Roger Stone, Trump Ally, Found Guilty of Lying to Congress, Witness Tampering

    Brent Lang

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    Roger Stone was found guilty on Friday in his false statements and obstruction trial. He faces up to 20 years in prison. The political operative and long-time confidant of President Donald Trump was convicted by a federal jury in Washington, D.C., of all seven counts against him, including witness tampering and making false statements.

    After the verdict was handed down, President Trump took to Twitter to rail against the decision, painting it as part of a politically motivated series of attacks.

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    “So they now convict Roger Stone of lying and want to jail him for many years to come,” he tweeted. “Well, what about Crooked Hillary, Comey, Strzok, Page, McCabe, Brennan, Clapper, Shifty Schiff, Ohr & Nellie, Steele & all of the others, including even Mueller himself? Didn’t they lie? A double standard like never seen before in the history of our Country?”



    Stone has had a colorful history in Republican politics, working on the campaigns of Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and Bob Dole, and co-founding a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying firm with Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman who was convicted of tax and bank fraud in 2018. He has taken credit for playing a key role in many major political events, claiming to have organized Republican demonstrations during the 2000 Florida recount, while also being accused of helping to mastermind the infamous Willie Horton ad of 1988.

    Stone was accused of lying to Congress about his role in connecting with WikiLeaks about the leak of stolen emails from the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Stone did not take the stand during the trial. Prosecutors used Stone’s text and emails as they sought to establish that he had lied about his efforts to coordinate with WikiLeaks.

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