Politics

Roger Stone’s Shock And Awe Arrest Is ‘An American Nightmare,’ Says Judge Napolitano

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Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano called Roger Stone’s arrest “an American nightmare” and said it was meant to intimidate him and send a message to the public.

“This is jackboots in the morning. This is an American nightmare that they would arrest somebody like this,” Napolitano said on “Fox & Friends” Tuesday.

“[He’s] not a public threat. It’s not a crime of violence. He has no criminal record. His passport expired. He doesn’t own any weapons and they went after him with this kind of fire power,” he continued. Why did they do that? Probably to intimidate him and to send a message to the public at large — this must be a bad guy or we wouldn’t use that kind of force to arrest him.”

Napolitano said the fact that Stone was freed on his own recognizance gives insight into what the judge thinks of the case and predicted a gag order would be issued to prevent Stone from going on TV.

“The fact that he has no bail, he was freed on his own signature and they promise that if he didn’t return the bail would be $250,000 — tells you what the judge thinks of the case,” he said.

“Roger Stone is Roger Stone. He loves being the center of attention and he wants to get his message out there. But, prediction — at the arraignment today the government will do what they did in the Manafort case and it’s the same judge in Washington, D.C. Ask for a gag order and she’ll probably grant it. Which means this person who makes his living by going on television and radio and expressing an opinion will not be able to do so if he’s talking about himself. I think he’s in a lot of trouble.”

Stone has been accused by the special counsel of obstruction and lying to Congress. He is set to be arraigned in DC federal court Tuesday and is expected to plead not guilty.

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