Roger Stone, President Trump’s former adviser, accused Democrats of fear-mongering and “red-baiting” this week after minority members of the House Intelligence Committee narrowed their sights on White House insiders while looking for evidence of collusion between Russia and the president’s 2016 campaign.
The GOP strategist blasted panel Democrats in an email sent to CNN host Jake Tapper this week after being repeatedly named during a hearing Monday devoted to Russian activities with respect to last year’s White House race.
In a letter shared through the reporter’s Twitter account Thursday, Mr. Stone said Monday’s hearing resembled a “Kangaroo Court” rife with “demagoguery, red-baiting, fear mongering half truths and innuendo,” taking particular aim at its ranking member, Rep. Adam Schiff of California.
“Neither the president nor I have anything to fear from a full and fair investigation of these bogus charges of Russian collusion,” Mr. Stone wrote, according to the tweet. “Claims of Russian influence or collusion in the Trump Campaign by the Intelligence Community are backed up by ZERO evidence,” he added.
Committees in both the House and Senate are nonetheless in the midst of investigating potential ties between Russia and Mr. Trump’s campaign.
FBI Director James B. Comey acknowledged for the first time Monday that federal prosecutors are conducting a similar probe of their own, but he declined to comment when asked if Mr. Stone was a subject.
“The FBI director didn’t help anything by refusing to say whether I was under investigation or not leaving the clear implication hanging in the air,” Mr. Stone wrote afterwards.
The former Trump advisor has adamantly denied any ties to Russia, but admitted earlier this month to having privately spoken last year on Twitter with a persona directly implicated in the Democratic National Committee hack blamed on Moscow, “Guccifer 2.0.”
He previously described those messages to the Times as banal, but nonetheless piqued the interest of Democrats by revealing a direct link between the Trump campaign and Russia.
“Any inference that my innocuous, fully disclosed Twitter exchange and tweets with a hacker known as Guccifer 2.0, who may or may not be a Russian Asset, constitutes ’collusion’ is disapproved by the content, the facts and the timeline of events,” Mr. Stone insisted in the email. “Nor do I conceded [sic] that Guccifer 2.0 is a Russian asset just because the boys at Langley say he is. They also said Saddam Hussain had weapons of mass destruction,” he added.
In addition to engaging both privately and publicly with the Guccifer 2.0 persona, Mr. Stone previously acknowledged having direct and indirect communications with WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange in-between his website’s publication of the hacked DNC and Podesta emails.
Mr. Stone said last week that he has been asked by the Senate Intelligence Committee to retain documents related to its investigation into Russia’s interference in last year’s election. Following Monday’s hearing in the House, however, Mr. Stone said he wants his opinion heard by both chambers.
“Adam Schiff, having slimed me in public session seems to be backing away from the confrontation. I demand a right to face my accusers. I will deconstruct their lies and spank them like children,” Mr. Stone wrote, adding: “I’m ready to testify.”
Neither Mr. Stone nor Mr. Schiff’s office could be immediately reached for comment Thursday. Mr. Trump’s administration has previously denied colluding with Russia.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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