Florida man Roger Stone is once again in a major political scandal: Miami newspaper
Florida is once again in the national news after testimony Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson's bombshell testimony on Tuesday.
"The joke among journalists in South Florida is that there is always a Florida angle to any significant national story — and in this week’s explosive testimony at the Jan. 6 committee hearings by a former White House aide, the local connection was her mention of Roger Stone, a Fort Lauderdale-based political operative and Donald Trump minion," The Miami Herald editorial board wrote on Thursday. "According to Cassie Hutchinson, a former aide to Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, in the crucial hours where he hoped to wrest back the presidency he had lost in November, Trump turned to Stone for help. 'Get me Stone!' Can’t you just hear the enraged Trump?"
"Get Me Roger Stone" was the title of a 2017 Netflix documentary that featured commentary from Trump.
"Ms. Hutchinson, is it your understanding that President Trump asked Mark Meadows to speak with Roger Stone and General [Michael] Flynn on January 5?" Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) asked.
"That's correct. That is my understanding," she replied. "I'm under the impression that Mr. Meadows did complete both a call to Mr. Stone and General Flynn the evening of the 5th."
Attorney Katie Phang, who teaches at the University of Miami School of Law, wondered, "Why did Trump want Meadows to talk to Roger Stone & Michael Flynn?"
\u201cThe day before the Capitol attack, on 1/5, why did Mark Meadows want to go to the War Room at the Willard Hotel where Giuliani, Bannon, Eastman, et al. were located?\n\nWhy did Trump want Meadows to talk to Roger Stone & Michael Flynn? \ud83e\udd14\u201d— Katie S. Phang (@Katie S. Phang) 1656531914
The Herald noted Stone was reportedly, "in contact with leaders of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, which also have Miami and Florida ties."
And this wasn't Stone's third Florida scandal involving a presidential campaign.
In 2008, Jeffrey Toobin was taken to the Miami Velvet swinger's club by Stone while writing a New Yorker profile published under the headline, "The Dirty Trickster."
"Stone served as a senior consultant to Bob Dole’s 1996 campaign for President, but that assignment ended in a characteristic conflagration. The National Enquirer, in a story headlined 'Top Dole Aide Caught in Group-Sex Ring,' reported that the Stones had apparently run personal ads in a [Florida] magazine called Local Swing Fever and on a Web site that had been set up with Nydia’s credit card. 'Hot, insatiable lady and her handsome body builder husband, experienced swingers, seek similar couples or exceptional muscular . . . single men,' the ad on the Web site stated. The ads sought athletes and military men, while discouraging overweight candidates, and included photographs of the Stones," Toobin reported. "At the time, Stone claimed that he had been set up by a 'very sick individual,' but he was forced to resign from Dole’s campaign. Stone acknowledged to me that the ads were authentic."
For years later, Stone was yet again involved in the Brooks Brothers riot during the 2000 Florida recount, which he told Toobin he directed from a Winnebago.
“I set up my command center there. I had walkie-talkies and cell phones, and I was in touch with our people in the building. Our whole idea was to shut the recount down. That was why we were there. We had the frequency to the Democrats’ walkie-talkies and were listening to their communications, but they were so disorganized that we didn’t learn much that was useful," Stone said.
Watch the trailer for "Get Me Roger Stone":
Get Me Roger Stone | Official Trailer [HD] | Netflix www.youtube.com