Judge Sets Stone’s Bail At $250,000, Restricts Travel To New York, Washington, Virginia And Florida
by Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge.com
Fri, 01/25/2019
Update 4: As Washington reporters sift through the indictment of Roger Stone, confusion about exactly what he is being charged with, as well as the implications for the Trump administration, has already seeped into the coverage.
Following Stone’s first court appearance on Friday, his bail was set at $250,000 and his travel limited to Washington DC, Virginia, New York and Florida (Stone can’t leave the country, but his passport wasn’t taken because, according to his lawyers, he has no valid passport).
With rulings in the case about to accelerate, the Washington Examiner’s Byron York has published a handy guide to the Stone indictment that aims to set the record straight. Instead of being a broad indictment of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian-backed agents, the indictment sketches a picture of a man who had been pushed to the periphery of Trump World as the campaign locked up the nomination, who maybe ran his mouth a little too much. But importantly, Stone wasn’t accused of directly coordinating with Wikileaks – indeed he had no advanced knowledge of the contents of the leaks. And he never lied in his interviews with Mueller, either.
All of the lies Stone allegedly told stemmed from his September 2017 interview with the HPSCI, as well as what he told his unindicted associates. Or as York puts it:
In the end, it appears Stone’s big problem was his big mouth. He liked to brag about being behind all sorts of nefarious deeds when in fact he was not, or he had a tangential connection to them. That led to this chain of events: 1) Stone bragged in public; 2) the House committee asked him about his bragging under oath; and 3) Mueller investigated the veracity of Stone’s sworn testimony. If Stone had not popped off about himself all the time, he probably would not have gotten himself in trouble.
Here’s a count-by-count breakdown (text courtesy of WashEx):
Count One alleges that Stone obstructed the House committee’s investigation by denying he had emails and other documents about WikiLeaks-related contacts. During his House testimony, Stone was asked if he had “emails to anyone concerning the allegations of hacked documents … or any discussions you have had with third parties about [WikiLeaks]?” Stone answered that he did not, when in fact he had a bunch of emails and other communications. The obstruction charge also alleges Stone attempted to prevent Credico from testifying or tried to convince him to testify falsely.
The Rest…HERE
