Who is Roger Stone and Why is He Indicted by Mueller?

Who framed Roger Stone? This is a question the man himself recently asked on Instagram only to find himself in deep trouble with the law.

He is indicted on several charges pertaining to Special Council Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the election. Some might say he is need of a good attorney or lawyer. Stone is also subject to a gagging order which prevents him from speaking out. His Instagram post did not bode well with the judge and he was told if he spoke out again he could find himself in jail before his trial has even begun. So just who is Roger Stone? And why does he matter? 

Stone the Fighter

This kind of outspokenness even when it goes against due process and might land him in jail is typical of Roger Stone’s character. One of Stone’s many motos is ‘attack, attack, attack, never defend.’ 

Raised in an era when politics was relatively tame during the era of Harry. S. Truman and Dwight D.Eisenhower, Stone always wanted to stir the pot or shake things up. 

In the recent documentary ‘Get Me Roger Stone’, he recalled how a mock election was held at his elementary school in 1960. He decided to support John F. Kennedy, a Democrat, over Republican candidate Richard Nixon because he liked Kennedy’s hair better.

In order to sway his fellow classmates to vote for Kennedy, Stone told them in the lunch cafeteria that Nixon was proposing having school on Saturdays. As a result, Kennedy won the mock election in Stone’s home town. Stone discovered for the first time the power of spreading disinformation. 

Stone and Nixon

Stone soon did a U-turn and became a big supporter of Richard Nixon, going on to work for his campaign during his second successful attempt at the presidency in 1968. He was attracted to his beliefs in small government and his bullishness.

Stone became wrapped up in the Watergate investigation and was left out in the wilderness when Nixon was forced to resign in 1974. But Stone admired Nixon’s ability to attempt to reinvent himself even after he was pardoned. Stone has a huge collection of Nixon merchandise and a large tattoo of Nixon on his back.  

Stone the Lobbyist 

Stone set himself up as a political consultant or lobbyist in the 1980s after also helping to get Ronald Reagan elected, partnering with Paul Manafort and Rick Gates.

Their firm pushed the boundaries and blurred the line between a political consultant and a campaign manager, setting up the current lobbying climate where a president can largely only get elected if they agree to pursue a range of special interests. 

Who is Roger Stone to Trump?

Stone has known Trump since he was a property tycoon in the 1980s and encouraged him to run for president in the 1988 election as early as 1987. To Stone Trump was the perfect candidate. An outsider who was not politically correct. 

When Trump decided to run in 2015, Stone largely managed his campaign, along with his former busniness partners Paul Manafort, recently jailed, as part of the Mueller investigation, and Rick Gates, who also pleaded guilty to offenses relating to the Russia investigation.

The official charges against Stone, arrested in January 2019, are five counts of making false statements, witness tampering and obstructing an official proceeding. Other newspapers and Trump’s disgraced former lawyer Michael Cohen have alleged that Stone acted as a middle man between Wikileaks and the Russians who hacked Hilary Clinton’s campaign and Trump himself. 

Mueller’s End Game

So many senior members of Trump’s election campaign have been indicted or arrested it is hard not to wonder if Trump will resign or forced out of office by the revelations in the Mueller report. 

Whether a sitting president can be indicted for a federal crime is a hot topic of constitutional law which you can read about and view here.

Did Stone Cross The Line?

Most people ask who is Roger Stone? The answer is that Roger Stone is a man who pushes boundaries. He always claims he pushes the boundaries as far as they will go but never does anything illegal. Yet in his obsession with getting Trump elected to the presidency, did Roger Stone lose his way and break the law?

Stone’s idol, Trump, always claims he’s a self-made man yet he had a loan of $1 million from his father that helped him go big. Although we aren’t all that lucky you can help yourself. So check our busniness advice blog for tips on how to improve your business.