Roger Stone's Crime Was Supporting Donald Trump

Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron Zelinsky, a prosecutor in the Roger Stone case, testified on Wednesday before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee that Stone got special treatment.

And he was right. Stone got special treatment because he was a friend of Donald Trump.

On Jan. 25, 2019, the FBI staged a stunning pre-dawn raid in which 29 SWAT Team members and FBI agents stormed Stone’s Fort Lauderdale home — arriving in 17 armored vehicles and utilizing a K-9 unit, a helicopter to keep watch overhead, and two amphibious units on the canal behind his home to arrest the 67 year old Stone.

This arrest, it’s important to note, was for a non-violent white-collar process crime.

Zelinsky is right. Stone got special treatment.

After he was handcuffed and arrested, his wife Nydia, who is deaf, was marched out into the street in her nightgown surrounded by men with machine guns.

Zelinsky is disturbingly correct. Stone got special treatment.

Coincidentally, CNN arrived exactly 14 minutes before the SWAT Team and FBI, and they were the only news crew to witness and film the stunning and unprecedented raid on Stone’s home.

Zelinsky is right again. Stone got special treatment.

Former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, who authorized the investigation into President Trump, lied to FBI agents about his involvement in a media disclosure concerning an investigation into the Clinton family foundation, according to a Justice Department Inspector General report. Yet he was never prosecuted for those lies.

Zelinsky is spot on. Stone got special treatment.

Judge Amy Berman Jackson, an Obama-appointed judge who presided over the Stone trial openly criticized and attacked President Trump in her courtroom for some of his tweets concerning a biased jury forewoman. A move that even CNN found "unusual."

What Zelinsky says remains true, Roger Stone got special treatment.

The jury forewoman in the Stone trial, Tomeka Hart, attacked Stone by name on Twitter and Facebook starting the day he was arrested in 2019 and subsequently attacked President Trump on these same social media platforms throughout that same year. In a tweet on Aug. 2, 2019, Hart even referred to Trump supporters as "racists."

Yet she was still allowed to serve on the jury.

Despite this juror misconduct, Stone’s motion for a new trial was rejected.

Here too, Zelinsky is quite disturbingly correct. Stone got special treatment.

In April and May of this year, corrupt Trump-hating lawyers Michael Avanetti and Michael Cohen were released from prison to home confinement due to COVID-19 fears, yet Roger Stone, a longtime friend of the president is due to report to a prison where staff are openly concerned about the spread of the virus on June 30, 2020, at age 67 with pre-existing medical conditions. As it stands now for Stone, he is due to report to federal prison on July 14, 2020. 

Zelinsky is distrubingly correct here as well. Stone got special treatment.   

And if anyone watched Wednesday’s U.S. House Judiciary Committee Hearing, they’d notice that Zelinski didn’t testify in person. He testified via a live video feed to avoid the risk of COVID-19. Yet, he and his colleagues want Stone to report to a prison that’s closed to visitors until further notice because of COVID-19 concerns.

Again, Zelinsky was right, so much so Stone will continue to get "special" treatment. 

The hypocrisy and deliberate weaponizing of our criminal justice system to target and destroy political enemies must come to an end. These rogue and uncontrollable federal prosecutors and judges are a threat to our democracy.

And if they continue to get away with it, they will destroy our freedoms.

Zelinsky correctly assessed that Roger Stone was the victim of a selective and political prosecution simply because of his longtime support of President Donald Trump.

That is unacceptable. Free Roger Stone — now.

Mark Vargas is a trusted adviser and close confidant to some of the highest profile political and business leaders in America. From 2007 to 2010, Mr. Vargas served as a civilian within the Office of the Secretary of Defense on a special Iraq task force. In 2009 he was awarded the Secretary of Defense Global War on Terrorism Civilian Service Medal. His civilian service included 14 trips to Baghdad. Follow Mark on Twitter: @markavargas. To read more of his reports — Click Here Now.