Over the weekend, it was revealed by the Washington Post that Matt Gaetz at an event
in October of 2019 had promised Roger Stone that Donald Trump was probably going to pardon him,
if he was of course convicted in his forthcoming trial at the time.
Now Stone was just days away from beginning his trial on seven different counts,
filed against him by the DOJ as a result of the Mueller investigation. So he and Matt Gaetz are
at an event and Matt Gaetz tells him quote, the boss still has a very favorable view of you.
I don't think the big guy can let you go down for this. Since there are many, many recording
devices around right now, I, I do not feel in a position to speak freely about the work I've
already done on the subject, Gaetz said. And of course at the time, Gaetz did not know that he was
being recorded. But Roger Stone was being followed around by a Danish film crew, was wearing a lapel
mic and caught the entire thing on tape. The film crew then let the Washington Post
go through the audio, which is how this is all now becoming public.
So was any of this illegal, including by the way, the recording
of this conversation? Well, Gaetz apparently seemed to know that there were recording vice,
devices in the vicinity. He may not have known that Roger Stone was recording him. And I love how
Roger Stone has tried to come out and act like, oh, this, he shouldn't have been recorded. Dude,
you were doing the recording. You were literally wearing the microphone that Matt Gaetz was
speaking into. You had the obligation to tell Matt Gaetz that you were being recorded. That
falls on you, buddy. So if any of this was in fact illegal, the illegal recording of a conversation,
because it happened in Florida and in Florida both parties have to consent to it. Then uhoh.
Roger Stone, you're likely in trouble as you were wearing the recording device. So
they can whine and and moan about this being an illegally recorded conversation all they want,
if it was in fact illegally recorded, Roger Stone's the one who's likely liable for that
for not informing Gaetz he was being recorded. Now the comments themselves, of course, don't worry,
I'm working on a pardon for you. Well, ordinarily that wouldn't necessarily be something that could
get you in trouble, right? Because Matt Gaetz was just saying what he was doing,
right? The pardon was for something totally unrelated. Matt Gaetz wasn't a part of it.
I've heard some people say, oh, this could be witness intimidation, witness tampering by saying,
don't worry. We're gonna get you a pardon. But this was for Roger Stone's own trial.
So how could it be witness tampering when the, this was the guy that was going on trial and
Gaetz had already told him you, you're probably gonna be found guilty, right? Gaetz was very
forthcoming on that. You're gonna be found guilty. So that's why I'm working on getting you a pardon.
So how is that witness tampering you might ask? Well, turns out that wasn't the only issue that
Roger Stone was facing. As Mueller put in his report, there were numerous instances where
both Roger Stone and Donald Trump told Mueller and his team just things that basically every
other testimony contradicted. So that would've been where Donald Trump was most likely either
obstruction of justice or perjury. So what the DOJ could have done
or what any prosecutor could have done is they could have called in Roger Stone
to testify and try to get him to flip on Donald Trump. By promising the pardon
or by at least even saying, because again, it wasn't necessarily promised,
by saying I'm working on it or the big guy's not gonna let you spend a day in prison,
that could be just enough to dangle in front of Roger Stone that would prevent him from ever
flipping on Donald Trump if an investigation and prosecution were to come somewhere along the line
in the future. So that is where the witness tampering could come into play. However,
because that situation never came up, it can't be witness tampering. If there is nothing that
Stone is having to act as a witness to, you can't tamper him, if that makes any sense to people.
Um, so I don't know that any of this as of right now is illegal.
If there were to be an investigation launched right now, assuming we haven't passed the statute
of limitations on a lot of these things, if Stone was called to testify against Trump, then maybe,
maybe you've got a case here. But honestly I don't see it. As much as I despise these two men, Stone
and Gaetz, I don't see how this could be something that would really get either of them in trouble.
The best bet, if you want somebody to go down for this, would be to file charges against Roger
Stone for illegally recording Matt Gaetz. You could probably get some criminal charges out
of that. But as for the rest of it, it's just another disgusting story that unfortunately
is not something that's gonna result in criminal charges.