Robert Mueller’s team denies leaking Roger Stone indictment to CNN

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team on Friday denied allegations from former Trump adviser Roger Stone that his indictment was leaked to CNN before it was unsealed last month.

“The Special Counsel’s Office is aware of no information indicating that reporters were given any advance knowledge of a possible indictment from the Special Counsel’s office,” the filing states.

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Stone’s legal team had filed a motion in federal court claiming his indictment had been leaked after CNN was the only network to stake out Stone's Fort Lauderdale home when he was arrested before dawn last month. CNN later aired video of the arrest that showed a team of FBI agents with guns banging on Stone’s door and demanding that he come outside.

SO after weeks of accusations that CNN was tipped off to be there when Roger Stone was arrested, Mueller is denying it, kinda.

From the Hill:

“The Special Counsel’s Office is aware of no information indicating that reporters were given any advance knowledge of a possible indictment from the Special Counsel’s Office,” prosecutors wrote in a footnote of a new court filing Friday.

Of course, if they tipped them off then it would be a very improper act. I’ve never believed it because there were plenty of opportunities for Mueller to do stuff like this, and he didn’t take them before.

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On the other hand, if he wanted to leak this there’s plenty of ways to get it to CNN in a manner that would give him plausible deniability. OR it could be someone on his team, OR some Democrat in Congress that leaked it.

As for CNN, they’ve maintained that it was just good reporting that got them there:

CNN has publicly denied Stone’s claim that it was tipped off to the arrest. The outlet has credited good instincts, dogged reporting and a little luck for the early morning scoop.

“Stakeouts are a common practice in the news business. CNN, in fact, had another crew out on a stakeout in another state that same morning,” the network said in an online post. “The crew was at the home of another player in the Mueller probe, on the suspicion that the person could be arrested, but that hunch didn’t pan out.”

Very interesting.