Watch: Roger Stone hatched plan to overturn 2020 election before results were known
Longtime GOP operative and Donald Trump ally Roger Stone is shown hatching plans to overturn the 2020 election before the results were even known in a video obtained by MSNBC host Ari Melber.
The video, which the cable network released publicly on Wednesday during “The Beat with Ari Melber,” shows Stone, who was previously caught on a hot mic talking about how he got Trump to do his bidding, dictating the plans to an associate on Nov. 5, 2020, two days after Election Day. The statement outlines plans to compel state legislatures to overturn close races by claiming election fraud.
The video, which highlights the plot that is now at the center of a federal and state indictments, was taken by Danish documentarian, Melber said.
“Although state officials in all 50 states must ultimately certify the results of the voting in their state, the final decision as to who the state legislatures authorize be sent to the electoral college is a decision made solely by the legislature,” Stone said. “Any legislative body may decide on the basis of overwhelming evidence of fraud to send electors to the Electoral College who accurately reflect the President’s legitimate victory in their state, which was illegally denied him through fraud.“
He continued:
"We must be prepared to lobby our Republican legislatures by personal contact and by demonstrating the overwhelming will of the people … in each state that this may need to happen."
“Let me make a clear point about this exclusive here on The Beat tonight,” Melber said. “That was before the presidential race had even been called for Biden. Now this is important, take a look, Stone pushing the elector plot as you just saw with your own eyes all the way back on November 5 2020. That’s a shot of the video on the left that we just took broken here as news tonight.”
Melber noted that Stone’s comments in the video undercut a key Trump defense argument.
“That timeline hurts the Trump defense that we’ve heard so much about, that these individuals pushing these plots were acting in a good faith belief they had won. Indeed, this particular piece of evidence, this video shows quite the opposite for Stone. He was pushing the plot, not because he believed Trump had won or was looking at numbers or looking at the results as they were called, which hadn’t happened yet,” Melber said.
“Regardless of the results that were not even in, he was already pushing this plot. Stone’s words on video were early, a month before now indicted Ken Cheseboro penned the memo outlining the plot, long before Rudy Giuliani, now indicted, was recruiting those people.”
Watch 'Buckle up your seatbelt': Watergate lawyer shows why Roger Stone’s 'day is coming'Former Watergate prosecutor Nick Akerman warned Roger Stone that the strong arm of the law isn't far off.
Akerman was speaking to Jason Johnson on Thursday, who was filling in for MSNBC's Ari Melber, when Johnson replayed a clip of the bombshell documentary that exposed Roger Stone's role in the Jan. 6 attack and in proposing the idea of fake electors.
Among the things revealed in the doc is that Stone had a meltdown over the fact that Trump didn't pardon him before leaving office on Jan. 20.
"I think the real problem here is that in the Jan. 6th indictment that was brought to the District of Columbia by Jack Smith, he wanted to keep it really simple, and had only Donald Trump as a defendant, so he could get this to trial in January or February of next year," explained Akerman.
As for Roger Stone, however, Akerman said, "I guarantee you they have something on him. I mean, just to give you a couple of little tidbits, we know that Roger Stone was on Capitol Hill on Jan. 5th, the day before the riot. He was hanging out with the very people that you just mentioned in that group chat, the Proud Boys, and the Oath Keepers. In fact, he was photographed with the three of the Oath Keepers who have pled guilty to seditious conspiracy and agreed to cooperate with the government."
Those witnesses, the three Oath Keepers, haven't yet been called in any of the trials.
"And I think the radical reason is, probably they are saving those people for Roger Stone," said Akerman. "If they had had them testify in the original trials, they would have had to turn over all of the statements and reveal what they have said about Roger Stone. So, my sense is that Roger Stone's day is coming. Buckle up your seatbelt, and just sit and wait."
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