‘The Young Turks’: Does Donald Trump Know Roger Stone?

On February 14, the New York Times reported that four campaign advisers to President Donald Trump had “repeated contacts” with senior members of the Russian government in the 12 months leading up to the November election. The four advisers are said to include former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, and consultants Carter Page and Roger Stone.

When questioned about the ties of his advisers to the Russian government, President Trump responded that the news surrounding the nation is a “ruse,” that he has “nothing to do” with Russia, that he hasn’t made a “phone call to Russia in years,” and that “no person that I deal with” is connected to Russia.

Cenk Uygur, host and co-founder of The Young Turks, observed that many of the claims that President Trump appears to be making are easily verifiable as false. Uygur cited a publicly known phone conversation that occurred between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in recent weeks and the fact that his National Security Adviser, Michael Flynn, just resigned amid accusations that he withheld information about a conversation with a Russian official that occurred in December 2016, as previously featured by the Inquisitr.

In March 2016, Donald Trump named oil industry consultant Carter Page as a member of his foreign policy team, as reported by the Washington Post. In August 2016, Page visited Russia to meet with “business” and “thought” leaders, as reported by the New York Times. Recent revelations about Page include an FBI investigation into calls “captured” by the NSA as a part of “routine” surveillance of “foreign intelligence services.” Roger Stone’s alleged conversations with Russian operatives were said to come to light to intelligence officials in a similar manner to Carter’s.

The Times reports that each of those accused has “strongly denied that they had any improper contacts with Russian officials.”

Cenk Uygur concluded that President Trump appeared to be denying that he knows Roger Stone personally, given that Trump has spoken about Flynn and Manafort publicly. Evidence that the president has publicly acknowledged a relationship with Page also appears to be readily available. Stone, InfoWars host Alex Jones, and Cenk Uygur have clashed in the past: Stone and Jones crashed a live TYT set at the 2016 Republican National Convention, as previously featured by the Inquisitr.

President Trump called the most recent New York Times piece “discredited” and “a joke.” Yet, other sources discrediting the Times piece remain elusive.

Uygur offered the opinion that Donald Trump’s response to questions about the men makes it almost “impossible” to make sense of who he was referring to, but that it appears that he was denying knowing Roger Stone personally. He also stated that it is conceivable that Trump was referring to Page.

In December 2016, Roger Stone spoke with TYT reporter Naomi Konst about his lengthy relationship with Donald Trump. When Konst asked Stone if it was true that he convinced President Trump to run for office, Stone clearly replied “yes” and detailed how he first met Trump when he was 25-years-old.

“If he meant Roger Stone, he’s an even bigger liar than we realize,” Cenk Uygur said of the president’s response. “There’s no question that he knows Roger Stone really, really well.”

The TYT host compared Donald Trump telling the media that he doesn’t know Roger Stone with the president claiming that he has never met his wife.

“If he says that he’s never met Roger Stone, or maybe he was in a room with him once, that goes to show you that there isn’t anything he wouldn’t lie about.”

Uygur went on to openly wonder if President Trump “understands the difference between a lie and the truth.” TYT host John Iadorola questioned whether the president understands the “potential consequences” and that investigation by the NSA, FBI, and CIA remain active. Iadorola stated that Trump’s repeated denials appear to be helping build a case that a “weird connection” exists between the White House and the Russian government.

[Featured Image by Spencer Platt/Getty Images]