Roger Stone defends vilifying Barbara Bush: ‘Attack on me from beyond the grave required an answer’

Roger Stone on Thursday defended his recent vitriolic comments about deceased former first lady Barbara Bush.

Mr. Stone, President Trump’s longtime confidant, stood by his attacks against Bush in a wide-ranging column published on the heels of him targeting her in a series of social media posts.

“The media reactions to my comments were immediate and distorted,” Mr. Stone wrote in the column. “The media said my comments were ’vile’ when the only thing vile is their incomplete reporting of the facts.”

Mr. Stone, 66, posted twice on Instagram last week about the matriarch of the Bush dynasty in response to a recent biography detailing her dislike of Mr. Trump.

“Barbara Bush was a mean spirited, self important, nasty and entitled woman bitter over her husband’s long term and quite public affair,” Mr. Stone wrote in one post. “Well she’s dead and he’s president,” he said in another.

Revisiting his comments for the column, Mr. Stone doubled down on his critique of the late wife of former President George H. W. Bush.

“I always found Barbara to be vindictive, inebriated, self-important and rude. Her attack on me from beyond the grave required an answer. I pointed out that, while she had set a countdown clock for the end of Trump’s presidency, she had died and Trump was still president,” Mr. Stone wrote in the column.

Bush, the mother of former President George W. Bush and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, died last April at the age of 92. Her husband, the 41st president, died seven months later.

Mr. Stone advised Mr. Trump’s presidential election campaign through 2015. He was charged earlier this year as a result of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the 2016 race and has been charged with seven counts of obstruction, witness tampering and perjury. He has pleaded not guilty to all counts and is awaiting trial.

“I plan a vigorous legal defense. I will be vindicated,” Mr. Stone said Thursday.