Longtime Trump advisor Roger Stone arrived in Washington on Monday afternoon ahead of his criminal arraignment scheduled for Tuesday morning in a D.C. federal court. Stone faces seven federal charges including lying to Congress, obstruction of justice and witness tampering.
Stone's commercial flight also carried President Donald Trump's 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale and former Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Stone has said he hasn't ruled out cooperating with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, despite his previous attacks on the investigation.
Speaking on ABC's 'This Week' program, Stone stated he would 'testify honestly' if he knew about any Trump campaign wrongdoing, and did not rule out speaking about his communications with the president. 'If there's wrongdoing by other people in the campaign that I know about – which I know of none – but if there is, I would certainly testify honestly,' he said.
Stone's legal team faced a setback as neither of his criminal attorneys is cleared to practice law in Washington D.C. Magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson noted in a court docket that neither Robert Buschel nor Grant Smith is a member of the D.C. Bar, giving them until Tuesday morning to find a local lawyer to sponsor them.
The White House sought to distance President Trump from the charges. Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters that Stone's indictment 'has absolutely nothing to do with the president' and that 'the president did nothing wrong throughout this process.'
