10 times Roger Stone tried to delegitimize the Mueller investigation

Written by Courtney Hagle

Published


Melissa Joskow / Media Matters

 

Prior to his arrest on January 25 as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, Trump confidant and Infowars host Roger Stone repeatedly attempted to delegitimize the probe. Stone called for Mueller to be fired, suggested his investigation will start a civil war in the United States, and promoted bizarre conspiracy theories about him, including attempting to connect him to the 9/11 hijackers. Here are 10 examples of Stone’s attacks:

  • Stone called himself a “target” for supporting Donald Trump and appearing on Infowars, describing the special counsel as “Mueller and his band of cutthroats” and calling the investigation “extraordinarily political.” [Infowars, The Alex Jones Show, 11/16/18]
  • Stone said that he expects to be “framed” by Robert Mueller, claiming again that he is “the subject of a political witch hunt” and that his crime was “supporting Donald Trump for president.” [Infowars, The Alex Jones Show, 8/28/18]
  • Stone called Mueller a “hitman for the deep state” and described the investigation as a “coup d'état” before launching into a conspiracy theory attempting to connect Mueller to 9/11 hijackers. [Infowars, The Alex Jones Show, 8/26/18]
  • Stone urged Trump to “move aggressively to save himself” from a “deep state takedown,” referring to the Mueller investigation. [Media Matters, 8/21/18]
  • Stone compared Mueller to a “modern-day [Tomás de] Torquemada,” referring to the cruel 15th century Spanish inquisitor general, and accused Mueller of being a “clean-up man for the deep state.” [Infowars, The Alex Jones Show, 8/14/18]
  • On Fox host Laura Ingraham’s radio show, Stone praised Infowars and Fox News for allowing him to “conduct my defense” because “Robert Mueller has got a target on my back.” [Media Matters, 8/8/18]
  • On The Alex Jones Show, Stone called the Mueller investigation “an inquisition” and “a manifestation of the witch hunt.” He also characterized the investigation as “an effort … to destroy me and to bankrupt me.” [Media Matters, 5/16/18]
  • Stone tried to get Mueller ousted from his special counsel role by connecting him to the Obama administration’s Uranium One deal in 2010, when Mueller was the head of the FBI -- a claim that doesn’t really make sense. Stone claimed that an investigation of Uranium One would get rid of Mueller because he “can’t be a special prosecutor when he himself is under investigation.” [Media Matters, 1/30/18]
  • On The Alex Jones Show, Stone predicted that Mueller’s investigation will “spark a civil war in this country.” [Media Matters, 6/19/17]
  • On CNN, Stone called for Mueller and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to be fired for their “witch hunt” against Trump, criticizing Mueller’s investigation for “wasting the taxpayers' money.” [Media Matters, 6/16/17]