Roger Stone Takes the Fifth During Appearance Before Jan. 6 Committee

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Ally of former President Donald Trump and longtime Republican political operative, Roger Stone, asserted his Fifth Amendment rights on Friday in his appearance before the House Committee investigating the January 6th insurrection.

Stone sat for an hour-and-a-half deposition behind closed doors, emerging to tell reporters that he pleaded the Fifth Amendment and did not answer any of the questions asked to him by the committee.

He told reporters he invoked the Fifth Amendment, which is the right to remain silent to avoid self-incrimination, “not because I have done anything wrong, but because I am fully aware of the House Democrats’ long history of fabricating perjury charges.”

“I question the legitimacy of this inquire based on the fact that Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi rejected the appointment of Republicans to this committee and seated two anti-Trump Republicans,” Stone added. “This is witch hunt 3.0.”

Roger Stone claims he invoked the Fifth Amendment to every question posed by the 1/6 committee because of Democrats’ “long history of fabricating perjury charges,” and not because he did anything wrong. pic.twitter.com/K8Fs2gdw0R

— The Recount (@therecount) December 17, 2021

The Committee sought Stone’s deposition to better understand his role in the pro-Trump rally ahead of the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Stone was in Washington, D.C. in the days ahead of the insurrection and the New York Times reported that he received protection from Oath Keeper members — a right-wing militia group on January 5. Six of those who protected Stone later stormed the Capitol.

Stone addressed his movements the day of the insurrection, with reporters after his deposition:

I stress yet again that I was not on the ellipse. I did not march to the Capitol. I was not at the Capitol and any claim, assertion or even implication that I knew about or was involved in any way whatsoever with the illegal and politically counter-productive activities of January 6, is categorically false.

Trump pardoned Stone in December of 2020 after he was indicted on charges of lying to Congress regarding then-candidate Trump’s knowledge about Russian efforts to discredit Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential campaign.