Former Trump adviser Roger Stone has a message for his newly indicted former business partner Paul Manafort.
Vince Coglianese, The Daily Caller’s Editorial Director, asked Stone Monday morning if he had any words for Manafort following news of the former Trump campaign chair surrendering to federal authorities and he responded with words of hope for Manafort.
“Courage. Buck up and good luck,” Stone told Coglianese on WMAL’s “Mornings on The Mall.”
“I think Paul Manafort is an honest man. I don’t know any evidence of collusion with the Russians which is what this investigation is about.”
Stone suggested this investigation into Manafort is a politically-driven bait-and-switch.
“Now I understand how this works, you try to find something Paul Manafort did 15 years ago and you call it money laundering, tax evasion, wire fraud — some nonsense. Then you say, ‘okay, Manafort, we’re sending you to jail for 15 years unless you just admit that you were colluding with the Russians and that Donald Trump knew everything,” said Stone.
The political veteran is skeptical about this move of pressuring Manafort.
WATCH:
“I don’t think that’s likely to happen. Paul Manafort is a solid man. I think he’s an honest man and I don’t think he’s going to roll on the president of the United States because they used some mafia-type tactic on him,” Stone told WMAL.
Stone insisted he has not spoken to the president about Manafort but says they both agree that “the entire question of Russian collusion with his campaign is a myth. A fairy tale.”
Stone has not been interviewed by the FBI or any investigator from Mr. Mueller’s operation but said he is happy to cooperate.
Stone appeared on WMAL as news broke from the New York Times about Manafort and his former business associate Rick Gates being told to surrender to federal authorities Monday morning, the first significant charges in a special counsel investigation.
In addition to his editorial role at TheDC, Coglianese hosts the WMAL morning-drive radio program.