Trump associate Roger Stone pleads not guilty

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - Roger Stone, the associate and close confidant of U.S. President Donald Trump, pled not guilty Tuesday to seven criminal charges brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

Stone was arrested in a pre-dawn raid last Friday, and is being charged with lying to Congress and obstructing Mueller's probe.

He had been under investigation for his alleged contacts with Wikileaks and its release of emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee.

The indictment, which was unsealed as he was arrested Friday, alleges Stone worked with the Trump campaign through August 2015 and then maintained regular contacts with it during the election cycle.

Part of those contacts included discussions with "senior Trump Campaign officials" about the information Wikileaks, which is referred to as “Organization 1,” had and how it could be damaging to the campaign of Trump's Democratic challenger, Hillary Clinton, according to the indictment.

It alleges senior Trump campaign officials contacted Stone about when Wikileaks would release its troves of stolen emails.

Stone did not make public remarks on his way into the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C., but insisted last week he would not cooperate with Mueller's probe, which is investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election and possible Trump campaign collusion.

The longtime Republican political operative said Mueller's investigation is "politically motivated," and dismissed suggestions he would testify against Trump because, he said, in doing so he "would have to bear false witness against him."