Milbank: Stone's indictment shows him well-suited with Trump
By Dana Milbank
For once, Roger Stone was at a loss for words.
The longtime confidant of President Trump had given nonstop interviews and news conferences since Friday morning, when the FBI pounded on his door, then charged him with seven criminal counts related to alleged lies during the probe of Russia’s election interference.
But in Washington on Monday, as his lawyer entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf, the flamboyant politico uttered just eight words during his 13-minute arraignment (two “yes, your honors” and an “I do”), and then just four more as a scrum of journalists followed him to the exits: “No comments. No questions.”
Stone didn’t need to speak. He already was in his element: a maelstrom, with himself at the center.
Scores of photographers and spectators poured into the street outside the courthouse. Chants of “We love Roger!” dueled with “Lock him up!” A portable sound system boomed “Back in the U.S.S.R.,” and two men waved Russian flags.
Stone made his way through the sea of signs (“Free Stone, Jail Hillary,” “You helped Putin steal our democracy”) and zoomed off in a black SUV, leaving Federal Protective Service police to disperse the crowd. One of the last to be shooed away wore an orange wig and carried a sign saying, simply, “This is a sign.”
Yes, it is a sign; that Stone has created another circus. He was caricatured by Steve Martin on “Saturday Night Live.” Others go silent when indicted; Stone went on CNN, ABC and Fox News (both Hannity and Tucker Carlson) to tout his website and his next book (“Woodward and Bernstein: The Godfathers of Fake News”) and to raise $2 million for his legal defense (so what if his lawyers aren’t certified to practice in Washington?).
https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/milbank-stones-indictment-shows-him-well-suited-with-trump/
