A Court Filing in the Roger Stone Case Might Have Included Trump's Cell Phone Number
Although most of the Trump associates implicated in Robert Mueller's special counsel investigation have either, like Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to or, like Paul Manafort, been found guilty of the charges brought against them, one colorful figure in the president's inner circle is still fighting on. In January, longtime Republican operative Roger Stone, a man who literally has Richard Nixon's face tattooed on his back, was arrested in dramatic fashion in a predawn FBI raid at his home in Florida. And he's scheduled to go to trial this fall on charges of lying to Congress and obstructing a congressional investigation.
Last week, federal prosecutors and Stone's defense attorneys filed what is known as a joint pretrial statement in D.C. federal court. This document functions as a sort of logistical framework for the proceedings to come: evidentiary motions, lists of expert witnesses and exhibits, proposed jury instructions, and stipulations—uncontested facts about the case to which both sides agree. Even in high-profile matters, the contents of a joint pretrial statement are usually pretty straightforward. What is different about this one, though, is that among the stipulations filed with the court, the parties included what appears to be a cell phone number for President Donald Trump himself.
On Monday, the National Law Journal's Jacqueline Thomsen reported that the version filed Friday had disappeared from the court docket, and in its place had appeared a version marking the pages listing contact information as "restricted." However, as of noon on Tuesday, the document available on PACER—a public database of federal court cases—still included email addresses and/or phone numbers for Stone, Trump, Steve Bannon, and Paul Manafort, among other former aides and campaign advisors, in all their ten-digit glory. (I have redacted the exhibit as it appears in the actual filing.)
The number for "Donald Trump residence (NYC)" returned only a busy signal this morning. One of his purported work numbers rang to a general Trump Organization directory. The other was answered by the office of one "Ron Lieberman." In February, former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen told Congress that a senior Trump Organization official by that same name may know more about the president's alleged insurance fraud and bank fraud schemes. When I called the number listed as "Donald Trump cell," wondering if I might interrupt the commander-in-chief mid-tweet, I received an automated greeting inviting me to leave a voice message, followed by a second one informing me that the voice mailbox is, in fact, full.
As Thomsen points out, it isn't clear whether this contact information is current; the filing itself, for example, states that the phone numbers "were used" by the enumerated individuals, who may have switched to new ones in the intervening months. Even so, the inadvertent public disclosure of the President of the United States's direct dial is the sort of thing that probably made for a long, panicked weekend for the lawyers responsible for proofing this document.
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Originally Appeared on GQ
