YouTube takes down Roger Stone’s channel after FBI fingers him in Donald Trump-Russia scandal
Six days ago, Roger Stone was exposed as one of four Donald Trump campaign advisers who allegedly colluded with Russian intel officers by phone during the election, with the FBI now investigating all four of them over the matter. Now, YouTube has suddenly taken down Roger Stone’s channel, apparently making all of his existing videos inaccessible to the public and enraging him in the process, raising eyebrows as to the reason why.
“It begins,” Stone complained this evening via his Twitter account. “YouTube takes down my channel w/o explanation.” It’s possible that this was the result of some kind of technical glitch, or that Stone violated YouTube’s terms of service and is being punished for that reason. But with Stone claiming that he’s received no explanation from YouTube as to why his channel was taken down, it raises the question of whether this is connecting to the deepening FBI investigation into his role in the Trump-Russia scandal.
Back on February 14th, the New York Times published a report on Roger Stone, as well as his fellow Donald Trump campaign advisers Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, and Carter Page. It alleged that all four had been caught on a wiretap colluding with Russian intelligence officers, and that all four were being investigated by the FBI for it.
To the best of our knowledge Flynn, Manafort and Page never had YouTube channels to begin with, so it’s not yet clear whether YouTube’s takedown of Roger Stone’s channel this evening may be related to the deepening FBI investigation into the four men over Russia. But Stone’s assertion tonight that “It begins!” suggests that he believes a crackdown is underway.
Not My President • Impeach Trump Now
Bill Palmer is the publisher of the political news outlet Palmer Report