Roger Stone, a longtime political advisor to President Donald Trump, has been arrested in special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into election interference in 2016.
Stone faces seven counts, including witness tampering, obstruction of justice, and making false statements.
The indictment alleges that Stone had been in contact with a “high-ranking member of the Trump Campaign” about efforts to leak damaging information about the campaign of Trump’s Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.
Stone, who has described himself as a dirty trickster, will make an initial appearance at 11 a.m. ET at the federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
The White House and lawyers for Stone did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
Stone has been under scrutiny for months but has maintained his innocence. He is one of the top subjects of the investigation into potential collusion between Moscow and the Trump campaign.
Stone is also a former business associate of Paul Manafort, who headed up Trump’s campaign for several months in 2016. Manafort himself has been convicted of several federal crimes stemming from Mueller’s investigation.
The special counsel is investigating potential links between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. Trump has repeatedly denied that he colluded or obstructed justice.
Stone had predicted that he could face charges in the probe. He said he did nothing wrong, but contended to The Guardian that Mueller “may frame me for some bogus charge in order to silence me or induce me to testify against the president.”
Legal scrutiny of Stone, who as a young operative helped to boost President Richard Nixon’s re-election bid, appeared to focus on what he knew about the leak of Democratic emails during the 2016 campaign.
—The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This story is developing. Please check back for updates.
