Roger Stone wants to respond to ‘smears’ and ‘half truths’ from Intel hearing

Roger Stone, who advised President Trump during the early days of his campaign in 2015, on Monday said he wants to respond to “smears” and “half-truths” about his alleged cooperation with Russia that were raised during a House Intelligence Committee hearing. 

“It’s only fair that I have a chance to respond 2 any smears or half truths about alleged ‘Collusion with Russians’ from 2day’s Intel Hearing,” Stone wrote on Twitter.

It’s only fair that I have a chance to respond 2 any smears or half truths about alleged “Collusion with Russians” from 2day’s Intel Hearing

— Roger Stone (@RogerJStoneJr) March 20, 2017

{mosads}Stone’s tweet followed an exchange between Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and FBI Director James Comey during Comey’s testimony in front of the House Intelligence Committee on Russia’s interference in the U.S. election. 

Schiff, the committee’s ranking member, asked Comey a series of questions related to Stone, including about his past claims of communications with Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, which published hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton campaign chair John Podesta. 

“I’m not going to talk about any particular person here today, Mr. Schiff,” Comey said to the first question. He invoked the same answer several times as Schiff recounted allegations and reports about Stone’s ties to Russia. 

In an interview later Monday afternoon with SiriusXM radio’s “The Wilkow Majority,” Stone said he’d like to counter Schiff’s comments in front of the Intel Committee.

“I had no contact with Russians. This one has been manufactured by the intelligence service with an assist from [George] Soros and [David] Brock,” Stone said, as reported by CNN. “I’m not gonna stop fighting for Donald Trump, nor are they going to silence me. I am anxious to go to the committee. Let’s see if they can handle the truth.”

He also slammed Schiff, saying that he “is engaging in the worst kind of red baiting, fear mongering. I mean, it’s the new McCarthyism, and it’s mudslinging.”

Stone previously denied any connections to Russia or the publication of hacked Democratic documents and emails. 

“The idea that I, an anticommunist conservative, would throw in with a totalitarian regime is bullshit,” Stone said in October.

Before the November presidential election, Stone told The Guardian that a mutual friend he shares with Assange provided him with information about the organization’s release of emails related to Clinton. He tweeted that it would soon be Podesta’s “time in the barrel” before Podesta’s emails were published. 

Last week Stone admitted that he had communicated with Guccifer 2.0, a hacker or group of hackers believed to be a front for Russian intelligence, who published information from Democratic organizations. 

The Senate Intelligence Committee reportedly asked Stone in a letter dated Feb. 17 to preserve any information related to its probe on Russia’s interference in the United States presidential election.