Former Trump adviser Roger Stone arrested; judge sets bond at $250K

Political consultant Roger Stone, a former campaign adviser to President Donald Trump, was indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller and arrested Friday on charges of obstruction, giving false statements and witness tampering.

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Stone, 66, was taken into custody by the FBI. He was arrested in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Update 1:50 p.m. EST Jan. 25: Jerome Corsi, an associate of Stone's, confirmed to CNN that he is "Person 1" in the indictment unsealed Friday against Stone.

He told the news network that statements in the indictment that were about him were consistent with what he told Mueller's team.

"What is contained in the indictment confirms I did nothing wrong," he said. "The investigation being done by the special counsel is extremely thorough. ... They have everything."

Update 12:35 p.m. EST Jan. 25: Chants of "Lock him up," partially drowned out Stone as he addressed reporters outside a federal courthouse in Florida on Friday following his arrest on charges related to the Mueller investigation.

"As I have always said the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about," Stone said.

He denied that any wrongdoing and repeated denials that he was in contact with Julian Assange or any other WikiLeaks affiliates in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.

"The charges today relate in no way to Russian collusion (or) WikiLeaks collaboration," he said.

He added that he plans to plead not guilty to the charges when he's arraigned in Washington and called the charges "politically motivated."

Update 12:05 p.m. EST Jan. 25: In a statement to InfoWars obtained by the Los Angeles Times, Stone's attorney commented for the first time on his client's arrest.

"This country is literally run by a rogue prosecutor who has more power than the president," he said.

Stone is the sixth Trump aide charged in Mueller's investigation into potential coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign and the 34th person overall. The investigation has laid bare multiple contacts between Trump associates and Russia during the campaign and transition period and efforts by several to conceal those communications.

Stone has previously denied wrongdoing. The charges against him do not accuse him of participating in any conspiracy with Russia.

Update 11:40 a.m. EST Jan. 25: A judge set a $250,000 bond for Stone during an appearance at a federal courthouse in Florida on Friday morning following his arrest on charges connected to the Mueller probe.

He did not enter a plea, according to The Associated Press.

Magistrate Judge Lurana Snow told Stone he could not travel outside of South Florida, Washington, D.C. and New York City. Stone was also told he could not have any contact with any witnesses.

Update 10:35 a.m. EST Jan. 25: Trump attorney Jay Sekulow emphasized in a statement that Stone's indictment "does not allege Russian collusion by Roger Stone or anyone else."

"Rather, the indictment focuses on alleged false statements made to Congress," he said.

Earlier Friday, Stone's attorney, Grant Smith, also emphasized that Stone had not been charged with working with Russian officials to win the election for Trump. He suggested that the lack of charges implied that no such collusion went on between Russian and Trump campaign officials.

>> More on Robert Mueller's investigation

"They found no Russian collusion or they would have charged him with it," Smith told CNN. "Roger Stone is vindicated by the fact there was no Russian collusion."

Mueller's team continues to investigate.

Update 9:15 a.m. EST Jan. 25: White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told CNN on Friday morning that the charges against Stone "have nothing to do with the president, nothing to do with the White House."

"The president did nothing wrong," she said.

In an indictment unsealed Friday, investigators alleged that unnamed senior Trump campaign officials contacted Stone to ask when stolen emails relating to Clinton might be disclosed.

>> Who is Roger Stone, what links him to Trump?

The indictment does not charge Stone with conspiring with WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy website that published the emails, or with the Russian officers Mueller says hacked them. Instead, it accuses him of witness tampering, obstruction and false statements about his interactions related to WikiLeaks' release.

Some of those false statements were made to the House intelligence committee, according to the indictment. Investigators alleged that Stone lied repeatedly to the committee.

Update 9 a.m. EST Jan. 25: Stone's attorney, Grant Smith, told Politico that his client plans to plead not guilty Friday after he was arrested on several charges connected to the ongoing Mueller investigation.

>> More on Robert Mueller's investigation

"Roger intends to fight these trumped up baseless charges that have nothing to do with the original intent of the special counsel's investigation," Smith told Politico.

Mueller was tasked in May 2017 with investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and its possible ties to Trump and his campaign officials.

The indictment unsealed Friday does not accuse Stone of coordinating with Russia's election interference in 2016. But it lays out Stone's conversations about stolen Democratic emails posted by WikiLeaks in the weeks before Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Update 8:01 a.m. EST Jan. 25: The lawyer for Roger Stone, Grant Smith, called the charges "ridiculous," The New York Times reported.

"This is all about a minor charge about lying to Congress about something that was apparently found later," Smith told the newspaper.

>>READ: The full indictment of Roger Stone by special counsel Robert Mueller

Update 7:42 a.m. EST Jan. 25: According to the indictment released by the Justice Department, "in and around" July 2016 through "in or around November 2016," an group labeled "Organization 1" "released tens of thousands of documents stolen from the (Democratic National Committee) and the personal email account of the chairman of the U.S. presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton ("Clinton Campaign").

Update 7:23 a.m. EST Jan. 25: The Justice Department released the indictment, which alleges that Stone, a longtime associate of Donald Trump, sought stolen emails from WikiLeaks that could damage Trump's opponents at the direction of "a senior Trump Campaign official," CNN reported.

WikiLeaks' publication of the emails embarrassed Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, The Washington Post reported. The messages helped disrupt the race for the White House in 2016, the newspaper reported.

A grand jury indicted 12 Russian military officers for allegedly orchestrating the hacks in July, the Post reported.

Update 7:05 a.m. EST Jan. 25: Law enforcement raided Stone's house just after 6 a.m. in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, CNN reported.

Stone Indictment 012419 by on Scribd

CNN tweeted a video of law enforcement taking Stone into custody.

Original report: The indictment was filed Thursday, ABC News reported.

Stone, a longtime confidante of Trump and adviser during the president's campaign for election, faces one count of obstruction of an official proceeding, five counts of false statements and one count of witness tampering in Mueller's probe into possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election.

The indictment comes after scrutiny over Stone's alleged contact with WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange in the summer of 2016. Stone said he has never met or spoken with Assange and did not have a back channel for communicating with him, ABC News reported.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Check back for updates to this developing story.

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