Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

I did not have telepathic declassification on my 2022 bingo card.

Americans barely caring about Afghanistan is so last month.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

“But what about the lurkers?”

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

In my day, never was longer.

I really should read my own blog.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Friday Night Films: Roger Stone, Criminal Conspirator

Friday Night Films: Roger Stone, Criminal Conspirator

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Roger Stone, (once again) taking notes on a criminal f*cking conspiracy:

As a mob ransacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Roger Stone, Donald Trump’s longest-serving political adviser, hurried to pack a suitcase inside his elegant suite on the fifth floor of the Willard hotel. He wrapped his tailored suits in trash bags, reversed his black face mask so its “Free Roger Stone” logo was hidden, then slipped out of town for a hastily arranged private flight from Dulles International Airport.

“I really want to get out of here,” Stone told an aide, as they were filmed at the hotel by a Danish camera crew for a documentary on the veteran Republican operative. Stone said he feared prosecution by the incoming attorney general, Merrick Garland. “He is not a friend,” Stone said…

Stone privately coordinated post-election protests with prominent figures, and in January he communicated by text message with leaders of far-right groups that had been involved in the attack on the Capitol, the footage shows. The filmmakers did not capture conversations between Stone and Trump, but on several occasions, Stone told them or his associates that he remained in contact with the president…

On the day of the attack, as he packed his bags, Stone told the filmmakers the riot was a mistake and would be “really bad” for the pro-Trump movement.

On the eve of the 2020 election, however, he seemed to welcome the prospect of clashes with left-wing activists. In a recorded conversation, as an aide spoke of driving trucks into crowds of racial justice protesters, Stone said: “Once there’s no more election, there’s no reason why we can’t mix it up. These people are going to get what they’ve been asking for.”…


Thing is, for some reason, none of these conspirators trusted each other; they were all working independent grifts, and doing their best to block everyone else’s access to the Big Man…

Stone moved quickly after Trump’s defeat to help mobilize the protest movement that drew thousands to the nation’s capital on Jan. 6, 2021, The Post found. He privately strategized with former national security adviser Michael Flynn and rally organizer Ali Alexander, who visited Stone’s home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in late November 2020 for a dinner where Stone served pasta and martinis.

A few hours before the Jan. 6 attack, the video shows, a member of the far-right Oath Keepers group — who has since pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy — was in Stone’s suite at the Willard. Other rooms in the same hotel were used as a “command center” by Trump’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani and other advisers involved in the fractious battle to overturn the election. Stone was not part of their effort, the footage indicates, and he said he feared that top organizers were trying to exclude him from the rally…

After he left Washington, Stone lobbied for Trump to enact the “Stone Plan” — a blanket presidential pardon to shield himself, Trump’s allies in Congress and “the America First movement” from prosecution for trying to overturn the election, according to the footage and additional documents reviewed by The Post.

But the plan, along with a bid by Stone to win pardons for other Trump backers including convicted mobsters, was ultimately thwarted by White House counsel Pat Cipollone, Stone said in several conversations that were filmed…

In an Inauguration Day call with a friend, Stone directed his rage at the man who had confided in him and consulted with him for decades, denouncing Trump as “a disgrace” and expressing support for him to be impeached. “He betrayed everybody,” Stone said…

At home on Inauguration Day, wearing a microphone but out of view, Stone ranted to Alejandro about Kushner, whom he also blamed for his plan’s failure. Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, had recently bought a $32 million lot on Indian Creek Island, a gated village in Biscayne Bay off Miami, and rented a condo nearby.

“In two weeks he’s moving to Miami,” Stone told Alejandro, before whispering: “He’s going to get a beating. He needs to have a beating. And needs to be told, ‘This time we’re just beating you. Next time we’re killing you.’ ” Aware the filmmakers were nearby, Alejandro urged Stone to say he was joking. “No, no, it isn’t joking. Not joking. It’s not a joke,” Stone replied…

And Stone unloaded on Donald Trump, saying he had betrayed his friends, deserved to be impeached and was the “greatest single mistake in American history.”..

Though months later he would support a possible Trump bid for the White House in 2024, on Inauguration Day he mocked the idea. “Run again! You’ll get your f—ing brains beat in,” Stone said.

After ending the call, he turned to the filmmakers. “Obviously if you use any of that, I’ll murder you,” he said.

There’s a lot to unpick in this rat king…

Reader Interactions

113Comments

  1. 1.

    Yarrow

    The Gaetz case is perhaps FAR bigger than imagined.

    Only for people who haven’t been paying attention or who are paid to not see.

  2. 2.

    Mike in NC

    Whenever the name Roger Stone is mentioned, people need to be reminded that the odious right wing hack Marc Thiessen used to work for him (and also Jesse Helms).

  4. 4.

    trollhattan

    Boy howdy, our Trumper county sheriff has been recruiting the Best People for a long while.

    A Sacramento County sheriff’s captain who served nearly 18 months as Rancho Cordova’s police chief retired last year amid an investigation into her alleged sharing of a racist meme and use of homophobic slurs, the local NAACP chapter said this week.

    Kate Adams retired in September as chief of the Rancho Cordova Police Department, which operates under a contract with the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office and is staffed by its deputies. Betty Williams, president of the Greater Sacramento chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said in a letter to Sheriff Scott Jones that she has been made aware that Adams was “placed on an extended administrative leave” before her retirement. The extended leave, Williams wrote, came after Adams sent “racially charged” pictures via text message “to many other Sheriff’s Department employees.”

    The NAACP letter, dated Thursday and forwarded Friday morning to The Sacramento Bee, includes a copy of the racist image in question.
    https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article259055368.html#storylink=cpy

  6. 6.

    Kay

    Ferdinando Giugliano
    @FerdiGiugliano
    · 1h
    Italy’s police has just seized “Lady M Yacht” – a €65m yacht belonging to Alexey Alexandrovits Mordaschov located in Imperia (Liguria) – in compliance with the recent EU sanctions.

    Is that the name? Lady M Yacht?

  7. 7.

    Jeffro

    Amazing that such a relatively small gang of lowlifes and morons could, you know, almost overthrow our government.  Seems like something we ought to address.

  8. 8.

    Ohio Mom

    I’ve never like what I call “spy” movies or books, you know, the dark thrillers with spies and double agents and convoluted plot lines. It’s been discouraging to me these past few years to realize we are living in one.

    I mean, is there a bigger character than Roger Stone, living large in his carefully considered wardrobe, and the way he pops up throughout the years, always engaged in assisting in some dastardly undertaking, and so far, escaping scot free? I guess when can hope for the sequel where he finally gets caught and punished.

  10. 10.

    Jeffro

    @Kay: Italy too??!

    EVERYONE’s getting in on the act!  LOL

    (on a more serious note, it’s great that these yachts are being seized one at a time, by many different countries.  Yes, I know they are in many different countries.  I’m talking about the strategy here)

  13. 13.

    p.a.

    Will Stone claim he misquoted himself?  “Fake self-incrimination!”

    Roger’s continuing existence is proof that any and all religion is b.s.

  14. 14.

    Martin

    @trollhattan: If sharing racist memes by cops is disqualifying, we won’t need to defund the police – they’ll lose well over half of their officers by that alone.

  16. 16.

    Calouste

    @Jeffro: Italy actually seized two at the same time more or less, in the same port. Although the second one is technically blocked and not seized yet.

  17. 17.

    prostratedragon

    @Jeffro:  Relatively small, and hard to eliminate under present laws unless they go all the way as Stone and Manafort have.  We have to figure out how to get the ratfuckers under control.  (A better class of politician would help,  but I didn’t just get here.)

  21. 21.

    Ken

    I’m getting kind of a Far Side vibe here, along the lines of:

    WHAT STONE SAYS: I should get pardoned, and so should all the other conspirators, and I’m going to have Kushner beaten and killed, and Trump is a disgrace, and I’m going to murder this film crew…

    WHAT TRUMP HEARS: blah blah blah blah blah blah Trump is a disgrace blah blah blah blah…

  22. 22.

    Ken

    @Calouste: What’s involved with blocking a yacht? For some reason I’m imagining a giant parking boot attached to its propeller.

  25. 25.

    NotMax

    Picture the inside of Stone’s head as resembling something M.C. Escher tossed off while in a high state of inebriation and when eventually sobered up summarily rejected as too weird.

  27. 27.

    Ramalama

    I’m thinking of the Borat movie that shows Rudy on film doing shaking things with and in his pants.

    Wonder if there’s footage of Roger doing something like thatnotthatIdliketoseeohgodno.

  30. 30.

    Jeffro

    @Kay: Fox News headline: “WHAT’S TAKING BIDEN SO LONG TO SEIZE ‘OUR’ YACHT?!??  WEAK!!”

    these people…ugh…

    I understand Laura Ingraham was at it again last night, trying to say there’s nothing wrong with continuing to buy Russian oil/gas and also Biden’s letting China ‘win’.

  34. 34.

    Jeffro

    @Calouste:Italy actually seized two at the same time more or less, in the same port. Although the second one is technically blocked and not seized yet.

    ambitious!  I like it!  What’s “Rome’s gonna rise again” in Latin?

  35. 35.

    The Dangerman

    I’d have a hard time looking myself in the mirror. Sadly, I have a conscience.

    Add him to the list of post burial piss jobs. Road trip!

  36. 36.

    NotMax

    @TeezySkeezy

    Competent minds and all that.

    Although “what we have here is a vessel gap” would have worked much better had I chewed on it for another minute.

    ;).

  37. 37.

    Yarrow

    @Ramalama: Well, Roger and his wife are swingers with ads and pictures you can see if you want. So yeah, there’s probably plenty of video somewhere.

  41. 41.

    Chyron HR

    @Kay:

    Is that the name? Lady M Yacht?

    “In America, perverts say M’lady, but in Russia, they say Lady M.”

  42. 42.

    Calouste

    @Ken: I’d guess it purely administrative.

    The yacht that’s been seized is this one : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_M_(yacht)

    Now I don’t know much about yachts, but

    1) that’s a heck of a lot of communications thingies on top

    2) Is a vessel really ocean going if the stern is only about 3 feet above the waterline?

  43. 43.

    trollhattan

    @tom:
    Lobbyist for one thing, Donny was an early client.

    Stone was for many years a lobbyist for Donald Trump on behalf of his casino business[24] and also was involved in opposing expanded casino gambling in New York State, a position that brought him into conflict with Governor George Pataki.

    Ran a boatload of campaigns, and we know what cash cows those can be.

  44. 44.

    Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]

    @tom: Well I think one of his client’s checks are suddenly no longer able to be cashed right now…….

  46. 46.

    germy

    After he left Washington, Stone lobbied for Trump to enact the “Stone Plan” — a blanket presidential pardon to shield himself, Trump’s allies in Congress and “the America First movement” from prosecution for trying to overturn the election, according to the footage and additional documents reviewed by The Post.

    But the plan, along with a bid by Stone to win pardons for other Trump backers including convicted mobsters, was ultimately thwarted by White House counsel Pat Cipollone, Stone said in several conversations that were filmed…

    I thought Trump pardoned Roger Stone.  What am I missing here? (WaPo article is behind a paywall for me)

  48. 48.

    Felanius Kootea

    @germy: ​
     
    He pardoned him for old crimes. Not for new, trying to overturn a valid election, crimes.

  52. 52.

    prostratedragon

    @mrmoshpotato:  Wow, really! Saw it in theater with The Other Gillian Anderson conducting the score that she recreated.  Increased my appreciation of silent movies.

  54. 54.

    Mike S (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!)

    @Ken:  I hope that’s what TFG hears and cant ever forget! Hahahaha!

  56. 56.

    Searcher

    @Calouste: Not really a boat person, but AFAIK that low back part can’t take on water, it’s basically the yacht’s dock for smaller boats to tie up to so you can board.

  57. 57.

    Ken

    @WaterGirl:  How many of these yachts are really spy ships?

    All of them, Katie.

    Just kidding. The one the Norwegians seized was a sabotage ship, equipped to cut underwater cables IIRC.

  58. 58.

    Geminid

    @germy: The pardon was on a charge brought by Robert Mueller’s team. During the summer of 2016 Stne “left” the Trump campaign. He was Trump’s liason with the Russians, a “cutout,” so to speak. Mueller’s people could not break Stone, and thus were unable to get hard evidence of Trump’s collusion. They were able to convict Stone on perjury, I think, maybe other charges. Trump pardoned Stone for these crimes

    Stone is fighting a civil lawsuit filed against him last April by the justice Department, at the behest of the IRS. They are asking for a tax judgement of almost $2 million dollars.

  59. 59.

    sab

    @schrodingers_cat: Totally OT . Do you have an opinion about Vikram Seth? I loved “The Golden Gate.” Pushkin verse in English about San Franciscans.  I actually cried at the end. Which made me very receptive to “A Suitable Boy” which I also loved. First fiction about India by an Indian that this American has ever read. Seemed to me like a longish Jane Austen novel.

  61. 61.

    Searcher

    @Ken: If your luxury yacht is also used for business, like cutting undersea cables, you can write the whole thing off like a home office.

  62. 62.

    Ken

    @Felanius Kootea: He wishes the pardon covered future misdeeds.

    I still think there’s a chance that Trump will try to claim he pardoned himself in office for all future crimes, using a special double-secret pardon that didn’t have to be announced or even written down.

  63. 63.

    Ken

    @Searcher: Yeah, but be careful; the IRS has really cracked down on the home office deduction. You have to designate which parts of the yacht are used for cutting cables, and which are used for hedonistic cocaine-fueled orgies, and never mix them up.

  64. 64.

    trnc

    @Baud: I would like to get paid not to see. Seems like a job I can do pretty well.

    I dunno, man. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve said, “Welp, can’t unsee that.”

  66. 66.

    catclub

    @Jeffro: trying to say there’s nothing wrong with continuing to buy Russian oil/gas

     

    That would depend.  Can you get it super cheap?

    I think politicians are going slow on that because they are not sure who will get blamed for MUCH higher gas prices. Russia and its war? Our politicians?

  68. 68.

    NotMax

    Teeny tiny violin time.

    Russia-backed news outlet RT America reportedly ceased productions and laid off most of its staff, according to a memo from T&R Productions, the production company behind the Russian state-funded network, obtained by CNN on Thursday.

    In a memo to staff, Misha Solodovnikov, the general manager of T&R Productions, reportedly said that the Russia-backed outlet will be “ceasing production” at all of its locations “as a result of unforeseen business interruption events.” Source

  71. 71.

    catclub

    @tom: ​
     

    What is Stone’s source of income? He doesn’t seem to have a regular job. Who funds him?

    Stone, Black and Manafort probably generated a ton of money to live on over the past 40 years.

  73. 73.

    Ken

    @WaterGirl: It was mentioned in comments here a couple of days ago. I don’t think there was a link to a news report, though; so it could have been one of those “I just saw this in the Book of Lies Faces” things.

  76. 76.

    germy

    just bought a snickers bar and the dick vein is gone. the woke mobs took away the snickers dick vein. they have taken everything from us

    — juniper (@meowmeowmeuw) March 4, 2022

  77. 77.

    debbie

    I can’t think of a single photo I’ve seen of Roger Stone where his mouth is shut.

  80. 80.

    Miss Bianca

    @NotMax:

    the Russia-backed outlet will be “ceasing production” at all of its locations “as a result of unforeseen business interruption events.”

    For understatement, it’s hard to beat “The war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan’s advantage” but damn…that RT statement comes close.

    @prostratedragon: and you got there first! LOL!

  81. 81.

    Geminid

    @Yarrow: Someone replying to Mr. Snell’s Tweet about Gaetz, Greenberg and Stone said that it is more likely that Stone is tied to Gaetz’s and Greenberg’s crimes than that Greenberg is tied to January 6. Or, the connection might be Gaetz and Greenberg’s efforts to win pardons during Trump’slast days in office. Stone might have tried to broker them.

    •     Joel Greenberg is the key witness against his former party buddy Gaetz. A former county tax collector, Greenberg pled guilty to multiple felonies related to embezzlement, bribes etc. He’s already agreed to make restitution of over a million dollars.

    Last October the federal judge overseeing Greenberg’s case agreed to postpone sentencing until this month. Prosecutors said evidence was leading them in directions they had not anticipated. Since then Gaetz’s former girlfriend has been seen entering the grand jury room, and a friend of Greenberg’s, radio show host “Big Joe” Ellicott, has pled guilty to a charge of drug distribution. Reports are that thousands of dollars of Adderall were involved. The same judge who will sentence Greenberg will sentence “Big Joe.”

    •     And now Greenberg’s sentencing has been put off until May! This will drive some people crazy. But I’m hoping that prosecutors are wrapping Gaetz up so tight on so many felony counts that the best lawyers his rich father can buy can’t prevent convictions.
  82. 82.

    germy

    To protest Russia’s actions I simply have no choice but to destroy this souvenir doll I got from Moscow!

    *pulls doll apart* …what the…

    *pulls doll apart* …no way

    *pulls doll apart* oh you gotta be you fucking kidding me

    — Fairy Gothmother, MD (@jenny2x4) March 4, 2022

  86. 86.

    sab

    My high school boy friend was gay. Not out at at all.  But as a  girl in the sixties or seventies if he kept his paws to himself he was gay.

    s

  87. 87.

    Kathleen

    @NotMax: That is so perfect. Al Giordano mentioned a movie I saw in the 60’s called “The Russians Are Coming The Russians Are Coming. Funny pic with a stellar cast. I’ll bet you remember it? I keep meaning to check out where it’s available for viewing.

  88. 88.

    Faithful Lurker

    Who is the man with the badge and the shoulder holster in the photo with Stone?

  89. 89.

    artem1s

    Thing is, for some reason, none of these conspirators trusted each other; they were all working independent grifts, and doing their best to block everyone else’s access to the Big Man

    And they documented everything they were doing to the nth degree so everyone knew who grift was whose. Sounds like Nazi’s to me.

    Snark aside, does anyone doubt that Stone gave access to these filmmakers because he saw himself as taking part in some epic Triumph of the Will moment? And wanted it documented for posterity?

  93. 93.

    Martin

    UK oil worker union told workers they can’t unload Russian oil off of a ship regardless how it’s flagged. Currently refusing to offload a German tanker full of Russian oil. Pretty sure this will get sorted out, but shows the institutional risks building up.

  94. 94.

    JoyceH

    @artem1s: That’s the best thing about these comical little two-bit grifters like Stone – their absolute conviction that they Bestride History Like A Colossus. A truly professional gangster wouldn’t dream of cooperating with a documentary crew!

  97. 97.

    Ohio Mom

    @tom: That’s what I mean about Stone being out of a thriller, those guys don’t have obvious sources of income either.

    Note to Schroedinger’s Cat, No, don’t like murder mysteries either.

  98. 98.

    NotMax

    File under “Everything old is new again.”

    The BBC is resorting to broadcasting news bulletins over shortwave radio in Russia after the country blocked access to BBC websites, The Guardian reports. The BBC announced it was bringing back the WWII-era broadcasting technology in the region just hours before its sites were banned. News of the ban was also reported by Russian state news agency RIA. Source

  99. 99.

    laura

    @Kay: A friendly reminder that Delk has called dibs on a yatch and hopefully, the US will close the yatch seizure gap and Delk can claim it because dibs was called fair and square.

  101. 101.

    NotMax

    @Ohio Mom

    If you’ve never read it, hard to put Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose* down. Ditto for Caleb Carr’s The Alienist**.

    Not your run of the mill murder tomes.

    *Movie was okay but nowhere as suspenseful as the book.
    ** Sorely disappointed by the primarily emphatically salacious TV adaptation, ditched watching it early on.
    .

  102. 102.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: There was a wild article about Gaetz wingman-turned-prosecution witness Joel Greenberg in Politico titled “The Congressman and his Wingman” April 6 2021. Greenburg was the elected Tax Collector for Seminole County. He commited all kinds of finance-related crimes, also used his cyber skills to try to frame an enemy for sex crimes.

    Greenberg used his office’s equipment to make numerous fake IDs. Once, security footage showed Greenberg and Gaetz skulking around the Tax Collector’s office after hours. Gaetz later explained that he had lost his wallet, so his friend was making a new ID, but it turned out he didn’t need it because he found his wallet again.

    One of Greenberg’s lesser misdeeds was using $90,000 in taxpayer funds to buy  a Bitcoin mining machine. When he set it up in his personal office it blew the circuit breaker. So he had the machine set up in a different office where it didn’t blow the breaker, it started a fire.

    The reporter interviewed a number of Greenberg’s friends and acquaintences. One, a well known Florida trial lawyer and Democratic donor, had known Greenberg since he was a kid. The lawyer said that Greenberg is very intelligent, but “he’s on the line between genius and crazy. He’s that guy.”

  104. 104.

    laura

    @sab: Both those Vikram Seth books are beautiful, lush and wrt the Golden Gate, a deeply satisfying prose piece. Highly recommend along with you.

  110. 110.

    James E Powell

    @NotMax:

    If you’ve never read it, hard to put Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose* down.

    Agree about the Sean Connery movie. There is a John Turturro mini-series on AMC+ that I’ve been meaning to watch, but want to binge it so I need to find time.

  113. 113.

    waspuppet

    “The Stone Plan.”

    ”Pardon everybody” is not a plan. But Stone’s too stupid to know that, I guess.

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