Roger Stone considers suing to discover if he was spied on by FBI

Conservative operative and provocateur Roger Stone is considering suing the federal government to determine if he was the subject of an FBI surveillance effort on the Trump campaign, his attorney wrote in letters to U.S. officials and lawmakers exclusively obtained by Hill.TV.

Stone’s attorney leveled the threat in letters to U.S. Attorney John Durham, Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), and ranking House Intelligence Committee member Devin Nunes (R-Calif.).

{mosads}”We have strong reason to believe that Mr. Stone was among three advisors to candidate Trump who was under surveillance by the FBI during the 2016 presidential campaign,” Stone’s attorney Paul Jensen wrote in the May 20 letter. 

Jensen wrote in the letter he based the charges against the FBI on a New York Times front page story from January 20, 2017 titled “Wiretapped Data Used in Inquiry of Trump Aides.” The story describes how the FBI was reviewing intercepted communications between associates of Trump and the Russian government. It specifically mentions Stone, former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and former Trump advisor Carter Page as targets of the investigation.

“Having exhausted our administrative remedies we are now contemplating a tort lawsuit as a means to force the government to disclose the facts in this serious matter and to determine if Mr. Stone’s 4th amendment rights were violated,” Jensen’s letter continues, also calling on Trump to fulfill a promise to declassify troves of FBI and DOJ documents relating to the investigation of his 2016 campaign. 

Stone provided no evidence to substantiate his claim, though his inclusion of U.S. Attorney Durham is noteworthy. Durham was appointed by Attorney General William Barr to investigate possible FBI impropriety during the 2016 presidential campaign. 

Stone is currently awaiting trial on seven counts brought by special counsel Robert Mueller’s team including allegedly making false statements to Congress, tampering with a witness and obstructing a government investigation.