The early morning arrest of President Donald Trump's longtime former political adviser Roger Stone as part of the special counsel investigation over his communications with WikiLeaks sent shockwaves around the nation. It also prompted internet sleuths to resurface a rather unbecoming video of Stone mocking Special Counsel Robert Mueller while drinking a glass of vodka. (Yes, you read that correctly.)
"Oh my God, I'm busted drinking Russian vodka. Mueller, arrest me...libtards," says Stone in a video he posted to his own Instagram account on February 5, 2018.
The video made the rounds on social media this morning as news of Stone's arrest on charges that he obstructed an official proceeding, made false statements and engaged in witness tampering. For many, Stone's cavalier attitude served as an indication that he was tempting fate with the special counsel.
A February 2017 interview Stone gave to TIME also resurfaced. At the time, Stone scoffed at a New York Times report that revealed he was "among a couple of Trump associates under federal investigation for alleged ties to Russia."
"I have not been contacted by anybody in law enforcement. There is absolutely no foundation to this whatsoever. The intelligence community could not have found email transmissions or financial transactions involving me and the Russians and the Trump campaign because there are none," he said then, adding:
I have no Russian clients. I have no Russian contacts. I have no Russian money. I have no Russian influences. I do like Russian vodka. This thing is a canard. Were the Russians hacking us? Maybe. But did they affect the election in any way? No.
FBI agents arrested Stone before dawn today at his home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. CNN was on the scene at the time of Stone's arrest.
The FBI also executed a search warrant at Stone's New York residence. The authorities "loaded boxes and evidence bags" out of his apartment complex, according to another CNN report.
Stone has already appeared in federal court and is expected to give a statement soon.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders attempted to distance the White House from Stone despite the fact that Stone worked on the Trump campaign and stayed in close contact with Trump after exiting the campaign in 2015.
“This has nothing to do with the president and certainly nothing to do with the White House,” Sanders said on CNN. “This is something that has to do solely with that individual.”
Sanders said Stone is “somebody who has been a consultant for dozens of Republican presidents and candidates and members of Congress."
The president, meanwhile, revived his longtime grudge against CNN, demanding to know "who alerted" the network to be present at Stone's residence when the FBI arrived.
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