For years, Trump adviser Roger Stone loved notoriety. Now he insists on his innocence
POMPANO BEACH, Fla. - The sun had set outside the banquet room when Roger Stone took the stage, a pale blue handkerchief sprouting from the chest pocket of his double-breasted gray suit.
Hundreds of miles away in Washington, prosecutors are assembling a case that could lead to Stone's indictment in connection with Russia's efforts to interfere with the 2016 election. But here at a dinner hosted by Americans for Trump, a fan club for the president's hardcore supporters, the investigation is a punch line.
Stone pauses his speech to sip his drink through a cocktail straw. "That was vodka, but not Russian vodka, to be clear," he assures the laughing audience.
A few hundred people jam tables and line the walls to hear from Stone, the 66-year-old veteran political strategist whose ties to President Donald Trump date back four decades, longer than any of the president's other advisers. For this crowd, Stone is an authentic emissary for the president they idolize, regardless of any investigation.
He closes his speech with two pleas: Vote for Republicans and donate to his legal defense fund.
