...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.Weeks before the 2020 presidential election, infamous political operative Roger Stone sat across from his associate Sal Greco at a restaurant in Florida.
At the time, Greco was an NYPD cop working security for Stone on the side. Their conversation, at Caffe Europa in Fort Lauderdale, focused on two House Democrats for whom Stone harbors particular animosity, Jerry Nadler and Eric Swalwell.
In audio of the conversation obtained exclusively by Mediaite, Stone made threatening comments about the two lawmakers.
“It’s time to do it,” Stone told Greco. “Let’s go find Swalwell. It’s time to do it. Then we’ll see how brave the rest of them are. It’s time to do it. It’s either Nadler or Swalwell has to die before the election. They need to get the message. Let’s go find Swalwell and get this over with. I’m just not putting up with this shit anymore.”
A source familiar with the discussion told Mediate they believed Stone’s remarks were serious. “It was definitely concerning that he was constantly planning violence with an NYPD officer and other militia groups,” the source said.
[...]
Stone was convicted of obstruction, witness tampering, and lying to Congress in the Mueller investigation. Prosecutors sought a nine-year prison sentence for the longtime Republican operative, but Trump’s Justice Department reportedly intervened to impose a less severe sentence. Stone’s sentence was eventually commuted by Trump days before reporting to prison.
The intervention from the Justice Department prompted Aaron Zelinsky, the prosecutor and Mueller deputy who led the case against Stone, to recuse himself from the case in protest. Mediaite reported last week that Stone was caught on tape in December 2020 urging Greco to “punish” Zelinsky.
“He needs to be punished,” Stone told Greco in the audio. “You have to abduct him and punish him. That has to be done. It will be easy to abduct him because he is a weakling.”
Stone denied making those comments, claiming they were generated by AI.
[...]
Greco did not deny the comments.
[...]
Greco, who acted as security for Stone and was with the operative during the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol soon after the 2020 election, was fired by the NYPD over his association with Stone.
Mediaite
Tuesday, January 9, 2024
When will Roger Stone be behind bars?
I assume Jack Smith will charge Stone and any others involved in plotting the insurrection once Trump's trial is over. But since Trump commuted Stone's sentence when he was convicted of obstruction, witness tampering, and lying to Congress by Mueller's Russia probe, it will have to involve separate crimes. I feel certain Stone would fight any charge as double jeopardy, even though Smith's charges would be for plotting the insurrection. Smith would win that one, but it will be a long battle, no doubt.
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