House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement Saturday following the indictment of former Trump campaign advisor Roger Stone, in which she insinuated that Russia might have dirt on President Donald Trump, and might be blackmailing him.
Her statement reads:
“The indictment of Roger Stone makes clear that there was a deliberate, coordinated attempt by top Trump campaign officials to influence the 2016 election and subvert the will of the American people. It is staggering that the President has chosen to surround himself with people who violated the integrity of our democracy and lied to the FBI and Congress about it.
In the face of 37 indictments, the President’s continued actions to undermine the Special Counsel investigation raise the questions: what does Putin have on the President, politically, personally or financially? Why has the Trump Administration continued to discuss pulling the U.S. out of NATO, which would be a massive victory for Putin?
Lying to Congress and witness tampering constitute grave crimes. All who commit these illegal acts should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. We cannot allow any effort to intimidate witnesses or prevent them from appearing before Congress.
The Special Counsel investigation is working, and the House will continue to exercise our constitutional oversight responsibility and ensure that the Special Counsel investigation can continue free from interference from the White House.”
The Russia investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller has been ongoing since May 2017.
Trump has repeatedly called the investigation a “witch hunt” and says there was no collusion.
WITCH HUNT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 27, 2019
Trump also tweeted on Saturday morning about Stone.
“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,” he wrote. “What about Hillary to FBI and her 33,000 deleted Emails? What about Lisa & Peter’s deleted texts & Wiener’s laptop? Much more!”
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? What about Hillary to FBI and her 33,000 deleted Emails? What about Lisa & Peter’s deleted texts & Wiener’s laptop? Much more!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 26, 2019
A former personal attorney of Trump, Michael Cohen, had also been indicted in the Mueller investigation. He made a plea deal last year with Mueller after admitting to lying to Congress over a potential Trump Tower deal in Moscow, Vox reported.
In a separate case out of New York, Cohen had also pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations.
