This Is Why The Arrest Of Roger Stone Is Bad News For Trump – Explained For Brits

Why is he in trouble with the law?

The charges Stone faces mainly relate to an alleged relationship he had with Wikileaks around the time the whistle-blower group released stolen emails that seriously – some would argue fatally – damaged the campaign of Hillary Clinton.

The indictment against him lays out in detail Stone’s conversations about the stolen Democratic emails posted by WikiLeaks, which Mueller’s office has said were hacked by Russian intelligence officers.

It says the Trump campaign directed a senior campaign official to contact Stone after the WikiLeaks release of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and other groups on July 22, 2016.

That official, who is not named in court papers, asked Stone about additional releases and “what other damaging information” WikiLeaks had “regarding the Clinton campaign”, the indictment says.

It accuses him of witness tampering, obstruction and false statements about his interactions related to WikiLeaks’ release.

Some of the false statements were made to the House Intelligence Committee in at the US Congress.

Barbara McQuade, a former US Attorney, told Reuters: “The indictment was not unexpected, but it is still significant because it alleges coordination between the Trump Campaign and WikiLeaks.”

Stone has publicly condemned the Mueller investigation and echoed the president’s descriptions of it as a witch-hunt, but he has long attracted investigators’ attention, especially in light of a 2016 tweet that appeared to presage knowledge that emails stolen from Podesta would soon be released.

In that tweet, he said: ”Wednesday @HillaryClinton is done. #Wikileaks.”

Despite this, he has always said he had no inside information about the contents of the emails in WikiLeaks’ possession, or the timing of when they would be released.

Speaking outside court on Friday after being released on bail, Stone told reporters: “I will plead not guilty to these charges. I will defeat them in court.

“There is no circumstance whatsoever under which I will bear false witness against the president.”