Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC), the new chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is demanding an explanation from the FBI about its handling of last week’s arrest of Roger Stone.
In a letter sent Wednesday to FBI Director Chris Wray, Graham said he was “leery” of Stone being arrested at his Florida home in the early morning hours Friday, rather than being allowed to surrender voluntarily. He questioned whether the “tactics” were necessary in Stone’s case. Graham suggested that those tactics “only added to the spectacle.”
That the FBI abused its power in its arrest of Stone, who was charged by special counsel Robert Mueller, is a growing conspiracy theory on the right, with Stone himself comparing the arrest to raids on Osama bin Laden and the drug lord El Chapo.
Among the questions Graham asked Wray to respond to specifically by Feb. 5, is whether federal law enforcement alerted CNN — which had a reporting team at Stone’s house when he was arrested — or other media outlets when the arrest was going to occur.
CNN, the only outlet there that morning, published an account of how its large team of reporters covering the Mueller probe put together that Stone’s arrest might be happening Friday, including clues from Mueller grand jury’s schedule and from how Mueller has handled previous defendants. Nowhere has CNN indicated that it was tipped off to the arrest by a source in Mueller’s team or the Justice Department.
Prosecutors, in seeking to place Stone’s indictment and arrest warrant under seal, said in court filings that public disclosure of the charges “will increase the risk of the defendant fleeing and destroying (or tampering with) evidence.”
FBI agents also showed up with a search warrant for Stone’s home when he was arrested, and his duplex in New York was also raided, an associate of his told CNN.
Read Graham’s letter below:
