House panel subpoenas Roger Stone's phone records in Jan. 6 probe
Roger Stone attends premiere Get Me Roger Stone at SVA during 2017 Tribeca Film Festival. (lev radin / Shutterstock.com)
February 24, 2022
Roger Stone claims the House select committee has subpoenaed his phone records as part of the investigation into the Jan. 6 insurrection.
The longtime Republican operative and Donald Trump adviser told supporters in an email that he was suing to block the subpoena, which he said covered records of his calls from November, December and January, although he didn't specify the year, reported Mother Jones.
“I just hung up with my lawyer,” Stone said in the email soliciting donations to his legal defense fund. “I instructed him to file a lawsuit against the January 6th Committee. It’s time that someone put an end to this fishing expedition and witch hunt.”
The fundraising email included an image showing a Feb. 15 subpoena from the committee sent to AT&T seeking his phone records.
Stone appeared at multiple "Stop the Steal" rallies between the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, and he raised money for "private security" for events preceding the riot and associated with members of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, who allegedly helped plan the attack.
The committee questioned Stone in December, after subpoenaing him, but he asserted his Fifth Amendment rights and refused to answer questions.
“While I have nothing to hide, it is obvious that this is a fishing expedition,” Stone said in the fundraising pitch. “It was obvious to me from the questions I was asked before the committee that the Democrats are desperate to find some charge — any charge — that would have the effect of eliminating President Donald Trump as a candidate in 2024.”
Stone was convicted of lying to Congress, obstructing Congress, and witness tampering in 2019 for statements related to his contacts with WikiLeaks during the 2016 campaign, but Trump pardoned him two weeks before the insurrection.