Roger Stone prefaced his arraignment Tuesday in D.C. federal court by sharing a political cartoon on social media that showed special counsel Robert Mueller sporting a tattoo of late Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.
President Trump’s former campaign adviser, Mr. Stone shared the cartoon through his Instagram account Tuesday morning several hours before he was expected to plead not guilty to charges filed as a result of the special counsel’s probe into the 2016 elections.
The cartoon shows Mr. Stone and Mr. Mueller standing side-by-side, both shirtless, revealing tattoos on each of their backs: Mr. Stone is drawn flaunting a tattoo on his back of former President Richard Nixon’s face, while Mr. Mueller is shown sporting matching ink of Stalin, the former Soviet dictator whose rule saw more than a million people imprisoned or executed.
Mr. Stone accompanied the cartoon with a link to a website established to raise funds for his legal defense.
The cartoon was drawn by Ben Garrison, a political cartoonist who posted the image to his personal website earlier in the week.
Mr. Stone, 66, worked on the 1972 Nixon campaign prior to advising the former president following his impeachment from office. He subsequently had Nixon’s face tattooed on his back in 2007.
Mr. Stone was arrested at his Florida home on Friday morning in connection with a seven-count indictment unsealed by Mr. Mueller’s office alleging charges of lying to Congress, obstruction and witness tampering. He said he will plead not guilty to all counts during Tuesday morning’s arraignment.
“These are Gestapo tactics,” Mr. Stone said following his arrest, referring to the Nazi secret police.
A spokesperson for the special counsel’s office declined to comment.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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