Trump seeks to shift narrative after Stone indictment

President Trump on Saturday attempted to shift attention surrounding the indictment of his former informal adviser Roger Stone.

Trump took to Twitter to list a group of former government officials that he alleged had lied in the past, without offering specifics.

“If Roger Stone was indicted for lying to Congress, what about the lying done by Comey, Brennan, Clapper, Lisa Page & lover, Baker and soooo many others?” Trump wrote, referring to multiple former national security and law enforcement officials he has repeatedly criticized.{mosads}

“What about Hillary to FBI and her 33,000 deleted Emails? What about Lisa & Peter’s deleted texts & Wiener’s laptop? Much more!” he added.

If Roger Stone was indicted for lying to Congress, what about the lying done by Comey, Brennan, Clapper, Lisa Page & lover, Baker and soooo many others? What about Hillary to FBI and her 33,000 deleted Emails? What about Lisa & Peter’s deleted texts & Wiener’s laptop? Much more!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 26, 2019

Stone, a longtime Republican strategist and ally of the president, was indicted on seven charges Friday as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

He is facing one count of obstruction of justice, one count of witness tampering and five counts of making false statements.

On Friday, Trump accused the FBI of mistreating Stone and suggested that CNN had been tipped off about his early morning arrest in Florida. The network has said it sent a camera crew to Stone’s house following a hunch after grand jury activity the previous day.

“Greatest Witch Hunt in the History of our Country! NO COLLUSION! Border Coyotes, Drug Dealers and Human Traffickers are treated better. Who alerted CNN to be there?” Trump tweeted.

In Saturday’s response to the indictment, which is part of Mueller’s investigation into potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, Trump attempted to put the focus on several figures he has said need to be investigated.

Trump’s tweet comes after the Department of Justice released a report last year on former FBI Director James Comey, which concluded there was no evidence to support the claim that political bias affected his work.

The president has also repeatedly feuded with former CIA Director John Brennan, who left his role in January 2017 after briefing Trump on reports that Russia had compromising evidence on him.

Brennan responded to Trump’s tweet on Saturday, saying, “If your utter incompetence is not enough to run you out of office, your increasingly obvious political corruption surely will.”

“Your cabal of unprincipled, unethical, dishonest, and sycophantic cronies is being methodically brought to justice,” Brennan tweeted. “We all know where this trail leads.”

Your cabal of unprincipled, unethical, dishonest, and sycophantic cronies is being methodically brought to justice. We all know where this trail leads. If your utter incompetence is not enough to run you out of office, your increasingly obvious political corruption surely will. https://t.co/S6DMeGICXZ

— John O. Brennan (@JohnBrennan) January 26, 2019 

Trump has also accused former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper of being related to alleged FBI investigations into his presidential campaign.

Meanwhile, former FBI counterintelligence agent Peter Strzok and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page were investigated by House Republicans in a probe that ended last month, while former FBI general counsel James Baker has also been investigated by Congress.

Trump’s reference to “Wiener’s laptop” appeared to be about emails from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that were found on the laptop of former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), who was married to a top Clinton aide at the time. The FBI investigated the emails in 2016.

Stone, who is set to be arraigned in federal court in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, has predicted he won’t be convicted in his case. He said during an appearance on CNN late Friday that he has also “never” spoken with Trump about the possibility of a presidential pardon.

Updated: 10:53 p.m.