Five things we learned from the Roger Stone indictment

Open this photo in gallery:

Special Counsel Robert Mueller is accusing Roger Stone of trying to thwart investigations into his attempts to coordinate Donald Trump’s presidential campaign with the release of stolen Democratic Party e-mails by WikiLeaks.

Read more: Trump associate Roger Stone arrested, charged with lying to Congress, obstructing Russia investigation

Mr. Stone, a Republican political operative since the Nixon administration, was arrested at his home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., before dawn Friday. He faces seven charges: Five counts of making false statements and one count each of obstruction of an official proceeding and witness tampering.

Mr. Mueller alleges that Mr. Stone lied to Congress about his contacts with WikiLeaks, which published thousands of embarrassing e-mails stolen from the Democratic Party by Russian government intelligence agents ahead of the 2016 presidential election, and tried to intimidate one of his associates into obstructing both the congressional and FBI investigations.

Mr. Stone was released on $250,000 bond. Standing outside the courthouse Friday, he said he planned to plead not guilty and would remain loyal to Mr. Trump.

“I will plead not guilty to these charges. I will defeat them in court,” he told reporters, as some onlookers cheered him on and others jeered. “I will not testify against the President.”

Mr. Trump took to Twitter to disparage Mr. Stone’s treatment: CNN footage showed Mr. Stone’s arrest being carried out by FBI agents carrying rifles and wearing tactical gear.

“Greatest Witch Hunt in the History of our Country! NO COLLUSION!” the President tweeted. “Border Coyotes, Drug Dealers and Human Traffickers are treated better.”

Mr. Stone is the 34th person charged by Mr. Mueller, who is investigating Russian attempts to tip the election in favour of Mr. Trump and allegations that Mr. Trump’s campaign colluded with the Kremlin.

The indictment of Mr. Stone offers key details on how Mr. Mueller believes the campaign attempted to work with WikiLeaks, and how Mr. Stone subsequently tried to mislead investigators.

Roger Stone tried to get WikiLeaks to give him hacked Democratic Party e-mails

Mr. Stone used two intermediaries to try to convince WikiLeaks head Julian Assange to turn over potentially embarrassing hacked e-mails about Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and the party, according to e-mails and text messages obtained by Mr. Mueller.

The intermediaries aren’t named in the court document – they are referred to as “Person 1” and “Person 2.” Jerome Corsi, a pundit and conspiracy theorist, identified himself Friday as the first intermediary. The details on the second, meanwhile, match the description of Randy Credico, a radio host whom Mr. Stone has previously identified as his go-between with WikiLeaks.

As early as June, 2016, Mr. Mueller alleges Mr. Stone told the Trump campaign that he knew WikiLeaks had damaging documents on Ms. Clinton. On July 22, WikiLeaks released its first tranche of hacked Democratic e-mails.

On July 25, Mr. Stone e-mailed Mr. Corsi. Mr. Stone wrote that WikiLeaks had e-mails related to the Clinton Foundation and askedM. Corsi to obtain them from Mr. Assange.

“Get the pending WikiLeaks e-mails … they deal with the Foundation, allegedly,” Mr. Stone wrote.

Mr. Stone’s interlocutor forwarded the note to an unnamed associate in the U.K., described as “a supporter” of Mr. Trump’s.

On Sept. 18, Mr. Stone e-mailed Person 2, who had previously interviewed Mr. Assange on his radio show (Mr. Credico did this), to ask if Person 2 could get Mr. Assange to give him some of Ms. Clinton’s e-mails related to an unspecified “narrative” he was trying to confirm. Person 2, the indictment says, passed Mr. Stone’s request to a lawyer who could contact Mr. Assange.

Mr. Stone’s intermediaries told him about Wikileaks’s plans, and how the Trump campaign could coordinate with them

There is no indication in the indictment that Mr. Assange gave Mr. Stone any of Ms. Clinton’s e-mails. But both people Mr. Stone tried to use as intermediaries did pass along information about when WikiLeaks was planning to publish the e-mails and described what they believed to be in the documents.

On Aug. 2, Mr. Corsi e-mailed Mr. Stone to tell him that Mr. Assange was planning two more document-dumps.

“Impact planned to be very damaging,” the intermediary wrote. “Would not hurt to start suggesting HRC old, memory bad, has stroke – neither he nor she well. I expect that much of dump focus, setting stage for foundation debacle.”

It is unclear who the “he” is in the e-mail.

On Saturday, Oct. 1, Mr. Credico texted Mr. Stone that there would be “big news Wednesday” and that “Hillary’s campaign will die this week.”

The following Friday, WikiLeaks released a batch of e-mails stolen from Ms. Clinton’s campaign chair, John Podesta.

Mr. Stone passed on his information on WikiLeaks to a “senior Trump Campaign official”

After the first WikiLeaks release of Democratic e-mails in July, 2016, the indictment says an unnamed “senior Trump Campaign official was directed” to get in touch with Mr. Stone about future document dumps. The indictment does not specify who “directed” the official to do this. Reuters News identified the official as Steve Bannon, Mr. Trump’s then-chief strategist.

A few days before the October, 2016, release of Mr. Podesta’s e-mails, Mr. Stone corresponded with both an unnamed “supporter involved with the Trump campaign” and a reporter connected to “a high-ranking Trump campaign official” to tell them that Mr. Assange had a tranche of documents ready to drop.

The following day, the campaign official e-mailed Mr. Stone to ask about the documents. Mr. Stone replied that WikiLeaks would “release a load every week going forward.” Later that day, he spoke over WhatsApp with the “supporter” to say that WikiLeaks would release more material.

Mr. Stone repeatedly lied to Congress about his attempts to contact WikiLeaks

In May, 2017, Mr. Stone sent a letter to the House intelligence committee claiming to have no records of his discussions about WikiLeaks, despite having e-mails and text messages of his conversations with his intermediaries and members of the Trump campaign.

Mr. Stone repeated these assertions the following September when he appeared before the committee.

In his testimony, Mr. Stone also portrayed Mr. Credico as his sole intermediary with WikiLeaks and claimed he had merely asked him to confirm that WikiLeaks was releasing more information – not to get the organization to turn over hacked e-mails.

Mr. Stone told the committee that he only spoke with Mr. Credico by telephone, leaving no written communications. In fact, Mr. Mueller alleges that, on the very day he told Congress this, Mr. Stone and Mr. Credico texted no fewer than 30 times.

“‘Stonewall it. Plead the fifth. Anything to save the plan’…Richard Nixon”

Mr. Mueller alleges that Mr. Stone repeatedly told a reluctant Mr. Credico to either lie to Congress and the FBI, or exercise his fifth amendment right to remain silent – and threatened to either kill him or kidnap his dog if he didn’t.

When the House intelligence committee asked Mr. Credico to testify, Mr. Stone wrote him: “‘Stonewall it. Plead the fifth. Anything to save the plan’…Richard Nixon.”

Mr. Stone also told Mr. Credico to pull a “Frank Pentangeli” – a reference to a character in The Godfather: Part II who lies to a congressional committee to cover for a mob boss.

Mr. Credico ultimately pleaded the fifth to avoid testifying to Congress. But he tried to convince Mr. Stone to come clean to the FBI before investigators discovered Mr. Stone had lied.

Mr. Stone responded by threatening to “take that dog away from you.” Mr. Credico has a small white fluffy dog named Bianca, which he brought with him when he testified at Mr. Mueller’s grand jury last year. Mr. Credico told reporters at the time that Bianca was his therapy dog.

“You are a rat. A stoolie. You backstab your friends … run your mouth my lawyers are dying to Rip you to shreds,” Mr. Stone e-mailed him last spring. “I am so ready. Let’s get it on. Prepare to die [expletive.]”

Read more:

Senate committee subpoenas Michael Cohen to testify

Paul Manafort denies allegations he lied to investigators after plea agreement

Giuliani backtracks on comments that Trump sought deal for tower in Moscow throughout 2016

Trump denies collusion as Michael Flynn pleads guilty to lying to FBI

In case you missed it: How will future historians regard Donald Trump?