On Friday, Roger Stone, a confidant of Donald Trump, was indicted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Accused of knowing more than he has admitted about the 2016 WikiLeaks release of hacked Democrat emails, Stone finds himself facing charges of making false statements to Congress, tampering with a witness, and obstructing a government investigation — not the most groundbreaking indictment considering that there is no allegation of collusion, which is what Mueller is supposed to be investigating.
The false statements charges had White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders wondering whether the FBI would apply the same standard to others — like Hillary Clinton — who have also been accused of making false statements.
Sanders asks the right questions
Sanders appeared on CNN early Friday morning to discuss Roger Stone’s arrest. It quickly became apparent that she was not really interested in speculating about what Stone has allegedly done. “We’ll let the courts make the decision,” she said.
“A bigger question is: if this is the standard, will the same standard apply to people like Hillary Clinton, James Comey, and [James] Clapper?” she asked.
Sanders was referring to Friday’s pre-dawn raid, in which the FBI, including 29 agents and 17 vehicles, besieged Stone’s Fort Lauderdale residence to make the arrest. To many, this seems like unnecessary force for a man who has said that he would voluntarily have surrendered.
And, of course, former secretary of state Clinton, former FBI director Comey, and former CIA Director Clapper, like Stone, have all been accused of making false statements. But, at least so far, we haven’t seen the FBI showing up in large numbers at their homes.
“Will we see the same people we know have all made false statements?” continued Sanders. “Will that same standard apply? That’s a question we’ll see what happens on that front.”
Watch for yourself here:
Sarah Sanders On Roger Stone
Uploaded by TheDC Shorts on 2019-01-25.
Too good to be true
CNN’s role in the incident also drew questions.
Many found it puzzling that CNN both happened to have a news crew already on scene and was the only news outlet to get video footage of the raid.
As an explanation, CNN reporter Kate Bennett claimed on Twitter that producer David Shortell “noticed some unusual activity” and “trusted his instincts.” She tweeted:
. @davidgshortell noted some unusual activity w grand jury in DC yesterday, trusted his instincts, got on a plane and made it to Stone’s house in time to catch the @FBI going in. Also key here, Gil DeLaRosa, one of @CNN’s ace photojournalists. 👍🏻 https://t.co/OWxcJ9XA7u
— Kate Bennett (@KateBennett_DC) January 25, 2019
Others aren’t buying it, and instead are pointing to another scenario: that CNN was tipped off.
Who’s right? You be the judge:
CNN producer @davidgshortell describes the moment Roger Stone was taken into custody by the FBI. The longtime Donald Trump associate has been indicted by a grand jury on charges brought by special counsel Robert Mueller https://t.co/wUJEIkKDTw pic.twitter.com/AJ3JWWSHs3
— CNN (@CNN) January 25, 2019
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