Former Trump adviser Roger Stone snubs Senate and invokes Fifth Amendment in Russia probe

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Former Trump adviser Roger Stone snubs Senate and invokes Fifth Amendment in Russia probe

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  • Roger Stone, a key figure in the Russia probe, is invoking his Fifth Amendment right and declining to provide documents requested of him by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
  • In a letter to ranking Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Stone's attorney Grant Smith called the requests and "far too over-broad, far too overreaching," and "far too wide-ranging" for him to comply with.
  • Feinstein originally requested documents of Stone's communications with WikiLeaks and Trump campaign officials back in November 2017.

Roger Stone, the former adviser to President Donald Trump, is invoking his Fifth Amendment right and declining to provide documents requested of him by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

In a letter to the committee publicly released by ranking Democratic member Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Stone's lawyer Grant Smith said Stone "respectfully declines to produce any documents and declines the invitation for an interview." The letter cited the Fifth Amendment's protection against self-incrimination.

Smith called Feinstein's requests "far too over-broad, far too overreaching," and "far too wide-ranging in their all-embracing list of persons to whom the request could relate with whom Mr. Stone has spoken over the past three years."

Stone has become a central figure in special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether the Trump campaign collaborated with Moscow to tilt the race in Trump's favor. The special counsel has called at least seven of his associates to testify before the grand jury convened to hear testimony in the probe.

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Stone's involvement in the Russia probe revolves around whether he had foreknowledge of radical transparency group WikiLeaks releasing emails from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's campaign allegedly hacked by Russian security officers to sow discord in the 2016 election.

Read more: Top Trump campaign officials and right-wing media allies were convinced Roger Stone was much closer to WikiLeaks than he's let on

In the letter to the Judiciary Committee, Smith also called for the transcript of Stone's September 2017 closed-door testimony before the House Select Committee on Intelligence to be made public.

Feinstein originally requested documents of Stone's communications with WikiLeaks and Trump campaign officials in November 2017.

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