CNN and FBI Collude In Roger Stone Raid Media Spectacle?!
CNN and FBI Colluded In Roger Stone Raid Media Spectacle?! How was CNN able to be right up front at a pre dawn raid by the FBI at Roger Stone's house?Many people on the right are speculating that the raid on Roger Stone was coordinated by the FBI with CNN to set up a huge media spectacle. CNN claims they just happened to be there at the right time due to having their ears to the ground.But even still it seems like we constantly have these huge media events for Trump Russia stories that typically seem over hyped and end up fizzling out. Is this the case or was it just coincidence on CNNs part?
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Roger Stone has been arrested, as I'm sure most of you already know by now, and it was done in a pre-dawn raid where CNN was conveniently on scene to film everything as it happened.
And there's a lot of really weird things about this story that has people on the right questioning exactly how CNN was able to be there and why the FBI showed up in tactical gear with rifles to arrest a 66-year-old with no prior record.
This story's actually really interesting.
I'm going to lightly cover exactly what happened with Roger Stone, but today, let's take a look at how CNN was able to preempt everybody and film Roger Stone being arrested by FBI agents in tactical gear.
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From NBC News, ex-Trump advisor Roger Stone arrested as part of the Mueller probe.
Known as a fancy dresser, Stone was brought into court wearing a dark blue polo shirt and jeans.
The judge released him on a $250,000 bond.
And there's a reason why I used this story, because I'm not quite sure why they wanted to point out that Stone wears fancy clothing And that he was wearing a polo shirt and jeans.
But sure, let's read on and figure out what actually is happening.
Roger Stone, a former advisor to Donald Trump, was arrested Friday on charges of obstruction, giving false statements and witness tampering as part of special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian election interference.
Stone, a longtime Republican operative and self-described dirty trickster, has been under the microscope over his alleged connection to WikiLeaks and hacked Democratic emails released by the site during the 2016 presidential election.
He has repeatedly denied any collusion with WikiLeaks.
Stone, 66, was arrested before dawn by a team of federal agents at his home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a day after a grand jury in the U.S.
District Court for the District of Columbia indicted him on one count of obstruction of proceeding, five counts of making false statements, and one count of witness tampering.
For some reason, they had to point out that Stone, known as a fancy dresser, appeared in federal court late Friday morning in wrist shackles and wearing a dark blue polo shirt and jeans.
I have no idea why any of that matters, but sure, let's move on.
Stone said, I will plead not guilty to these charges.
I will defeat them in court, he told reporters afterwards, saying he would not bear false witness against the president in Mueller's politically motivated investigation.
I am falsely accused of making false statements, he said.
But now onto the bigger question.
How was CNN aware of what was about to happen?
This morning, Greta Van Susteren tweeted, CNN cameras were at the raid of Roger Stone.
So FBI obviously tipped off CNN.
Even if you don't like Stone, it is curious why Mueller's office tipped off CNN instead of trying to quietly arrest Stone.
Quiet arrests are more likely to be safe to the FBI and the person arrested.
Donald Trump tweeted this morning.
Greatest witch hunt in the history of our country.
No collusion.
Border coyotes, drug dealers, and human traffickers are treated better.
Who alerted CNN to be there?
Greta Van Susteren later tweeted, It's possible somebody else tipped off CNN and she shouldn't
have jumped the gun.
But there's still a lot of weird questions being asked.
Why was the FBI wearing tactical gear to arrest a 66-year-old with no previous record?
Many people have speculated maybe it's because the FBI was concerned.
Roger Stone may destroy evidence and that is possible.
Some people are saying that would be absurd because if they're arresting him, they already have evidence against him, but that doesn't mean they're not still investigating other things.
Apparently, they did raid one of his offices searching for evidence, so that could be the reason.
But let's take a look at the claim from the right and from CNN and CNN's defenders as to what actually happened here this morning.
From The Daily Caller, how exactly did CNN get footage of Roger Stone's arrest?
CNN was the only news outlet to capture footage of Trump confident Roger Stone's arrest Friday morning, raising allegations that they were tipped off to the impending raid by the FBI or the grand jury handling the case.
The seemingly too perfect scenario of CNN being the only outlet on scene as the FBI raided Stone's home sparked allegations that CNN had been tipped off to the arrest.
Many wondered why a raid was necessary in the first place.
Veteran journalist and former MSNBC host Greta Van Susteren tweeted, CNN either acted on a tip or had been camped out there, noting that either scenario is good journalism.
Van Susteren also speculated about the decision to raid, questioning fear of flight or destruction of evidence, or prosecutors really not like Stone.
Talking Points Memo published the story in defense of CNN, explaining exactly how they were able to pull this off.
How CNN beat everyone to the Roger Stone punch.
CNN found itself in the enviable position of being the only network staking out Roger Stone's Fort Lauderdale residence in the small hours of Friday morning, getting dramatic and constantly looped footage of FBI agents rapping on Stone's door and yelling that they had a warrant.
Well, some whispered about a lucky tip.
CNN shot down the rumors, insisting that their D.C.
reporters had ears to the ground and detected unusual grand jury activity.
The grand jury impaneled for special counsel Robert Mueller's probe usually meets on Fridays.
This week, they met on Thursday.
Crime and justice reporter David Shortle, who is based in Washington, D.C., said that all roads lead to Roger Stone, and he brought a cameraman with him to observe the Stone residence.
CNN made no secret about their guess.
Reporter Shimon Prokopich told host Don Lemon late Thursday that they had noticed the activity and suspected that something big, probably related to Stone, would happen on Thursday.
Prokopich noted that last time the jury convened on a Thursday, indictments against a group of Russian nationals came down the next day.
And they posted a video in which, yes, on CNN, they did say they think something was about to happen.
I gotta say, in my opinion, it really does look like CNN just got lucky.
And it's not necessarily even luck.
I mean, they knew something was happening, they talked about it last night, and then someone decided to go down to his house and wait for the FBI to show up.
And then they did.
The only reason, in my opinion, this sounds spectacular is because something actually happened.
But let me just tell you, I've been on stakeouts, I have been on night crawls, and yes, often you go out with a tip or a hunch or a guess and nothing happens.
Just because it was right this one time doesn't mean it's unusual.
I'm sure CNN and other outlets have journalists staked out at many other places waiting for something to happen and then nothing does.
And because nothing does, you don't hear about it.
So when it finally does happen, it sounds too spectacular.
But in reality, in my opinion, I think CNN probably just got lucky.
However, there is something else that needs to be brought up because regardless of whether or not CNN was tipped off, it seems really strange that they were allowed to be there with bright lights and cameras and the FBI didn't care.
Tony Schaefer on Twitter tweeted, no matter how one paints it,
CNN had special treatment to get access to the raid.
As a volunteer member of law enforcement and VA, media, even if tipped off,
would not be allowed to be anywhere near the execution of a raid.
This was a dramatic setup allowed by the FBI.
Sean Davis of the Federalist tweeted, nobody, not even CNN, believes that CNN sent a full camera
crew to a single house in South Florida before dawn
because it noticed unusual grand jury activity, which by law is secret in Washington DC.
It was tipped by somebody in law enforcement and everybody knows it.
To this, Brian Stelter of CNN responded, You're revealing your ignorance about the news business
again.
This is how news gathering works.
In response to Stelter, Robert Karp said, Brian, as a veteran photojournalist, I've never seen that
kind of access to a high-profile federal raid without a profound and impolite pushback from law
enforcement officers.
The news crews appear to be welcome at the scene with approval.
Great job either way, though.
Stelter's response?
The CNN crew literally said they were pushed back as it happened.
That's why the video of the doorknock isn't clearer.
Karp says, So I think the truth is often closer to the middle.
Hundreds of breaking news events and regardless of the crime almost always pushed back by
LEO.
If FBI didn't want the news crews there, they would have been pushed back blocks from the
scene.
If I am wrong, I'm happy to admit it.
So I think the truth is often closer to the middle.
I do believe it's very possible that CNN was tipped off because they obviously knew somebody
in the grand jury space that could have let them know something was happening.
They had their ears to the ground.
What happened?
Not sure.
Maybe they witnessed something.
The point is CNN got an idea.
They did report on it and showed up before dawn.
Maybe they were there all night.
Maybe they were just lucky.
It is entirely possible.
But I do think Brian Stelter is absolutely wrong.
And I'm going to point out the other journalists in the situation saying that even if they were staking out his house, the FBI would have pushed them back way before any of this took place.
Look, I've been to many breaking news events.
The law enforcement officers are going to move you out before anything happens, so think about it this way.
Those cameras are standing in the street filming the arrest.
There are FBI agents in tactical gear standing in front of them.
That, to me, is shocking.
Again, it's entirely possible the FBI just didn't care, but it does seem very, very strange in most situations I've been in.
The police, the law enforcement, before anything happened, as they pulled up on scene, would order you to get back and get away, period.
Before they moved anywhere near the house.
They wouldn't just ignore the people standing in the street who could compromise their raid.
So now I'll tell you my bigger opinion on all of this.
I really do feel like this is a media spectacle.
Again, consider the possibilities.
You know, CNN maybe just got lucky and the FBI didn't care.
It is entirely possible.
But I do think the FBI wants the press.
Look at the BuzzFeed story.
Someone in law enforcement, in fact two law enforcement sources, gave BuzzFeed information that has been contested by Mueller's office.
Why would law enforcement officials give information independently to BuzzFeed so they would report this big breaking news story that would go far and wide only to have Mueller discredited a day later?
And then a day later after that, these law enforcement agents tell BuzzFeed again, no, it's true.
So is Mueller lying?
The only thing I can see from all of this is that they want a media spectacle.
But it seems like the most effective thing they're doing is generating press attention for the Russia investigation, even though, even right now, with Roger Stone's arrest, there is no proof of Russian collusion.
Between Trump, at least.
So sure, it may come out that somebody at some point did.
And I think you should all be open to that possibility.
The Russia story may not be completely nothing.
But I will say for the time being, I'm just not going to believe there's anything here, especially when every single time a story comes out, it's proven false or discredited.
I've mentioned this before and I made a video about it.
The Intercept compiled a list of 20 stories over the past couple years about the Russia collusion investigation, the whole story, that are proven, they were discredited or false or had no evidence.
How many times are we gonna keep hearing this?
I'm just not going to believe it's true at this point.
It could be.
Don't get me wrong.
I'm just saying.
I haven't seen any evidence.
Even the New York Times said last week there's still no evidence.
And once again, we have a huge media spectacle with no meat.
What happened?
Roger Stone got arrested for obstruction of justice, for providing false statements and witness tampering.
Nothing to do with collusion with a foreign government to manipulate the 2016 election.
And while I have you, I have to ask why.
Democratic operatives, as reported by the New York Times, tampered with the Alabama race with Roy Moore and Doug Jones.
We know they were manipulating the election.
We know they were lying and manipulating the press.
The story went far and wide.
They set up a false flag campaign.
Those were their words reported by the New York Times.
Why is there no investigation into that?
Why are we now seeing some 66-year-old guy with no prior record being arrested in an armed tactical raid before dawn with a big media spectacle?
All of this, to me, just seems... weird.
But there you go.
What else can I say?
Let me know what you think, though.
I know a lot of people think that CNN was tipped off.
Maybe they were.
I know a lot of people think this is total BS, so comment below.
We'll keep the conversation going.
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