Steve Bannon and Roger Stone are trying to destroy each other
With just a day and a half remaining until the election, most of the focus this week has rightly been on last minute voter turnout efforts, and how the election results might turn out. But for certain people, this week is all about something else instead: trying to destroy each other. More specifically, this is the case for two – and perhaps more – of Donald Trump’s criminally culpable underlings.
Five days ago we learned from the Washington Post that Steve Bannon had recently come back in to testify to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team yet again, and this time the questions were all about Roger Stone. In other words, Mueller is about to indict and arrest Stone, and Bannon is trying to save himself by helping Mueller destroy Stone. But it turns out that’s only half the equation.
Four days ago we learned from Reuters that the Senate Intelligence Committee – the one committee coordinating with Mueller – is carrying out a bipartisan investigation into Steve Bannon’s own role in the Trump-Russia investigation. The timing here can’t be ignored: Bannon sold out Roger Stone under the apparent presumption that it might get him off the hook, and then one day later, Bannon learned that he’s a target too. If he incriminated himself during his Mueller testimony in the name of trying to incriminate Stone, it can and will be used against him. But it’s all still escalating.
Roger Stone is now openly taunting Steve Bannon about the turn of events, posting this on his Instagram account: “Now we know why this slob #stevebannon was trying to throw shade on me! Up to his ass in the illegal hacking of data from Facebook by Cambridge Analytica.” Stone isn’t wrong; Bannon looks screwed. But considering that Robert Mueller is using Bannon to take Stone down, Stone is the last person who should be gloating. At least Bannon has gotten a chance to plead his case. By all accounts, Mueller has shown zero interest in talking to Stone.
