Longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone complained that his arrest by the FBI was worse than the handling of Osama bin Laden or El Chapo.
Stone, who was indicted on seven counts in special counsel Bob Mueller’s probe related to his alleged lying about his contacts with the Trump campaign about WikiLeaks’ release of stolen Hillary Clinton emails, was arrested by FBI agents with their long guns drawn in a pre-dawn raid on his Florida home Friday.
Stone told reporters outside of the home on Monday that the FBI used excessive force to bring him in.
“I’m 66 years old. I do not own a gun. I do not have a valid passport. I have no prior criminal record. I’m charged with nonviolent process crimes,” he said.
“To storm my house with greater force than was used to take down bin Laden or El Chapo or Pablo Escobar, to terrorize my wife and my dogs ... It’s unconscionable,” he added.
Bin Laden was shot to death by US Navy SEALs. El Chapo was arrested in a raid by Mexican armed forces. Escobar was killed after escaping from prison.
Stone accused FBI of “Gestapo tactics”:
In an interview with ABC News Sunday, Stone accused the FBI of using “Gestapo tactics” to demonize him.
“First of all, I was released on a surety bond on my own signature, which is evidence that I was not a flight risk,” he said. “And secondarily, I’ve been under investigation for two years. I have destroyed nothing. But if I were going to destroy evidence, wouldn’t I have done it a long time ago? They could have simply have called my lawyers and I would have turned myself in.”
“This was an expensive show of force to try to depict me as public enemy number one ... to attempt to poison the jury pool,” he added. “These are Gestapo tactics.”
Stone pleads not guilty:
Stone officially pleaded not guilty to all counts in the Mueller indictment Monday.
The indictment accuses Stone of speaking “to senior Trump Campaign officials” about WikiLeaks and providing “information it might have had that would be damaging” to Clinton’s campaign before the election. The indictment also says Stone was “contacted by senior Trump Campaign officials to inquire about future releases” of information by WikiLeaks.
