Roger Stone Sought Trump Pardons For Matt Gaetz and His Alleged Sex Trafficking Partners
Donald Trump crony Roger Stone reportedly tried to get pardons for Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and two other men allegedly involved in a sex trafficking scandal in their home state of Florida.
While it was already known that Stone sought pardons in the final days of Donald Trump’s presidency for Gaetz and his “wingman” Joel Greenberg, who has pleaded guilty to sex trafficking, The Daily Beast is now reporting that Stone also lobbied for a pardon for Stephen Alford, who pleaded guilty in federal court in November to his attempt to extort money from Gaetz and his wealthy family.
The Washington Post first revealed Stone’s connection to Alford earlier this month, but that report didn’t mention Alford’s name, which was discovered in a document the Post obtained and uploaded online. Alford pleaded guilty in November 2021 to wire fraud in a scheme to extort $25 million from Gaetz’s father, former Florida Senate President Don Gaetz, with the promise of a presidential pardon for his lawmaker son — who characterized the scheme, with Stone’s help, as a “deep state” plot to smear him.
Tic Toc Roger Stone https://t.co/Oely46780y
— white rabbit👣🎭🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@TuesdayMotley) March 14, 2022
Stone’s alliance with Alford fell apart two months after the pardon talks when Alford became the scapegoat for the Gaetz investigation.
Roger Stone tells the QAnon conference this weekend that the reason why he wasn’t at the Capitol on J6 was because he had an epiphany that morning in the shower: “The Lord came to me and he specifically told me not to leave my hotel, and I didn’t.” pic.twitter.com/F8mNdTOKLo
— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) March 13, 2022
Greenberg pleaded guilty in May 2021 to numerous crimes as part of a plea deal to cooperate with prosecutors, presumably in its ongoing investigation of Gaetz. One of the charges he pleaded to was that of sex trafficking of a 17-year-old girl.
NEW: A new memo reveals that Roger Stone advocated for pardons for not one not two but *three* people central to the Matt Gaetz sex trafficking scandal. They’re all on opposite sides. Me @thedailybeast https://t.co/nS0ccl9cer
— Roger Sollenberger found true love, suckers (@SollenbergerRC) March 14, 2022
The Gaetz campaign started paying Stone around that time for “strategic campaign consulting,” according to federal records,
It would be a shame if this video of Matt Gaetz talking to Roger Stone about the "rule of law" went viral. Oh, the irony! Gaetz then goes on to defend Manafort, Trump, Stone and Kushner. Bottom line: Gaetz should resign! pic.twitter.com/JZA2jkBhds
— Jon Cooper (@joncoopertweets) March 6, 2019