How Explosive Roger Stone Video Could Be Used Against Trump
By: Ewan Palmer (Newsweek)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
An unearthed video featuring longtime Donald Trump ally Roger Stone could provide key evidence for prosecutors investigating fake elector schemes if it can be proven the former president's allies were aware of the illegality of the plot, according to a legal expert.
On Wednesday, MSNBC played a clip of Stone discussing a plan to install fake electors who could say that Trump had won in states in 2020 where he had lost, on the basis the results were rigged "though fraud."
Stone also described the need to "lobby" Republican figures to support the plan, an allegation Trump is accused of doing in both Special Counsel Jack Smith's federal investigation and Fulton County District County Fani Willis election interference probe in Georgia.
The footage, which was captured by Danish filmmaker Christoffer Guldbrandsen for his documentary A Storm Foretold, was recorded on November 5, 2020, two days before Joe Biden was officially declared the winner of the last election.
Roger Stone, a former adviser and confidante to former U.S. President Donald Trump, addresses reporters in front of the Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. Federal Building after his deposition before the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol on December 17, 2021 in Washington, DC. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
The clip could potentially lay doubts on the former president and his inner circle's claims that the fake electoral plot to falsely declare that Trump won in seven states—Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin—was carried out on the basis that they believed that last election was rigged due to voter fraud as Stone was discussing such a scheme even before Trump officially lost to Biden
Michael McAuliffe, Florida attorney and former federal prosecutor, said the plot Stone was recorded discussing "mirrors almost exactly" what actually occurred in the key swing states and explained how it could be used to implicate Stone in the criminal investigations into the schemes involving the former president. Stone has been contacted for comment via email.
"It's important to note that Trump—so far—isn't running away from the efforts to create alternative slates of electors supporting him," McAuliffe told Newsweek.
"In fact, most of the individuals involved the fake elector plan, whether it's in Georgia or Pennsylvania or elsewhere, defend the effort. What the January 6th and the Georgia RICO prosecutions need is for participants in the elector replacement plot to testify that the plan was illicit and that the other participants who have already been charged knew the allegations of fraud were conveniently fabricated in order to achieve the goal of retaining Trump as president," McAuliffe added.
"The prosecutors would benefit from 'insiders' coming clean as cooperating witnesses in the trials. One way to accomplish that is some of the defendants pleading guilty to the charges, or some of the charges, and cooperating."
The fake electoral plot is a key focus of inquiry in Smith's federal investigation into attempts to overturn the 2020 election, in which Trump has pleaded not guilty to four charges, as well as Willis' expansive election interference probe, where the former president and 18 others have been indicted under RICO charges.
During the footage, Stone—who has not been officially implicated in any criminal investigation involving the fake elector plot—is seen dictating to an associate a plan to overturn the election results if they were "illegally" denied to Trump.
"Although state officials in all 50 states must ultimately certify the results of the voting in their state, the final decision as to who the state legislatures authorize be sent to the electoral college is a decision made solely by the legislature," Stone said in the clip, which had been edited for clarity.
"Any legislative body may decide on the basis of overwhelming evidence of fraud to send electors to the Electoral College who accurately reflect and reflect the president's legitimate victory in their state which was illegally denied him through fraud.
"We must be prepared to lobby our Republican legislatures by personal contact and by demonstrating the overwhelming will of the people in their state in each state that this may need to happen," Stone said.
Speaking to MSNBC, former federal prosecutor John Flannery said he "absolutely" considers the newly obtained footage incriminating for Stone and Trump's inner circle.
"They knew that he'd lost the election before it was announced, and that's why they began these initiatives then. And in the weeks and months beforehand, they had to know what was going on," Flannery said.
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All of this reflects a conspiracy to steal the 2020 election.
What Stone is saying is that if we win a state we dont need to use this plan, and if it is said we lost a state we put this plan into action.
According to Stone, there would be an "overwhelming will of the people " in favor of Trump whether he was originally declared the winner of a state or not.
It hardly matters.
Didn't you recently post an article about 12 million documents of evidence or something? We'll all be dead of old age before this gets to trial.
The conspirators should face justice no matter what the particulars.
The link to the video:
Old Joe McCarthy's #1 henchman Roy Cohn, "The Worst Person in the World", had four very special protégés and acolytes he personally trained to be political dirty tricksters. They were Lee Atwater, Paul Manafort, Roger Stone and Donald Trump...
Good! More incriminating evidence. They need to convict Trump forthwith and toss his sorry ass in the hoosegow.
By this time next year Trump will be out of the picture and DeSantis will have pretty much wrapped up the nomination.
You do not buy the notion that the indictments are making Trump a martyr and ensuring he wins the GOP nomination??
This is still not the smoking gun people want it to be. All he’s doing in the video is laying out a strategy that could be legitimate if they truthfully believe there has been fraud. What will matter is evidence that they knew there was no fraud and still claimed there was.
I agree, but if tied to other evidence it furthers the notion that denying a loss was a pre-planned backup plan. At this point, all we can do is speculate.
It may not be a legal smoking gun but from a pure right or wrong basis I think it definitely is. What this shows is that there was a plan afoot to meddle in the legitimacy of the election from at or even, most likely, before election day. What Stone is saying is "if we lose somewhere, this is what we have to do". He claims that Trump had been cheated before any legal objections to the vote count had even been filed. This was always the plan IF Trump lost, as he himself has said. The only way he could lose is if it had been stolen from him. When he and his people acted on that nonsense they broke the law.