No. of Recommendations: 9
Correct. His prior pardon from Trump only pertains to crimes regarding actions he took along with Paul Manafort. It is not a blanket pardon for future, unspecified, unlimited wrong-doing.
As I mentioned earlier, the "surprise" around this "surprise" is, ummm... surprising.
The last 24 hours of talking head investigations and analysis seem to imply the following timeline:
* election was held 11/3/2020
* Stone was recorded dictating this letter regarding fraudulent involvement of state legislatures on 11/5/2020
* multiple parties in the Trump sphere circulated similar letters on 11/5, 11/6 and 11/7
* the first totally confident call on the election was made on 11/7
Thus, this letter seems to imply that multiple members of the conspiracy were acting on a path to initiate this criminal fraud BEFORE actual election results were even available to review to begin considering for signs of alleged fraud. The plot was likely the result of a decision by someone who KNEW they were going to lose beginning alternative plans as soon as possible to remain in power -- and there is no legal way to remain in power after losing a Presidential election.
My take on Stone's roll in the entire plot is this...
Stone was primarily occupied fulfilling his normal role in Republican politics devising and executing various "dirty tricks" schemes throughout the 2020 campaign. As election day neared and it became clear Trump would likely lose, his team began contemplating alternatives that could be pursued if he lost.
Probably the FIRST alternative considered was civil unrest and violence. Communication channels were already established between Trump's sphere and groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers before the debates and that relationship was even explicitly addressed in a debate. It seems 100% likely that Stone was THE coordinator for that channel. It is 100% certain that channel was not expected to act as the legal brain trust for any litigation regarding fraud claims. They were involved purely for muscle for any eventual planned public events that would attempt to spook the public at large into thinking there was great civil unrest and gee, we must have security, let's let Trump tamp this down with troops, etc. Managing communications with a bunch of thugs is TOTALLY up Stone's alley so he took on that role.
It is already known that Stone administered a members-only encrypted chat channel "Friends of Stone" or FOS that had 15-20 regular participants. Given the timeline above, it seems likely that Stone's "draft" he dictated on 11/5 was shared on that channel and started others in the conspiracy thinking along similar lines. The record already shows Jeff Chesebro wrote his memo AFTER Stone wrote and distributed his version. I presume that the larger team felt a lawyer needed to be seen originating any "real" letter on this topic sent out to allies at the state level cuz Stone's signature is not something anyone wants on paperwork that might go public -- he already has a fifty year history as a complete whack job. Two others in the indicted team (Eastman and someone else) also originated drafts of a "legislature" strategy between 11/6 and 11/7 so a prosecutor could argue that Stone's version is "draft 0" and the seed of that particular crime.
The theory now seems to be that Stone was not named as a defendant so far because a) Smith wants to keep the docket for his case as streamlined as possible and b) Willis may have lacked some of the communication referencing Stone's draft and the means by which it was shared. I don't think there is any course of events that could unfold under which Stone will NOT be indicted and convicted and sent to prison. The gravitational pull of the negative karma of his entire life is too great to escape, not to mention his actual complicity here.
WTH
