Longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone indicted

Longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone was arrested on January 25 at his home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in connection with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia. It’s one of the biggest moves by Mueller’s office in months.

Stone was charged with seven counts, including obstruction of official proceedings, making false statements, and witness tampering. The political operative, whose reputation as a dirty political trickster dates back decades, hinted in the past that Mueller was targeting him; several people had been subjected to detailed questioning about Stone.

He is key to the probe because of his alleged communications during the 2016 campaign with WikiLeaks and messages he exchanged with “Guccifer 2.0,” the online persona that authorities have linked to Russian officers who sought to hack Democratic emails. (The charges, though, don’t directly relate to Stone’s actions during the campaign.) The text of his indictment also mentions that “a senior Trump campaign official was directed to contact Stone” about damaging information WikiLeaks might have had on Hillary Clinton.