'No Evidence Of Russian Collusion': Trump Ally Roger Stone To House Panel
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WASHINGTON D.C. (CBSMiami) – Roger Stone, a longtime adviser and confidant of President Donald Trump, answered questions before the House Intelligence Committee Tuesday behind closed doors on Capitol Hill.
Stone spoke to reporters following the session and said he's "aware of no evidence whatsoever of collusion by the Russian state or anyone in the Trump campaign, or anyone associated with Donald Trump."
"We had a very frank exchange, I answered all of the questions, I made the case that the accusation that I knew about John Podesta's email hack in advance was false, that I knew about the content and source of the WikiLeaks disclosures regarding Hillary Clinton was false, and that my exchange with someone claiming to be Guccifer 2.0 when viewed through the context, content and timing was benign and innocuous," he said after the meeting.
Stone was questioned by staff members but committee members were present.
The top democrat on the House Intelligence Committee said Stone refused to answer a line of questioning from the committee.
Rep. Adam Schiff said if Stone doesn't comply in the future he could face a subpoena from the committee to come back and answer the questions.
"I just wanted to make a quick statement following the testimony of Mr. Stone before our committee. There was one significant area of seminal importance to the committee that Mr. Stone was unwilling to answer our questions. We hope that he will cooperate in the future, if not it will be necessary to subpoena him to bring him back to answer those important questions," stated Rep. Schiff.
Stone, however, said he "had an opportunity to correct a number of the things that members of the committee had said about me, which they seemed to take in, and I think was productive. I expressed my view that I'm aware of no evidence whatsoever of collusion by the Russian state or anyone in the Trump campaign, or anyone associated with Donald Trump, and I reiterated my view that in my opinion Donald Trump has the potential to be both a truly great and transformative President."
Earlier this year, Rep. Schiff told reporters that one reason potential witnesses demanded public hearings was because they want to promote books.
Stone has written "The Making of the President 2016: How Donald Trump Orchestrated a Revolution" -- and has inspired a Netflix documentary, Get Me Roger Stone.
Stone arrived at Tuesday's hearing with a reporter for InfoWars -- the website anchored by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. In a tweet Sunday, Stone said InfoWars would "embed a reporter and cameraman in Camp Stone for my epic testimony."
