The pre-dawn arrest of former Trump adviser Roger Stone in connection with the Mueller investigation has many scratching their heads over how it went down. Not only did the FBI surprise Stone at 6am Friday morning with a knock on his door – as opposed to simply notifying his attorney and letting Stone turn himself in, but CNN was there to film the entire thing going down.
Wow wow wow.
CNN got video of the FBI making the Roger Stone arrest before 6AM. pic.twitter.com/iDBSYUKKzF
— Erick Fernandez (@ErickFernandez) January 25, 2019
FBI arrested my neighbor Roger before my morning jog, I’ve only seen shit like that in movies, crazy to start to my Friday
— Chad Johnson (@ochocinco) January 25, 2019
This begs the question; did the FBI tip off CNN for their dramatic “takedown” of Stone?
Former Fox News host Greta Van Susteren certainly thought so on first take, tweeting: “CNN cameras were at the raid of Roger Stone…so FBI obviously tipped off CNN…even if you don’t like Stone, it is curious why Mueller’s office tipped off CNN instead of trying to quietly arrest Stone;quiet arrests are more likely to be safe to the FBI and the person arrested.”
CNN cameras were at the raid of Roger Stone…so FBI obviously tipped off CNN…even if you don’t like Stone, it is curious why Mueller’s office tipped off CNN instead of trying to quietly arrest Stone;quiet arrests are more likely to be safe to the FBI and the person arrested
— Greta Van Susteren (@greta) January 25, 2019
Others shared her sentiment:
The FBI special ops-style predawn raid of Roger Stone for process crimes and the tipoff of CNN is a sad day for America
CNN is literally on the side of the police state left
Perp walks are a feature of witch hunts
— Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) January 25, 2019
It’s possible this tip-off came from FBI rather than Mueller’s office, but either way, nobody should be comfortable having law enforcement engineer with media outlets the filming of someone’s arrest at their home like a reality TV circus. But it’s Roger Stone, so few will care. https://t.co/H7VvltkoCE
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 25, 2019
CNN claims that they staked out Stone’s house based on “unusual grand jury activity in Washington yesterday” along with other information.
That would be @davidgshortell. He said on air that he got to Stone’s house early this morning after they noticed some unusual grand jury activity in Washington yesterday. https://t.co/4ohoaMTdCe
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) January 25, 2019
CNN producer David Shortell admitted that he was “waiting” outside Roger Stone’s house at 5am, an hour before FBI agents and police arrived to arrest the former Donald Trump associate. https://t.co/DzSpuOFVqz
— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) January 25, 2019
Van Susteren, upon further reflection, acknowledged that there were others would could have tipped off CNN, including Stone himself.
Upon reflection, there are others who could have tipped off CNN …others knew, maybe even Stone suspected it and tippped them off…as an aside, if I worked for a news org and had the tip, I would have sent cameras https://t.co/aSaiBZ4LNL
— Greta Van Susteren (@greta) January 25, 2019
Meanwhile, many are questioning the decision to conduct a “heavy raid” on Stone for lying to Congress, while others connected to the Trump campaign such as Paul Manafort have been allowed to simply turn themselves in.
Just shows me it’s all about the theatrics. I’m sure if Stone’s lawyers were notified of his arrest, he would have turned himself in. The same for Manafort. I don’t thing Shock and Awe works in these cases.
— Barry Butler (@barrybutler2008) January 25, 2019
Roger Stone indicted for lying to Congress
James Clapper is a CNN commentator on national security after blatantly lying to Congress about mass surveillance of American citizens
CNN considers him an expert
— Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) January 25, 2019
via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2TcK3H3 Tyler Durden