President Trump on Friday complained of a historic “double standard” after his longtime associate Roger Stone was convicted on seven felony counts, including lying to Congress and witness tampering related to his efforts to feed the Trump campaign information on WikiLeaks in 2016.
Trump bemoaned in a tweet shortly after the verdict was announced that Stone was convicted of lying when several of his political rivals were not. Among those Trump suggested should be considered were Hillary Clinton, former CIA Director John Brennan, former FBI agent Peter Strzok, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and former special counsel Robert Mueller.
“Didn’t they lie?” Trump tweeted. “A double standard like never seen before in the history of our Country?”
Prosecutors said that Stone lied to the House Intelligence Committee in a September 2017 deposition when he told lawmakers that he had no records of communications with his intermediary with WikiLeaks or with the Trump campaign about WikiLeaks. Stone was also accused of lying about the identity of his intermediary.
Stone’s legal team argued that the right-wing provocateur was not trying to deceive Congress but that he believed the WikiLeaks controversy did not fit the parameters of the House Intelligence Committee’s parameters of its investigation into Russia’s efforts to influence the election.
Stone’s conviction makes him the latest Trump associate to be criminally implicated in Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. He joins former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, and former campaign advisers Richard Gates and George Papadopoulos.
Trump has in the past sought to distance himself from Stone’s involvement with his campaign. He said in February that he had not thought about a possible pardon for Stone as he was awaiting trial.
“First of all, Roger Stone didn’t work on the campaign, except way, way at the beginning long before we’re talking about,” Trump said at the time. “Roger is somebody that I’ve always liked, but a lot of people like Roger, some people probably don’t like Roger, but Roger Stone’s somebody I’ve always liked.”