Roger Stone changes his story, further incriminates Donald Trump
Yesterday, Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted twelve Russian government spies for stealing Democratic Party secrets during the election and passing them along to an unnamed Donald Trump associate, among other people. It was almost immediately clear that the Trump associate in question was Roger Stone. This prompted Stone to issue a denial which unwittingly incriminated Donald Trump in the process. Now Stone is admitting it’s indeed him in the indictment, further incriminating Trump.
Roger Stone initially responded to the Mueller indictments by telling CNN that he couldn’t be the Trump associate in question because his only Trump campaign contact was Donald Trump himself. In the process, Stone revealed that if he received stolen data from the Russians and he passed it along to the campaign, he gave it directly to Trump. Was it a panicked mistake? Was Stone purposely ratting out Trump as a way of trying to secure a plea deal?
Then late last night, Roger Stone admitted to CNN that he is indeed the Trump associate referenced in the indictment. He’s still denying that his communications with Russian hacker Guccifer 2.0 were criminal in nature. But when you combine his acknowledgment that he stands accused of having passed stolen intel from the Kremlin to the Trump campaign, and his assertion that his only contact with the Trump campaign was Donald Trump himself, we’re now looking at a whole new ballgame.
Robert Mueller only has to do two things in order to prove that Donald Trump was in on the Trump-Russia plot to alter the outcome of the election. First, he has to prove that Roger Stone did indeed receive stolen intel from the Russians. Electronic records should be able to prove this definitively. Second, he has to prove that Stone did indeed pass the intel along to his Trump campaign contact, Donald Trump. This could be trickier, as Trump doesn’t use email. Stone has previously claimed there’s a FISA wiretap against him. If this is true, Mueller could already have their phone calls.
