Newly minted civil libertarians
by digby
LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: Right, and we talked about that on radio as well at the time. Now, are there any, is — look, we all forget things. But these are pretty — given the nature of this investigation, might you have forgotten other things?
ROGER STONE, FMR. TRUMP ADVISOR: To the extent that I made mistakes of memory, they would be without intent, and it would be inconsequential. They would not be material under the law.
For any legal expert to look at these little excerpts without reading four and a half hours of testimony to see the context, the questions before and the questions after, would be irresponsible. But you can watch CNN and see the indictment is a slam dunk. My attorneys don’t think so.
INGRAHAM: A former FBI assistant director, Frank Figliuzzi, was talking about your only hope now being a pardon. Let’s watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRANK FIGLIUZZI, FORMER ASSISTANT DIRECTOR FOR COUNTERINTELLIGENCE AT THE FBI: I’m a strong advocate of the theory that stone is positioning himself for a pardon and that it’s likely the only hope he has. He seems driven and motivated merely by absolute publicity, absolute being in the center of things, regardless of whether it’s bad publicity or good publicity. He needs to be there and he seems to be shaded toward the negative.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Is that it? Is — your only path outcome according to these characters on TV?
STONE: You know, I don’t know —
INGRAHAM: You’re appearing to talk to the president through our show to get a pardon?
STONE: I don’t know many FBI agents who know much about politicians, public relations, or the law in many cases. The truth of the matter is, if you read my book, “Stone’s Rules,” I believe when you’re falsely accused of something, and you say nothing, you say no comment, or Roger Stone was unavailable, most Americans assume you are guilty.
The whole purpose of this over-the-top raid on my house, in which they sent in more men then were used to protect our compound in Benghazi, was to paint a picture of me coming to poison a jury pool —
INGRAHAM: It was so ridiculous.
STONE: — as public enemy number one.
INGRAHAM: I — it was one of the more ridiculous things. And it was offensive. It’s offensive to me.
Regardless of what goes down here, that — it was like Elian Gonzalez times 29 or times 28. It was absurd.
It’s great to see these Republicans all become civil libertarians, worried about the overreach of America’s police apparatus. Still, and all this handwringing is little bit weird coming from people who hysterically scream the words “lock her up!” every time they are in the presence of their Dear Leader is just a tad incongruous. But who knows, maybe someday they’ll be as concerned about the civil liberties of their political rivals and people of color as they are of rich, white right-wing political operatives.
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