Roger Stone

Quick facts

• Full name: Roger Jason Stone Jr.
• Born: August 27, 1952, Norwalk, Connecticut
• Education: George Washington University (did not graduate)
• Occupation: Political operative, lobbyist, self-described “dirty trickster”
• Era of activity: 1972–present
• Criminal record: Convicted on seven felony counts (November 15, 2019) for obstruction, making false statements to Congress, and witness tampering; sentence commuted (July 10, 2020) and a full pardon granted (December 23, 2020) by Donald Trump
• Signature detail: A portrait of Richard Nixon tattooed across his back

Key positions

Biography

Roger Jason Stone Jr. was born on August 27, 1952, in Norwalk, Connecticut, and entered politics as a teenager, volunteering for Richard Nixon’s 1972 re-election campaign. He attended George Washington University but did not graduate. By his own account in his 2011 memoir Stone Rules, he embraced campaign sabotage early — boasting of making fake donations in the name of the Young Socialist Alliance to George McGovern’s campaign to generate negative publicity. In 1976 he was fired from Bob Dole’s campaign after columnist Jack Anderson identified him as a Nixon “dirty trickster.” Rather than retreat from the label, Stone adopted it as a brand, summarizing his approach as “Attack, attack, attack — never defend” and “Admit nothing, deny everything, launch a counterattack.” He wears a portrait of Nixon tattooed across his back.

In 1980 Stone served as New York regional political director for Ronald Reagan’s campaign and, with Paul Manafort and Charlie Black, co-founded the lobbying firm Black, Manafort & Stone (later Black, Manafort, Stone & Kelly). The firm became known as the “Torturers’ Lobby” for representing authoritarian clients including Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines, Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, Jonas Savimbi of Angola, and Sani Abacha of Nigeria. By 1991–1992 the firm earned roughly $3.3 million annually from such foreign government work (Center for Public Integrity, The Torturers’ Lobby). Donald Trump was among the firm’s early clients, beginning a relationship between Stone and Trump that spanned four decades.

Stone advised Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, and his conduct during that race became central to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference. On August 21, 2016 — 47 days before WikiLeaks released John Podesta’s stolen emails — Stone tweeted, “Trust me, it will soon be the Podesta’s time in the barrel.” He had earlier exchanged direct messages with “Guccifer 2.0,” a persona U.S. intelligence concluded was operated by Russian GRU military intelligence. Stone was indicted on January 25, 2019, on seven counts; a jury convicted him on all of them on November 15, 2019, and Judge Amy Berman Jackson sentenced him on February 6, 2020, to 40 months in federal prison. Trump commuted the sentence on July 10, 2020, days before Stone was to report to prison, and issued a full pardon on December 23, 2020.

In the period after the 2020 election, Stone was a prominent “Stop the Steal” organizer and convened the encrypted “Friends of Stone” group chat that included figures later convicted of seditious conspiracy, among them Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio and Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes. He spoke at January 5, 2021 rallies in Washington and was escorted by Oath Keepers, two of whom were later charged with seditious conspiracy; Stone has said he remained in his hotel and was not at the Capitol on January 6. Subpoenaed by the House January 6 committee, he invoked his Fifth Amendment right at a December 17, 2021 deposition. In separate financial matters, Stone reached a $2.1 million settlement with the Justice Department in July 2022 over unpaid federal taxes routed through his Drake Ventures LLC, and in April 2025 the New York Times reported that indicted cryptocurrency entrepreneur Roger Ver paid Stone $600,000 to lobby Trump on his behalf.

Sources

• “Get Me Roger Stone,” dir. Dylan Bank, Daniel DiMaggio, Morgan Pehme (Netflix documentary, May 24, 2017).
• Robert Mueller, Report on the Investigation into Russian Active Measures in the 2016 Presidential Election, U.S. Department of Justice (April 18, 2019).
• United States v. Roger Stone, seven-count indictment, U.S. Department of Justice (January 25, 2019).
• Center for Public Integrity, The Torturers’ Lobby (on Black, Manafort & Stone’s foreign clients and fees).
• “Roger Stone settles $2.1 million tax fraud case,” Tax Notes (July 1, 2022).
• “Indicted ‘Bitcoin Jesus’ pays Roger Stone $600,000 to lobby for him,” New York Times (April 24, 2025).