Former federal prosecutor Joseph Moreno on Monday characterized the early morning arrest of Roger Stone on Friday by roughly a dozen armed agents was an “aggressive, but consistent” move made by special counsel Robert Mueller.
“It’s aggressive, but it’s consistent with how Robert Mueller oftentimes operates,” Moreno told Hill.TV’s Buck Sexton and Jamal Simmons on “Rising” of the pre-dawn raid by agents wearing tactical gear.
“He did the same thing with Paul Manafort. He woke him up in his pajamas at 5 o’clock in the morning when he arrested him here in Alexandria,” Moreno continued, referring to the arrest of the former Trump campaign chairman at his Northern Virginia condo last year.
While various conservatives and Stone supporters criticized the manner of the arrest as overly aggressive, others have argued that the raid was due to concern that Stone could tamper with evidence.
“It falls on the very aggressive side. It seems like it was unnecessary, but it was consistent with how he’s treated other people,” Moreno said. “It’s defensible if you want to look at it from a consistency perspective.”
“The fact that he is charged with witness tampering. He is charged with destruction of evidence,” Moreno said. “I think the argument is that they made that knock and announce pre-dawn raid on his house in Florida because they were afraid that he’d destroy evidence.”
Stone was indicted on seven counts in connection with Mueller‘s probe into alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russia’s election interference on Friday.
The former longtime Trump adviser has said he will plead not guilty to the charges.
— Julia Manchester
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