Roger Stone ARRESTED: Key Trump election ally charged in Mueller Russia investigation
DONALD Trump’s election guru, Roger Stone, has been arrested in Florida after a being accused of lying by Robert Muller’s team when giving evidence into allegations of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.
Trump ally Roger Stone arrested in Muller Russia investigation
The 66-year-old was arrested on Thursday. Stone was a key PR adviser to Trump during his 2016 Presidential campaign. Stone, who was arrested in Florida on Thursday, faces one count of obstruction of an official proceeding, five counts of making false statements and one count of witness tampering, according to the Special Counsel's Office.
Stone has faced scrutiny for his support for Trump during the 2016 presidential election campaign, when Stone implied that he had inside knowledge of data obtained by hackers that could embarrass Democrats, including Trump's rival for the White House, Hillary Clinton.
The court indictment does not go into detail, claiming Stone made multiple false statements to the US House Intelligence Committee about his interactions with "organisation 1".
US prosecutors, in the indictment, said Stone had "sent and received numerous emails and text messages during the 2016 campaign in which he discussed Organisation 1, its head, and its possession of hacked emails."
The name of the organisation is not included, however, it matches the description of Wikileaks, which is dedicated to publishing secret and classified information provided by anonymous sources.
Stone still possessed many of those communications when he gave false testimony about them, prosecutors said in the indictment.
Stone also spoke to senior Trump Campaign officials about the organisation "and information it might have had that would be damaging to the Clinton Campaign," the indictment said. He was also "contacted by senior Trump Campaign officials to inquire about future releases" by the group, it added.
Stone has previously described himself as being on a “hit list” and said “Robert Mueller is coming for me”.
He has always denied any wrongdoing and has criticised the Special Counsel inquiry for targeting him because of his connections with Trump.
According to CNN, the FBI raided Stone’s house in Florida shortly after 6am ET (11.am GMT).
He will appear in court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, later today.
Representatives for Stone could not be immediately reached for comment.
Stone is a Republican veteran, having started his career as a campaign aide for Richard Nixon.
The longtime Republican adviser was one of the first to join Trump’s campaign team and played a pivotal role in his election strategy.
He has held no official role are a part of Trump’s team since he became President but has remained a close ally and advocate for his former boss’ policies.