Roger Stone claims he found God before President Donald Trump commuted his prison sentence -- but his faith sounds a lot like the "QAnon" conspiracy theory.
The longtime Republican "dirty trickster" and self-described "libertine" says he had a spiritual awakening in January after attending an outdoor prayer service led by Franklin Graham, reported CBN News.
"At that moment, I felt the calling," Stone told the religious broadcasting network. "I stood up with 500 other people. I wasn't the slightest bit embarrassed. I confess that I was a sinner. I repeated a pledge that he recited, and it was as if a cement block was lifted off my chest. I can't even explain it."
Stone was sentenced to 40 months in federal prison the following month after a jury convicted him on seven counts, including witness tampering and lying to investigators, but the longtime Trump associate says he always had faith the president would protect him.
"I was never scared," Stone said. "I was never worried. I was completely confident that the Lord would guide the president to do the right thing."
Stone said prosecutors on special counsel Robert Mueller's team pressed him to testify against the president as they investigated Russian election interference, and he made what sounded like a reference to the QAnon conspiracy theory recently embraced by disgraced national security adviser Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying about his contacts with Russia, and a number of GOP candidates.
"I really do believe that those who are trying to undo this president, those who are trying to destroy me, trying to destroy Michael Flynn, who's a very good man and great American patriot war hero, I do believe they're satanic," Stone said.
Stone appeared earlier last month, before Trump commuted his sentence, on "The Matrixxx" podcast hosted by QAnon advocate Jeffrey Pederson and expressed support for the conspiracy theory, which grew out of the debunked "Pizzagate" conspiracy promoted by Stone ally Alex Jones.
"I do a lot of interviews and I meet with a lot of patriot groups and I always get the question, 'Mr. Stone, is Q real?'" Stone told the podcaster. 'And I always say, 'I don't know, but let me tell you this: I certainly hope Q is real and there a number of indications that the information that is being disseminated has been of enormous value in this fight for freedom.'"
Stone described QAnon conspiracists "great patriots," and assured the podcaster "if we hang together, we can save this country."
The president himself promotes social media accounts that push the QAnon conspiracy, which holds that a cabal of godless elites are kidnapping and ritualistically abusing children and Trump has been working all along, possibly with Mueller, to expose and prosecute them.
"They cut corners and what's outrageous is their arrogance, their moral superiority, when in fact, they have no morals at all," Stone told CBN. "I don't believe that any of these people involved in my prosecution are really believers in God."
Stone claims his newfound faith has taught him that "vengeance is God's," and not his, but then he made another statement that possibly fits in with the byzantine QAnon narrative.
"The Lord will deal with them so it's not like they will go unpunished," he warned. "That makes it easier to pray for them for when that moment comes."
