Can we get a re-write on todays script?
🚨BREAKING: Roger Stone Spoke With NYPD Cop Pal About Assassinating Eric Swalwell and Jerry Nadler in November 2020
ITS ON TAPE. https://t.co/rCgqtpdGkx
— Spiro’s Ghost (@AntiToxicPeople) January 8, 2024
Weeks before the 2020 presidential election, infamous political operative Roger Stone sat across from his associate Sal Greco at a restaurant in Florida.
At the time, Greco was an NYPD cop working security for Stone on the side. Their conversation, at Caffe Europa in Fort Lauderdale, focused on two House Democrats for whom Stone harbors particular animosity, Jerry Nadler and Eric Swalwell.
In audio of the conversation obtained exclusively by Mediaite, Stone made threatening comments about the two lawmakers.
A source familiar with the discussion told Mediate they believed Stone’s remarks were serious. “It was definitely concerning that he was constantly planning violence with an NYPD officer and other militia groups,” the source said.
Both Nadler and Swalwell serve on the House Judiciary Committee. At the time of the Caffe Europa conversation, Nadler had announced the committee would be investigating then-President Donald Trump’s decision to commute Stone’s sentence after he was convicted of federal crimes in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe.
“A jury found Roger Stone guilty,” Nadler wrote on Twitter in July 2020. “By commuting his sentence, President Trump has infected our judicial system with partisanship and cronyism and attacked the rule of law. @House Judiciary will conduct an aggressive investigation into this brazen corruption.”
The source told Mediaite of Stone: “Stone had been at war with Nadler and Swalwell for years. He just hates them.”
“He just wanted to get Trump back into office so these things would stop,” the source added.
Stone was convicted of obstruction, witness tampering, and lying to Congress in the Mueller investigation. Prosecutors sought a nine-year prison sentence for the longtime Republican operative, but Trump’s Justice Department reportedly intervened to impose a less severe sentence. Stone’s sentence was eventually commuted by Trump days before reporting to prison.
The intervention from the Justice Department prompted Aaron Zelinsky, the prosecutor and Mueller deputy who led the case against Stone, to recuse himself from the case in protest. Mediaite reported last week that Stone was caught on tape in December 2020 urging Greco to “punish” Zelinsky.
“He needs to be punished,” Stone told Greco in the audio. “You have to abduct him and punish him. That has to be done. It will be easy to abduct him because he is a weakling.”
Stone denied making those comments, claiming they were generated by AI. He has previously claimed videos of his comments are actually “deep fakes.” In response to a request for comment on the remarks aimed at Swalwell and Nadler, Stone said, “Total nonsense. I’ve never said anything of the kind more AI manipulation. You asked me to respond to audios that you don’t let me hear and you don’t identify a source for. Absurd.”
Greco did not deny the comments, but said in a text to Mediaite: “I don’t think your reader is interested in ancient political fodder.”
Greco, who acted as security for Stone and was with the operative during the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol soon after the 2020 election, was fired by the NYPD over his association with Stone. An NYPD spokesperson confirmed to Mediaite that Greco was terminated in August 2022.
🌼
This strikes me as mark shit being thrown at the wall to see what sticks.
NEW: Trump co-defendant Mike Roman moves to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, alleging that she “has been engaged in an improper, clandestine personal relationship” with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, who she appointed to lead the RICO prosecution. pic.twitter.com/8Ss8iuKNmZ
— Anna Bower (@AnnaBower) January 8, 2024
Anything else interesting happen today? I have been mostly working, not playing. We did have an 8 am vet appointment for Mr. Bear to check on his infection. After 28 days of antibiotics, it’s not totally healed, so we have another 14 days. At least it’s a lot better than it was. Aiming for glass half full, here.
Open Thread: Biden Speech in Charleston, SC
Alison Rose
what the motherfuck
eta although I am curious how Mediaite happened to obtain audio of this…was one of the other people there recording the conversation? Why did they offer it up now? And why to this site?
Baud
From the last thread
TBone
OMFG the name is Sal Greco? Who are the writers today?
bbleh
O my. No surprise re Stone. One hopes a prosecutor will take interest in what sounds like it might be conspiracy to commit murder? Perhaps Mr. Greco might be convinced that it would be in his interest to provide more detail? At least lean on them a little, even if there’s no more there than just some sh!t-talking. Please?
Concur re Roman motion. File with motion intended to hold Jack Smith in contempt. One suspects they feel the walls closing in. (Anybody tracking ketchup bottle orders to Mag-A-Lardo?)
WaterGirl
I beg to differ!
edit: DOJ: “Good luck with that.” At least I hope that will be the DOJ take on this.
Nukular Biskits
Good evenin’, y’all!
Stormin’ down here on the Coast.
bbleh
@Nukular Biskits: forecasting up to gale force on the mid-Atlantic coast. Batten down the hatches, folks!
WaterGirl
I sure hope the experts are still able to tell real tape from fake ones.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: This administration has been the most prolabor administration in decades and yet Biden gets almost no credit from loud lefties that dominate blogs and social media spaces and even newsrooms.
Josie
@Nukular Biskits:
Also here in Houston. We’re under severe storm and tornado watch until 9 tonight.
Nukular Biskits
Roger Stone is a slimy bastard whose inevitable passing will be mourned only by those of us who wish it had happened sooner.
Betty Cracker
A dear friend lives near Caffé Europa, and I’ve eaten there lots of times. Highly recommended! But now I’ll have to be on the lookout for Stone so I can accidentally dump a plate of piping hot pasta on his misshapen head!
Nukular Biskits
@Josie:
Been credible (with video) reports of hail areas around here.
Martin
Large explosion in downtown Fort Worth. No cause provided yet.
Looks like it might have been a gas leak in a commercial building from the photos.
bbleh
@schrodingers_cat: I do not believe that most people who most benefit from this Administration’s policies either are entirely unaware of what’s happening or share the opinions of the loudest of the commentariat. I trust, however, that the Biden people will keep reminding everyone. “Vote for me cuz I did good things for you and the other guy will fk you over” is … not entirely a bad message.
Baud
@Martin:
cain
@schrodingers_cat: and they get attention because the Media loves anything anti-Biden or anti-Democrat.
cain
BTW – that door that fell from the Alaska Airlines? Yeah, it landed about 500 ft from our house. lol. The people who found the cell phone – that was across the green space from our house.
You know what I’m glad bout? That it was only a fucking door – imagine it was human beings who had fallen to their death. 😱
Jertian
@Nukular Biskits: When Roger Stone dies, I’d piss on his grave except I’m afraid he’d enjoy it…
Baud
@cain:
Wow.
Almost Retired
@Baud: This is a big deal in my world (employee-side labor law). California completely upended independent contractor law a few years ago, curbing massive abuse of IC status that denied hundreds of thousands of California workers benefits and basic labor law protection. Not coincidentally, it was a nice boon for labor lawyers, but I digress. Looks like federal rules will follow the CA model. It’s a big fucking Biden deal.
lollipopguild
@schrodingers_cat: If Biden makes all of the things they bark about go away then they go out of business. There are plenty of gop and cons who wanted Roe to go on forever so they could raise money off of it.
Martin
@Baud: Yeah, looked like a gas explosion. Very clean. Gas explosions happen with a specific air/gas mixture and the result usually burns off all of the gas quickly and does most of its damage through the resulting pressure wave. Lots of damage – broken glass, structural damage because we don’t design structures to be strong against internal pressure so buildings just pop apart, but usually no residual fires (other than the source of the gas leak which manages itself as it equilibrates with the available oxygen).
Glad that’s all it was.
Jackie
Good, good!
Martin
@Almost Retired: I wonder if it’ll override Prop 22.
WaterGirl
Our weather looks to be crazy. How’s the weather in Champaign? “Striped.”
I just came in from the porch where I decided that I wasn’t going to get that “good 40-degree day” I have been waiting for, where everything will be dry and I can cover all the furniture for winter, so I just covered everything up as is. It’s cold out there! (Is it Spring yet?)
TBone
@Almost Retired: Sweet!
Martin
@schrodingers_cat: Hopefully the FTC will ban noncompetes. It’s been wildly beneficial for California.
Kelly
@cain: We have friends that were on the airliner that crashed in Portland back in 1978. All unharmed. Two of them were sitting just aft of where the fuselage broke. There was a problem with the landing gear so everyone was ready for an emergency landing. Unfortunately while the plane was circling trying to diagnose the problem the crew failed to track the fuel consumption correctly and the engines died short of PDX. When the noise all stopped our buddies were facing open air. Sturdy young men in their 20’s they climbed down and began helping who they could. They found a couple of the passengers in the row ahead of them, dead.
TBone
@Jackie: retroactive is one of my favorites words.
Almost Retired
@Martin: Hope so. I hate having workers’ rights be held hostage by ballot propositions. But people love affordable uber, alas.
realbtl
We had an unseasonable (can I even use that word these days?) mild Fall/early Winter here in NW MT but it looks like January is making up for it. 6″ of snow currently, no big deal. But…
Starting Wed night forecast temps -2, high of 5, -20, high of -8, -27. Cold through at least Sunday.
schrodingers_cat
OT:BJP’s entire media apparatus has been engaged in attacking, wait for it, Maldives, for almost a week now.
After antagonizing Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bhutan it is Maldives turn now.
RepubAnon
@WaterGirl: agreed. This smells a bit like the Dubya forged Air Force documents gambit, leaking documents to the media which some “citizen reporter” can reveal as fakes.
Baud
@Almost Retired:
The Chamber of Commerce’s position.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
What about?
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@schrodingers_cat:
That’s because these folks are only labor supporters in the abstract. They aren’t union members.
cain
@Kelly: I can’t imagine how that horrific must have been – they must have nerves of steel to help after being part of that crash. I’d probably be a bundle of nerves – no good to anyone and never mind the death around me.
Almost Retired
@Baud: HA! The California Chamber of Commerce labels every piece of even vaguely pro-worker legislation as a “job killer,” including the Thirteenth Amendment.
Starfish
I am sorry Mr. Bear has had such a rough go of it lately. Hopefully, 14 more days will do the trick. His cone of shame is cute even though he hates it.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@Jackie: That’s fantastic to hear. My Senator Wyden has been doing a lot of good lately.
The expanded child tax credit makes such a big difference to working class families!
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Some government officials in Maldives called the Emperor with too many clothes, a clown and other epithets. Many well heeled Indians vacation in Maldives. So now the BJP media apparatus is promoting Lakshadweep (100,000 islands) as a vacation destination.
The PM did a photo-op on the beach and then the IT cell was trending Boycott Maldives for days.
I did a short thread on it this morning on the website formerly known as Twitter
Kelly
@cain: One of them was a volunteer fireman. That experience helped.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
I can’t read threads on Twitter.
Sounds like a good time to visit the Maldives.
Redshift
@cain: Yikes!
Urza
Didn’t Stone get a blanket pardon on the way out for at least all Federal crimes? Even though this should be prosecuted, can it?
JaySinWA
@cain: I tried to put up a tongue in cheek post calling on you to go out and search for the missing plug, but I managed to lose it before I could post and gave up.
brantl
@Baud: She does what she’s good at.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: I copied it for you here:
I figured out why BJP’s propaganda apparatus is trending Maldives and promoting Lakshadweep as an alternative to it. Complete with a promo of the unoffical Emperor with too many clothes and celebrities tweeting like travel agents for Lakshadweep.
According to Reuters, Maldivian officials called the King of the photo-ops a “clown”, “terrorist” and “puppet of Israel” on social media platform X
BJP IT cell sprung into action and trended Maldives for days. Celebrity endorsers from Anil Kapoor and Akshay Kumar jumped into the fray promoting the Indian islands as an alternative to Maldives. Some examples:
A sampling of BJP IT cell’s celebrity stenographers
(Anil Kapoor and several others tweeted :Miles (of beach) to go before I sleep… #Lakshadweep, you’re a beauty and I can’t wait to explore you.)
Eventually Maldives suspended the offending officials. Moral of the story, Vishwaguru has a paper thin skin and is wasting the goodwill and the soft power that has taken decades to build.
bbleh
@Urza: doesn’t a pardon have to be for crimes committed prior to the grant? otherwise you could just immunize people for life. also IIRC accepting a pardon implies admission of guilt.
Dan B
@realbtl: Seattle had a mild Fall. There are plants blooming now that should not until March. We’re supposed to have a high of 31° on Friday. There could be much plant damage. Your temps remind me of Chicago winters in the 70’s.
Peke Daddy
@RepubAnon: The Bush documents were copies of authentic documents, and the features of the typefaces claimed as proof they couldn’t be from that era did exist on the typewriters of the time. A classic Karl Rove gambit.
Urza
@bbleh: Yes, but this was prior to the 2020 election. He got his pardon filed at least on Dec 23, 2020, so after this crime was committed. The officer however might be able to be brought up on charges
You would think the founders would have known to put in that a president can’t pardon anyone related to his own malfeasance.
Nukular Biskits
@Jertian:
I’d worry that he’d have it electrified.
raven
The next thread is quite serious so I’ll post my not-so-serious comment here. I was partly drawn to BJ not only because of the politics but for the discussions of sports. Over time the blog has evolved and, especially football, has become less and less pivotal. Discussions still occur, usually blended into posts with topics other than football, and that’s fine. I do want to note that tonight’s College Football National Championship signals the end of a number of traditions that have existed for decades. Pac-10 and Big Ten teams, Michigan and Washington are playing the final game of these two conferences as they will both be part of the Big-Ten next year. The SEC is also expanding and adding Oklahoma and Texas for the 2024 season. There will also be a move to a 12 team playoff for Division One and no one really knows what that is going to mean. Many feel that these things will reduce the regional flavor of college football and kill the traditional rivalries. Most folks here either don’t care or will celebrate anything that harms the sport. Being in the minority I’m interested to see what happens. Go Dawgs!
Baud
@raven:
I’ve never gotten into college football, but the changes are interesting. I don’t see how the old ways could survive the modern era of big money sports.
raven
@Baud: This book came out in 1978 and has been on my shelf ever since. None of this is new, just changing. The guys I knew who played at Illinois in the early 70’s got “do-nothing” jobs and $50 handshakes.
“The Athletic Snowball” is a parody of big-time college sports programs. The book is intended for lay as well as academic audiences. Illustrated with cartoons, the book lampoons athletic programs that grow exponentially and focus more on making money and winning than on student-athletes.”
Geminid
@raven: Florida State and Clemson will probably jump next, and then the ACC will be the Ain’t Competitive Conference.
Oh well, there’s always basketball. Maybe. Or lacrosse. Possibly.
raven
@Geminid: Jump where? Their TV markets offer nothing to the SEC.
Frank Wilhoit
@schrodingers_cat: “Crappy little countries”, translated.
Geminid
@raven: Well, there’s that. And I think the ACC picked up a couple PAC 10 teams. Maybe they rename it the Any Coast Conference.
raven
@Geminid: Yea, Stanford and Cal.
Jackie
@raven:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=J1A5h4X7rG8
Joe Falco
@raven: I am not tuned in enough to college football to wonder too much how the changes will be felt once in place, but to reiterate what you said: Go Dawgs!
catclub
Should we expect the SC to kill the first version of Biden’s rule changes?
Ben Cisco
@raven: Hear hear!
My season ended last week, but still…
🏈 ROLL TIDE ROLL 🏈
lowtechcyclist
@bbleh:
IANAL, but assuming the tapes are authentic, it sure sounds like conspiracy to commit murder, which isn’t any less of a crime of its own just because they didn’t actually go through with the plan. You still can’t go around making plans with people to kill other people.
wjca
Seems like Conspiracy to Commit Murder would be a state crime, rather than a Federal one. So would the pardon apply?
Geminid
@lowtechcyclist: I think one of them has to commit an act in furtherance of the conspiracy for it to be a crime. The excerpts from the recording shown here would not be enough. We don’t know what Greco said in response, much less what he did.
Maybe there’s more, but if Mediaite has it they probably would put it out there.
Ruckus
@cain:
One can never tell how you will react to a bad situation. You think you know but the reality is until the moment – you don’t. And even if you are totally prepared, trained and ready, the situation may still be outside your range. Real training often throws wrenches in the way to see how you’ll react. But the reality is that some will stay in the middle, some will run – or freeze. Training and constant reenforcement of what to do and how to do it helps. But that moment sometimes just goes in unexpected ways and you can be totally lost as to what to do. And some just react, and remain cool. But there is no absolute and sometimes the least ends up doing the most and best. It’s humanity.
Kosh III
I fervently hope Roger Stone lives to be at least 100—in solitary confinement in Angola prison in Louisiana or Attica in NY.