Former federal prosecutor points House riot committee to new path that could make Roger Stone talk
Appearing on MSNBC on Saturday afternoon, former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade explained that the House select committee investigating the Jan 6th Capitol insurrection already has the tool they could use to compel former Donald Trump confidante Roger Stone to come clean on the former president's involvement in the riot.
Speaking with host Yasmin Vossoughian, McQuade said that Stone would likely continue to invoke his 5th Amendment right to not incriminate himself, and that it would be in the Justice Department's best interests to give him immunity from related criminal charges.
"Roger Stone wants it both ways, saying I haven't really committed a crime and so I'm invoking my 5th Amendment right," the former prosecutor explained. "That's not how it works with a well-grounded fear of criminal prosecution. Most of the time, when someone invokes their 5th Amendment rights judges will typically honor that and then the only option is considering whether to grant immunity to those witnesses who have invoked the 5th Amendment. It just means you can't use the statements against them in a criminal case."
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"As we saw in the Oliver North years ago, once someone in a high-profile case talks about it, it's very difficult to prove that other witnesses who testified at the trial did so completely independently, and completely free of anything they might have heard in the media or in the public, that originated with that person themselves," she added. "And so, it can be difficult to prosecute someone after they've again been given immunity. So, it might require a decision about whether you want to grant them immunity and whether their information is worthy enough. Maybe it is. Maybe you see someone like a Roger Stone as a pawn in all of this. Sometimes, you have to sacrifice your pawns if you want to capture the king."
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