'Having established a reputation for shadiness, it became difficult for [Roger] Stone to convince a jury that he was, for once, completely on the level,' writes Errol Louis for CNNOpinion
Errol Louis is the host of"Inside City Hall," a nightly political show on NY1, a New York all-news channel. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion articles on CNN. The guilty verdict against Roger Stone, a longtime adviser to President Donald Trump, is a devastating turn of events — perhaps the final chapter — in the storied life of a political trickster.
It's also a cautionary tale about the dark corners of democracy, where the limits of law and morality are frequently tested, traded, and violated. Stone knows the rules of this world better than anybody."You can call me a dirty trickster, you can call me a prankster, you can call me anything you'd like," he told Rolling Stone in 2018."I've never done anything that hasn't been done by my contemporaries in the political strategist business. I do fight hard for my clients, but I've never crossed the line into illegal activity."That"crossed the line" boast vanished this week, when a jury found him guilty on seven counts of witness tampering, making false statements and lying to Congress at a fateful 2017 hearing about his connection to Wikileaks during the 2016 campaign. 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true : false;CNN.VideoPlayer.getLibrary;});CNN.INJECTOR.scriptComplete;ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCH Who is Roger Stone? 00:50Stone had publicly claimed to have a back channel to Julian Assange and the shadowy Wikileaks operation, and to know in advance about stolen emails that were released at key moments in the 2016 campaign, timed to help Trump by inflicting maximum harm on Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee. Stone's connection was a slightly shady but perfectly legal arrangement. Special counsel Robert Mueller thought otherwise and indicted Stone for lying about the nature of those connections.Read MoreThe jury agreed. The Wikileaks caper turned out to be one dirty trick too many.Stone gleefully cultivated the image of, as he once put it, "a libertarian and a libertine," the kind of man prepared to take on sketchy assignments that other operatives would shun as too risky or immoral. He drove expensive Jaguar sedans, dressed impeccably in custom-tailored Saville Row suits, frequented sex clubs and got bounced from the 1996 presidential campaign of Bob Dole when the National Enquirer published an ad seeking group sex partners to join him and his wife in a liaison. Photos: In pictures: Roger Stone through the years Photos: In pictures: Roger Stone through the yearsRoger Stone, a longtime conservative political strategist and consultant, poses for a photograph in New York on August 13, 2015.Hide Caption 1 of 16 Photos: In pictures: Roger Stone through the yearsThen-presidential candidate Ronald Reagan, right, and a young Roger Stone visit the Chrysler plant in Detroit on September 20, 1980.Hide Caption 2 of 16 Photos: In pictures: Roger Stone through the yearsStone, left, and fellow Reagan campaign operatives Ed Rollins and Lee Atwater, right, discuss a meeting they had with former President Richard Nixon during Reagan's re-election campaign in Washington in November 1984.Hide Caption 3 of 16 Photos: In pictures: Roger Stone through the yearsThis undated photo shows Stone with former President Richard Nixon.Hide Caption 4 of 16 Photos: In pictures: Roger Stone through the yearsRoger Stone is pictured with Paul Manafort, left, and Lee Atwater, right, in March 1985.Hide Caption 5 of 16 Photos: In pictures: Roger Stone through the yearsRoger Stone and designer Alan Flusser, left, are seen at the Alan Flusser Boutique in New York on August 19, 1987.Hide Caption 6 of 16 Photos: In pictures: Roger Stone through the yearsRoger Stone, then a volunteer adviser with Bob Dole's presidential campaign, poses with his second wife Nydia in their Washington home on September 12, 1996.Hide Caption 7 of 16 Photos: In pictures: Roger Stone through the yearsDonald Trump speaks to reporters outside the federal courthouse in Newark, New Jersey, with Roger Stone, the director of Trump's presidential exploratory committee, on October 25, 1999. Trump and Stone were at the courthouse for the swearing-in of Trump's sister as a federal appeals court judge.Hide Caption 8 of 16 Photos: In pictures: Roger Stone through the yearsStone signs copies of his book,"The Man Who Killed Kennedy: The Case Against LBJ" at Books and Books on December 9, 2013.Hide Caption 9 of 16 Photos: In pictures: Roger Stone through the yearsRoger Stone sits at his office desk in Florida.Hide Caption 10 of 16 Photos: In pictures: Roger Stone through the yearsRoger Stone talks to reporters outside a New York courtroom on March 30, 2017. Stone was being sued over a flyer sent to 150,000 New York households during the state's 2010 election that called the Libertarian Party candidate for governor, Warren Redlich, a"sexual predator."Hide Caption 11 of 16 Photos: In pictures: Roger Stone through the yearsRoger Stone poses with a poster of Donald Trump from 2000 in his office in Florida.Hide Caption 12 of 16 Photos: In pictures: Roger Stone through the yearsRoger Stone speaks at the American Priority Conference on December 6, 2018, in Washington.Hide Caption 13 of 16 Photos: In pictures: Roger Stone through the yearsRoger Stone, left, and Alex Jones, the right-wing conspiracy theorist and talk show host, talk to reporters outside the House Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill where Google chief executive Sundar Pichai was testifying on December 11, 2018. Hide Caption 14 of 16 Photos: In pictures: Roger Stone through the yearsRoger Stone shows a tattoo on his back of former President Richard Nixon.Hide Caption 15 of 16 Photos: In pictures: Roger Stone through the yearsRoger Stone walks out of the federal courthouse following his hearing on Friday, January 25, 2019, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Stone was arrested Friday as part of the special counsel's Russia investigation.Hide Caption 16 of 16He actively cooperated with filmmakers on "Get Me Roger Stone," a movie that detailed his long history of skullduggery. His"greatest hits" include making phony donations to a Democratic candidate in the 1970s in the name of a made-up group, the"Young Socialist Alliance," and then leaking the information to a newspaper to smear the Democrat as having ties to the far left. In 2000, during the Florida recount to settle the presidential race, he coordinated the so-called"Brooks Brothers riot" that shut down the recount. In 2010, Stone was campaign manager for the gubernatorial bid of Kristin Davis, the "Manhattan Madam" who once ran a high-end prostitution ring. More recently, he published books promoting outlandish conspiracy theories about the Bush and Clinton families. And for years, he gave advice to then-businessman Donald Trump, telling anybody who would listen that Trump could become president. 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true : false;CNN.VideoPlayer.getLibrary;});CNN.INJECTOR.scriptComplete;ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCH Why Mueller cares about Roger Stone 01:38I frequently interviewed Stone about political strategy, Florida politics, the reasons for Trump's rise and men's fashion . He was an undeniably colorful character in the political circus and might yet emerge from what is the biggest setback in his life. Trump-haters might imagine that Stone, facing up to 20 years in prison, might be in a prime position to share damning information about the President. That's wishful thinking. The problem that sank Stone at trial was his many years of posturing as the bad boy who would twist the truth and break the rules whenever necessary. Having established a reputation for shadiness, it became difficult for Stone to convince a jury that he was, for once, completely on the level.That same issue will come up if prosecutors try to flip Stone and get him to reveal anything damaging about Trump. Who would believe him?
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