WASHINGTON — Political consultant Roger Stone, a former campaign adviser to President Donald Trump, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges of obstruction, giving false statements and witness tampering.
Stone, 66, entered a not guilty plea Tuesday morning during his arraignment in Washington, four days after he was arrested on charges stemming from special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election meddling, Vox reported.
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Stone pleads not guilty.
— Andrew Prokop (@awprokop) January 29, 2019
>> More on Robert Mueller's investigation
A judge scheduled his next hearing in the case for Feb. 1, according to BuzzFeed News.
The goverment has requested no change in release conditions for Stone - he'll be released on the $250K bond. He's due back in court on Feb. 1 at 1:30pm. Special counsel prosecutor Jeannie Rhee noted they're handling the case jointly with the DC US attorney's office
— Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) January 29, 2019
Stone was arrested in the predawn hours Friday at his home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The indictment handed down that day does not accuse him of coordinating with Russia or with WikiLeaks on the release of hacked Democratic emails. But it does allege that he misled lawmakers about his pursuit of those communications and interest in them. The anti-secrecy website published emails in the weeks before the 2016 presidential election that the U.S. says were stolen from Democrats by Russian operatives.
Stone said he did nothing more than exercise his First Amendment rights to drum up interest with voters about the WikiLeaks disclosures. He said he never discussed the issue with Trump.
"It's called politics and they haven't criminalized it, at least not yet," Stone said Sunday on ABC's "This Week."
.@GStephanopoulos: "Have you ever had any conversations with the president during the campaign or since the campaign about Russia or the Mueller investigation?"
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) January 27, 2019
Roger Stone: "None whatsoever, categorically. Zero" https://t.co/8is05mw7w6 pic.twitter.com/ztG8of3SmT
He asserted his innocence in an impromptu news conference Friday outside the federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, where he was at times nearly drowned out by chants of, "Lock him up."
"As I have always said the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about," Stone said.
He called the charges "politically motivated" and emphasized that the charges, "relate in no way to Russian collusion (or) WikiLeaks collaboration."
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.
Stone was released from custody Friday on a $250,000 bond.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Cox Media Group
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