Roger Stone, a longtime friend and confidant of President Donald Trump, pleaded not guilty to charges of witness tampering, lying to Congress and obstructing its investigation into Russian interference with the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Stone, 66, entered his plea Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson in Washington. Robinson scheduled the next hearing for Feb. 1 before U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson.
Stone said in court that he understood he’s required to appear for the next hearing — and nothing more. His lawyer entered the not guilty plea on his behalf.
The brief court appearance was the self-described political dirty trickster’s first in Washington since his arrest and indictment last week. Stone showed up later that day before a federal magistrate in Fort Lauderdale, who released him on a $250,000 bond.
The case is being handled jointly by Special Counsel Robert Mueller and the U.S. attorney in Washington.
The indictment alleges that officials in Trump campaign took an active interest in information stolen from Democratic National Committee computers and in the emails of Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta, and when they would be made public by WikiLeaks. Mueller is probing Russian interference in the 2016 election and Trump campaign’s possible involvement. Stone worked as a campaign official in 2015 and remained in contact after leaving.
Click here for more on the last-minute lawyer shuffling before the hearing
In June and July 2016, he allegedly told some of the president’s senior campaign officials about information in WikiLeaks’ possession that could be damaging to the Clinton campaign.
According to the indictment, after WikiLeaks’ July 22, 2016, release of some of the emails stolen from the DNC, “a senior Trump campaign official was directed to contact Stone about any additional releases and what other damaging information,” the entity led by Julian Assange had.
Stone is accused of lying to House intelligence committee members about his communications, through intermediaries, with Assange before the election.
‘Person 1’
He’s also accused of lying to the House committee about whether he was still in possession of email and text messages he exchanged with those intermediaries, who are not themselves charged with any crimes. One of those men is author and conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi, who confirmed he is the unnamed “Person 1” in the indictment.
The other unnamed intermediary, identified in the filing only as “Person 2,” is radio host Randy Credico, who was subpoenaed to testify before the House committee and later appeared before Mueller’s Washington grand jury. Stone pressured Credico to avoid contradicting his prior committee testimony, either by lying or asserting his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, according to the filing.
“You are a rat. A stoolie. You backstab your friends — run your mouth, my lawyers are dying Rip you to shreds,” Stone allegedly told Credico in an April 9, 2018, message threatening to take away the radio host’s dog, Bianca. In a later message that day, he added, “I am so ready. Let’s get it on. Prepare to die [expletive].”
