Trump ally Roger Stone arrested in poll probe

WASHINGTON – Reuters

Roger Stone, a long-time ally of U.S. President Donald Trump who advised his 2016 presidential campaign, was arrested on Jan. 25 and charged with seven counts, according to a grand jury indictment made public by U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office.

Stone, who was indicted on Jan. 25, faces one count of obstruction of an official proceeding, five counts of making false statements and one count of witness tampering, according to the Special Counsel’s Office.

Stone has faced scrutiny for his support for Trump during the 2016 presidential election campaign, when Stone implied that he had inside knowledge of data obtained by hackers that could embarrass Trump’s rival for the White House, Hillary Clinton.

U.S. prosecutors, in the indictment, said Stone had “sent and received numerous emails and text messages during the 2016 campaign in which he discussed Organization 1, its head, and its possession of hacked emails.”

Organization 1 was unnamed but matches the description of Wikileaks.