prove it.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Roger Stone has candidly voiced regret for his 2000 election “Brooks Brothers riot” stunt, not because of its anti-democratic nature but for its awful fruit — the disastrous U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq which has led in turn to the rise of ISIS ; In 2008 Stone told the Daily Beast,</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“When I look at those double-page New York Times spreads of all the individual pictures of people who have been killed [in Iraq], I got to think, ‘Maybe there wouldn’t have been a war if I hadn’t gone to Miami-Dade.’ “</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Regardless, in 2016 Stone is at it again. This time, judging by Stone’s July 30th prediction that voter fraud in the upcoming election could cause a “bloodbath”, the result might well be a post-election riot, or worse.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But does Stone want all-out armed conflict ? Probably not.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Even though almost one quarter (24%) of Trump supporters believe that the losing candidate should challenge the election results, and almost one in five Trump supporters (19%) believe, according to a new survey, that violence would be justified if Hillary Clinton wins the election, Trump supporters skew towards the elderly end of the age demographic and may lack the energy and ambition to launch a second civil war.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">More likely goals include the general destabilization of American democracy and, in particular, the de-legitimizing, at least in the minds of tens of millions of dedicated Trump supporters, of Hillary Clinton’s presidency.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">An October 14-20 Ipsos/Reuters survey showed that only one half of Republicans would accept Hillary Clinton as their president and an astonishing number, almost 70 percent, “said a Clinton victory would be because of illegal voting or vote rigging”.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In other words, the Stone/Trump election fraud narrative has already been widely accepted among Trump supporters, and so Roger Stone’s “Stop The Steal” project will merely provide some additional details and back-story to flesh it out.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That establishes a political climate even more toxic than when Barack Obama assumed the presidency in early 2009. So, we will inevitably see a replay, probably with greater intensity, of the post-1992 and post-2008 campaigns to cripple, respectively, the presidencies of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump’s angry millions will also be primed to become avid viewers of Trump TV or whatever media venture Donald Trump (perhaps along with Breitbart news mogul Steve Bannon, official CEO of the Trump for President effort) might launch in 2017.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In other words, the rage that Donald Trump, Roger Stone, and others have provoked among Trump’s voter base can help monetize Trump’s new business model.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That business model will further vitiate sagging mainstream media outlets by bleeding off viewers, and it will further mainstream the toxic mix of populist rage, xenophobic nationalism, and rightwing conspiracy theory that helped propel Donald Trump to the 2016 Republican Presidential nomination in the first place.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And, it will help pave the way for Trump 2.0, whoever that may be.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It’s widely recognized that even if Donald Trump loses the 2016 election his candidacy has served as a terrifying proof-of-concept, of the fact that America appears primed for the rise of populist, rightwing authoritarianism.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But, how has this come to pass ? And is there a deeper story to be told ?</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy has underscored an emergent national crisis — Americans are splitting into two mutually hostile camps, each with its own, very different epistemic reality. Each camp has its own narrative, its own facts, its own reality.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One camp draws its set of facts almost exclusively the self-referential media ecosystem represented by Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and rightwing talk radio, and a swarm of insurgent Internet media entities — Breitbart News, the Drudge Report, the Daily Caller, The Blaze, World Net Daily, Infowars, and so on.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In that epistemic reality, it is taken as fact that President Barack Obama was not born an American citizen, is probably a secret Muslim, did not head the Harvard Law Review, and golfs more than any American president in history (he doesn’t.)</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There are many academics digging into the issue of how this happened.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One is sociologist and retired U.S. Army intelligence analyst James Scaminaci, who reports coming home to the U.S. in 2003 from assignments in Bosnia and Herzegovina — where he had analyzed the criminal and social networks behind the ongoing ethnic cleansing there — and discovering, to his dismay the impact that the politicized religious right was exerting in American politics</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By 2009, Scaminaci was writing extensively on the rise of the Tea Party movement and on the increasingly rancorous political climate in America – that Scaminaci considered pre-revolutionary (see this Salon.com interview with Scaminaci.)</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“What escapes these scholars,” writes Scaminaci, “is the idea that what they measure in their studies is the result of a deliberate strategy of destruction.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Tea Party-driven takeover of Congress and the Senate in 2010 closely resembled the Newt Gingrich-led 1994 Republican takeover of Congress which, like the 2010 takeover, led to government paralysis. It also enabled the Republican congressional impeachment of President Bill Clinton.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to scholars Norman Ornstein and Thomas Mann, “Gingrich delegitimized the Congress” which in turn “began the populist conservative hatred of government.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As it happens, Gingrich had been trained by one of the most important architects of the American religious right, Paul Weyrich, a man designated “The Robespierre of the Right” in a 2007 New Republic story and who co-founded (and arranged initial funding for) much of the movement’s early infrastructure. In 1996, Weyrich told PBS Frontline that he and Gingrich were “right now traveling down the same freeway”.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And, Weyrich was the very Christian right leader, according to James Scaminaci, who was “responsible for the development of the strategy of Fourth Generation Warfare–the central aim of which is to delegitimize the federal government.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At his influential Free Congress Foundation think tank, Weyrich was the longtime employer and close colleague of William S. Lind, a brilliant paleoconservative military strategist most responsible for the development of “Fourth Generation Warfare” (4GW), a style of warfare useful to insurgencies and terrorist groups that blurs civilian/combatant distinctions and uses a wide spectrum of tactics, from public relations and propaganda to outright violence.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The paramount goal of 4GW is the delegitimization of the targeted government or power structure.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">William Lind has publicly noted that multiple copies of his seminal 1989 US Marine Corps Gazette on 4GW were found in the Tora Bora, Afghanistan caves of al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Scholars both of al-Qaeda and Fourth Generation Warfare have also noted (see link, above) that the apparent inspiration for al-Qaeda’s grand strategy behind it’s devastating September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon seems to have come from William Lind’s 4GW ideas.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Since retiring from the U.S. Army in 2009, James Scaminaci has written an impressive body of academic monographs analyzing the rise of the Tea Party, and the contemporary insurgent American right, as an expression of Fourth Generation Warfare with the ultimate aim of overthrowing the existing American social and political order.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Scaminaci notes, of Donald Trump’s Republican Presidential nomination acceptance speech, that,</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Trump’s speech has been described as angry and dark, dystopian and desperate, apocalyptic, appealing to fear, a campaign of fear, a psychotic disorder, demagoguery, and America in crisis. But his remarks are entirely consistent with the tone and substance of Williams S. Lind’s Fourth Generation Warfare writings. Key passages speak to the question of legitimacy, specifically that President Obama or Secretary Clinton, or the unnamed federal government have failed to protect citizens from undocumented murdering immigrants and Muslim terrorists.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During the Spring of 2016, William S. Lind personally met with Donald Trump and gave Trump the 2009 book that Lind co-authored with the late Paul Weyrich, The Next Conservatism. The Lind/Weyrich book outlines a policy platform remarkably similar to the platform Donald Trump ran on in the 2016 GOP primaries.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The book also contains a several page explanation of Fourth Generation Warfare.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In his 105 page monograph titled The Free Congress Foundation’s Political-Military Strategy Documents, James Scaminaci traces some of the dense connections between William Lind’s ideas and the white nationalist right that played a major role in propelling Donald Trump to the 2016 GOP presidential nomination.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lind is author of the 2014 book Victoria — A Novel of Fourth Generation Warfare that favorably depicts white Christian militia insurgents toppling the federal government and carrying out mass ethnic cleansing.</font></font></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>