Roger Stone expects to be convicted, his friend and frequent collaborator Alex Jones said, as jurors began deliberating the fate of President Trump’s former campaign adviser.
Mr. Jones, the controversial media personality behind the Infowars brand, said that Mr. Stone told him ahead of deliberations starting Thursday that he plans to be found guilty.
“He expects to be convicted. He said only a miracle can save him now. Those are his exact words to me last night and this morning,” Mr. Jones said during his talk show.
“He said to me, ’Alex, barring a miracle, I appeal to God and I appeal to your listeners for prayer and I appeal to the president to pardon me, because to do so would be an action that would show these corrupt courts that they’re not going to get away with persecuting people for their free speech or for the crime of getting the president elected. If we don’t do that it will embolden their criminal activity,’” Mr. Jones continued.
The purported appeal from Mr. Stone was followed by Mr. Jones urging his audience to, in the event of conviction, “encircle the White House with bullhorns demanding President Trump take action.”
“These libtard jurors know damn well he’s innocent,” Mr. Jones said later during the broadcast. “But they want to sit there and feel all officious and powerful and send him to prison, hoping for some victory against flyover country that they despise so much, that they’re so angry they don’t have control of.”
“It’s Roger Stone’s request that if he’s convicted you call the White House,” Mr. Jones added.
Mr. Stone, the president’s former campaign adviser and longtime confidant, has been charged by federal prosecutors in connection with allegedly interfering in efforts by Congress to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential race. He has pleaded not guilty to counts of obstruction, witness tampering and perjury currently being considered by jurors in D.C. federal court.
“He’s just blindsided by the fact that they’re actually trying to put him in prison,” Mr. Jones told The Washington Times as jury deliberations in the Stone case continued Friday.
A longtime Republican consultant, Mr. Stone, 67, frequently collaborated with Mr. Jones and made regular appearances on his talk show in recent years until a court order barred him from commenting publicly about his criminal case.
Among the provisions included in the gag-order is a restriction that has prohibited Mr. Stone from “having statements made publicly on his behalf by surrogates, family members, spokespersons, representatives or volunteers.” It was not clear if the message seeking a pardon purportedly relayed by Mr. Jones would constitute a violation, and Mr. Stone’s lead defense attorney did not immediately return a request for comment.
Mr. Jones, 45, has run the Infowars website since 1999, where articles about subjects including the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and Sandy Hook school shooting helped establish its publisher’s reputation as a right-wing conspiracy theorist. His program, “The Alex Jones Show,” received millions of views each month on YouTube prior to being banned by the video service in 2018. He has similarly been banned from services operated by fellow tech titans including Facebook and Twitter.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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