Trump weighs in on Stone's arrest, saying others should be charged with lying

Trump singles out figures from early days of Russia investigation

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – President Donald Trump again addressed Roger Stone’s indictment on Twitter early Saturday, saying if Stone is charged with lying to Congress, the former FBI and CIA officials who were involved in the early days of the investigation into Russian election interference should be as well.

“If Roger Stone was indicted for lying to Congress, what about the lying done by Comey, Brennan, Clapper, Lisa Page & lover, Baker and soooo many others?” the president wrote on Twitter. “What about Hillary to FBI and her 33,000 deleted Emails? What about Lisa & Peter’s deleted texts & Wiener’s laptop? Much more!”

There is no evidence that the former officials mentioned by Trump -- which include the former directors of FBI, CIA and National Intelligence -- lied to Congress. None of them have been charged with any crimes.

Stone, a longtime associate of Trump, was arrested in the early morning hours of Friday at his Fort Lauderdale home. He was indicted on charges of obstruction of an official proceeding, false statements and witness tampering. He was released on $250,000 bond Friday afternoon.

Trump also weighed on Stone’s arrest late Friday morning.

“Greatest Witch Hunt in the History of our Country! NO COLLUSION! Border Coyotes, Drug Dealers and Human Traffickers are treated better. Who alerted CNN to be there?” he wrote Friday.

A friend of Trump for more than 30 years, Stone acted as a campaign adviser in the early days of the real estate mogul’s bid for the presidency. Months later, Stone and Trump appeared to have a falling out and Stone left the campaign in an official capacity. However, the two remained in contact and he became regarded as an unofficial campaign adviser.

In the final months of the 2016 campaign, Stone, in public statements, appeared to have advance knowledge of when Wikileaks would release damaging information about Hillary Clinton and other Democrats. The special counsel’s indictment alleges that an unnamed person directed a senior Trump campaign official to contact Stone about his knowledge of Wikileaks' disclosures.

In interviews after his release from jail, Stone has maintained his innocence and said he would plead not guilty. 

Stone said he is being "persecuted" because of his friendship with Trump and Mueller's investigation is "politically motivated." 

Legal experts noted that the special counsel’s indictment did not include more serious charges faced by other figures in the Russian investigation, such as conspiracy to defraud the United States, signaling that prosecutors may seek to turn Stone into a cooperating witness.

He repeatedly said he would not cooperate with prosecutors and testify against the president.

Stone will be arraigned in Washington on Tuesday.