"[crowd cheering]" "We must break free from the petty politics of the past." "America is a nation of believers that is being led by a group of censors, critics and cynics." "All of the people telling you, "You can't have the country you want,"" "are the same people that wouldn't stand..." "I mean, they said, "Trump doesn't have a chance of being here tonight."" "Oh, we love defeating those people, don't we?" "Don't we love defeating them?" "To all Americans tonight, I make this promise." "We will make America safe again." "We will make America strong again." "And we will make America great again!" "God bless you and good night!" "I love you." "[crowd cheering]" "My name is Roger Stone, and I'm an agent provocateur." "Stone's Rules are things that I have learned in life that I seek to pass on to others who may want to be in the same business that I'm in." "Or, actually, any business, 'cause they are fully applicable." "So, for example, a Stone's Rule:" ""It is better to be infamous than never be famous at all."" "Stone's Rule." "One man's dirty trick is another man's political, civic action." "Everything I do, everything I've done, has been legal." "But politics ain't beanbag and losers don't legislate." "The truth will be suppressed no longer." "Lock her up!" "Lock her up!" "Well, Roger has a really rough reputation." "They talk about "dirty trickster" and lots of other things, but I've known him for a long time, and he's actually a quality guy." "He's a nice guy." "Just a few descriptions of you here:" ""a state-of-the-art sleazeball," "a little rat,"" ""an actor who likes to assume poses."" "I believe in winning." "I believe in doing whatever is necessary to win, short of breaking the law." "In the world of political consulting, there are a number of rogues." "But there's... [chuckles]" "There's really nobody quite like Roger Stone." "Roger is the sinister Forrest Gump of American politics." "He's not just this simpleminded guy, but this Machiavellian, almost crazy guy who shows up at every key moment in recent American history." "Roger has a great understanding of the media." "He understands politics and he understands politicians." "And he always likes to take on somebody that at least has a good chance of winning, and sometimes it doesn't work out." "He's had some people that I said, "What are you doing with these people?"" "But, you know..." "But he loves it and he loves the game." "He has fun with it, and he's very good at it." "[Jeffrey Toobin] In many respects," "Roger Stone created Donald Trump as a political figure." "There is no doubt that in tone, in affect, in profile, the Trump candidacy was a pure Roger Stone production." "When Mexico sends its people..." "They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists." "And some, I assume, are good people." "[Tucker Carlson] Whereas the rest of us looked at Trump and saw someone who was impossibly vulgar and impolite," "Roger looked at him and said, "You know, this is someone who voters might like."" "I mean, Roger actually gets democracy in a way," "I think most people who cover politics don't." "You know, democracy is the process of appealing to the majority." "My name's Donald Trump, and I'm the largest real estate developer in New York." "I own buildings all over the place, model agencies, the Miss Universe pageant." "But it wasn't always so easy." "About 13 years ago, I was billions of dollars in debt." "But I fought back and I won, big league." "Now my company is bigger than it ever was and I'm having more fun than I ever had." "Hello, everybody." "[Roger Stone] Fifteen seasons of The Apprentice not only makes him a smooth television performer, but think of the way he looked." "High-backed chair, perfectly lit, great makeup, great hair, decisive, making decisions, running the show." "He looks presidential." "Do you think voters, non-sophisticates, make a difference between entertainment and politics?" "Politics is show business for ugly people." "Roger always wanted me to run for president." "And over the years, every time a presidential race came up, he always wanted me to run." "And I just didn't have interest at that time." "And nor was the country in trouble like it is today." "The American Dream is dead." "[woman] Bring it back!" "But if I get elected president, I will bring it back." "Bigger and better and stronger than ever before." "[girls singing] # Cowardice # -# Are you serious?" "#" "# Apologies for freedom # -# I can't handle this!" "#" "# When freedom rings # -# Answer the call!" "#" "# On your feet # -# Stand up tall!" "#" "# Freedom's on our shoulders # -# USA!" "#" "# Enemies of freedom #" "# Face the music #" "# Come on, boys Take 'em down!" "#" "# President Donald Trump knows how To make America great #" "# Deal from strength Or get crushed every time #" "It's really great to be here in Cleveland, 2016." "A lot of beautiful people here." "1776!" "# Over here # -# USA!" "#" "# Over there # -# USA!" "#" "# O, say, can you see It's not so easy #" "# But we have to stand up tall And answer freedom's call #" "I have never been more excited about a presidential campaign." "I have never seen a grassroots uprising." "This is not the Republicans versus the Democrats." "[man] That's right." "This is the elites of the Republican and Democratic Party who have driven this country into the ditch versus Donald J. Trump and the rest of America." "[crowd cheering]" "I thank you for your support." "We are on the verge of making America great again." "Thank you." "[crowd cheering]" "[Stone] How are you doing?" "Good." "Take a picture with my son?" "[Stone] Yes." "How are ya?" "And if you decide to run for president in, like, 2039, look me up." "I will. -[man laughs]" "[Stone] I understand how fame works." "You know, the four stages of fame." "It's like, "Who is Roger Stone?"" ""Get me Roger Stone."" ""Get me a Roger Stone type."" ""Who is Roger Stone?"" "A mock election was planned in my elementary school." "And I was for John F. Kennedy because my parents were Catholic, and I thought, although they were Republicans, they had a certain sympathy for Kennedy." "But also because Kennedy's hair was so much better than Nixon's hair." "And, therefore, I went to the cafeteria and as each kid would go through the cafeteria line with their tray," "I would tell them, "You know, Nixon has proposed having school on Saturdays."" "Well, then the mock election was held, and to the surprise of the local newspaper," "Democrat John Kennedy swept this mock election." "For the first time ever, I understood the value of disinformation." "Of course, I've never practiced it since then." "We Republicans seek a government that attends to its inherent responsibilities, encouraging a free and a competitive economy, and enforcing law and order." "[crowd cheering]" "[Stone] My first Republican National Convention was 1964." "I was 12 years old." "The woman who lived next door to me, she gave me a copy of a book," "The Conscience of a Conservative by Barry Goldwater." "And I devoured this book in, you know, a day." "It was at that moment that I knew what I wanted to do." "I no longer wanted to be an actor." "I now wanted to be in politics." "Little did I know how similar they are." "I became a zealot." "I had a Goldwater sticker on my bicycle." "I wore Goldwater buttons." "I wore a Goldwater button two weeks after the election was over." "That's how defiant I was." "[Ann] I met Roger in college." "He was really a total prodigy, in terms of his political ability." "He was talking grown men back home into running for office, electing them." "And then we would sit in our dorm room and they would call Roger for political advice as to how they should vote on key issues." "His mother once said, "You're not a Catholic." "Your religion is the Republican Party and your god is Richard Nixon."" "Bart Porter asked him, you know, if he'd be interested in coming to the Nixon campaign, so Roger took time off of school to go join the campaign." "[reporter] This is central headquarters for the Re-Elect Nixon Campaign." "The White House." "But for the sake of appearances, the Re-Elect Nixon headquarters, in name, is one block up Pennsylvania Avenue." "[Stone] The Committee to Re-Elect the President was unlike any campaign that I'd been in." "It didn't look like your typical political headquarters." "It had a very hushed, corporate quality to it." "Porter called me into his office and said," ""We want you to go to New Hampshire, and we want you to give this contribution to Pete McCloskey, who's running for the Republican nomination, challenging Nixon from the left, in the name of the Young Socialist Alliance."" "I got an enormous mason jar, filled it with pennies and nickels and dimes and quarters." "I brought it to the McCloskey headquarters." "I said, "Hi, I'm from the Young Socialist Alliance." "I wanna donate this, and I need a receipt."" "They were so dumb, they gave me one." "The idea was to give the receipt to the Manchester Union Leader, the largest newspaper in New Hampshire, as a way of discrediting McCloskey." "A perfect example of a dirty trick that had no purpose and no effect, but the Nixon people thought it was great." "I never heard another word about it... until an investigator from the Senate Watergate Committee knocked on my door." "[reporter 1] We have a mystery story out of Washington." "Five people have been arrested and charged with breaking into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in the middle of the night." "[reporter 2] The Democratic National Committee is located in the Watergate office building." "I welcome this kind of examination, because people have got to know whether or not their president is a crook." "Well, I'm not a crook." "I've earned everything I've got." "I was the youngest person to go to the Watergate grand jury." "During the Senate Watergate Committee hearings, this enormous chart was put up, in which everyone who received money from this secret fund was put on the wall." "And it said, "Gordon Liddy, McCord, Segretti."" "And then way down at the bottom, it said "Stone."" "I paid $100 to Mr. Roger Stone on one occasion." "My parents called me on the phone." "They were mortified." "I thought it was pretty cool." "To leave office before my term is completed is abhorrent to every instinct in my body." "But as president, I must put the interests of America first." "Therefore, I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow." "[Stone] I was a Watergate figure at 19 years old." "I mean, at the time, I was scared shitless." "It was very hard to find work." "We used to have these buttons that said "hire a Watergate vet."" "So this is the Batcave." "This is "the Factory," as we call it." "This is where I tape my Saturday radio shows." "It is also the repository of probably the world's largest collection of Nixon memorabilia." "The 1962 campaign for governor." "Uh, a rally that I actually attended." "A head shot poster of the day." "This is protesting Nixon's historic trip to China." "Here you have the first and second generation Nixon bongs." "This is among my most prized possessions." "[reporter] Roger Stone does occasional political chores for Nixon." "One such chore, to organize dinners of journalists at Nixon's New Jersey home." "[Stone] I was the assigned liaison between the Reagan campaign and former President Nixon, transmitting memos back and forth." "It was not until his post-presidency that we became close friends." "He had been through a lot, obviously, but I think he was just as resilient as ever." "His greatest single quality is resilience." "And that's the purpose of my tattoo." "It's not an ideological statement." "It's a reminder that in life, when you get knocked down, you have to get up off the canvas and keep pushing, get back in the game." "That's the story of Nixon." "A man is not finished when he is defeated." "He's only finished when he quits." "[Toobin] The Nixon tattoo is really all you need to know about Roger." "Because he thinks Nixon's approach to politics, the toughness, the win-at-all-costs mentality, that's what Roger reflects." "Delegates to the Young Republicans Convention in Memphis have chosen as their chairman a conservative with a Watergate past." "[reporter] Watergate dominated this convention because the Republican Party's important youth arm was about to be taken over by Roger Stone, a 25-year-old political operative who was deeply involved in the 1972 Nixon "dirty tricks" campaign." "[Paul Manafort] They embellished what was a 20-year-old kid's role into being the mastermind of Watergate." "Roger saw the opportunity to build a reputation off of being viewed as that politically significant." "[reporter] Opponents of Stone contend that his election is part of a move by conservative activists to take over the Republican Party." "[Manafort] When we elected Roger, we moved the Republican Party in a more ideological direction." "Up until that point, it was straddling the old Republican establishment and the new conservative movement that was started in Barry Goldwater days." "We built on that, and I think when Roger was elected chairman of the Young Republicans, you know, that was the piece that finalized everything." "For many years, the Republican Party was associated with this sort of good guy, Eisenhower earnestness." "What happened with the new right was there was a new generation of people who said," ""You know what?" "We're gonna fight dirty and we're gonna win."" "Among the revolutionary changes in American politics the past few years has been the rise of the political action committees, called PACs, fund-raising groups for special interests." "[reporter] NCPAC, the National Conservative Political Action Committee based in Virginia, rich in money, and dedicated to doing in the nation's liberals." "Even, its director Terry Dolan says, if that means using the politics of fear." "I don't think there's anything wrong with fear." "[Stone] I met Terry Dolan when we were teenage Republicans together in Connecticut." "[Ann] When we got married, Terry was our best man." "But more than that, he actually ended up moving in with us." "We used to refer to him as "the child."" "It was on our living room floor that NCPAC was born." "NCPAC, the National Conservative Political Action Committee, is transformative in the sense that we really pioneered negative campaign advertising in massive doses to win elections." "Up to that time, it really hadn't been done." "I came to Washington for the Wall Street Journal in, um, the very end of 1983." "And Roger was already kind of a legend by then, kind of a dark legend, [chuckles] because of the negative ads that he and NCPAC had run." "So people thought of him as kind of a wizard behind the scenes." "I remember meeting him on the street and thinking," ""Wow, that's Roger Stone."" "[announcer on TV] Birch Bayh telling us he's fighting inflation." "The price tag on that baloney is $46 billion." "Because if Bayh wins, you lose." "The story of NCPAC is that after Watergate, there were campaign finance reforms to try to control the corruption in spending on politics." "So what the Republicans did was, they figured out a way around the new rules." "[Manafort] The focus of NCPAC was to use all the tools of a campaign, but instead of having a candidate, to use it through a PAC." "[Stone] We could only give a Senate campaign, in a direct financial transfer of $5,000." "But the loophole was we could advertise on behalf of a candidate, without their cooperation or coordination, an unlimited amount." "And that's why NCPAC was successful." "[reporter] It was a political disaster for Senate Democrats." "They not only lost control of the Senate, they lost some of the biggest names in the Democratic Party and many of their most prominent liberals." "Regrettably, NCPAC consistently plays to the dark side of human nature." "Its stock-in-trade is the half-truth, the innuendo, the distortion." "[man on TV] Power is what PACs are about." "The power to raise and give money to political candidates, who, in turn, will at least give them a hearing and at best do their bidding." "Roger was one of the inventors of the modern political system." "The PACs, the super PACs." "That is where Roger has made his influence, and it continues to be felt." "I'm convinced that at some point, with these types of programs, you could elect Mickey Mouse to the House or the Senate." "[announcer on TV] Ronald Reagan for president." "He'll make America great again." "[Stone] The district we're in is Congressman Gary Lee." "After this, we go to the 32nd District, where those guys just got knocked off the ballot." "You're good at this. -[laughs]" "You must have had some experience." "[Stone] 1980, Ronald Reagan defeats Jimmy Carter." "I was running three northeastern states for Reagan, as a regional political director." "I think most observers didn't recognize" "Reagan's enormous appeal to blue-collar Catholics and working-class people." "And, of course, he carried all three states and the presidency." "And I'm proud of the fact that I played some tiny, infinitesimal role in saving the United States by electing Ronald Reagan." "The Reagan voter is a blue-collar, working-class, middle education, middle-income-level voter." "Roger identified the Reagan Democrat." "He actually wrote up the strategy for reaching out specifically to the blue-collar and the Catholic vote." "He tends to be a second, third-generation Catholic..." "Italian, Irish, Polish." "[Ann] The Reagan Democrat was a critical part of bringing over states that normally would not vote Republican." "Let us pledge to each other, with this great lady looking on, that we can, and so help us God, we will, make America great again." "[crowd cheering]" "Thank you very much." "Roger is unique, in my experience, because he actually embraces infamy." "He doesn't worry that you think he's a sleazeball." "He wants you to think he's a sleazeball." "What a cheap, low-class way to operate." "[man] Why do you embrace the role of dirty trickster?" "Well, I'm stuck with it now." "It's gonna be in the first paragraph of my New York Times obit, so I might as well go with the flow." "The only thing I can think of worse than being talked about... is not being talked about." "[crowd cheering and chanting] -# Used to be a fan of Bill #" "# Blue dresses And spunk was spilled #" "# Cigars and the broads they filled #" "# Should have seen a pissed-off Hill #" "# Why she stayed?" "What's the deal?" "I lost count of the ordeals #" "# Y'all don't understand How criminals build #" "# And the products they move And the people they've killed?" "#" "# Partners of the Bush Crime Fam Arkansas, Contra-Iran #" "# Agency's drug plan expand #" "Now, Bill and Hillary Clinton would steal a hot stove." "[crowd laughing]" "These people are career criminals, and thus far, the mainstream media has helped conceal their crimes." "But the truth will be suppressed no longer." "[chanting] Lock her up!" "[Stone and crowd chanting] Lock her up!" "Lock her up!" "Lock her up!" "# Clinton Crime Cartel They got guns to sell #" "# If women getting raped in the process Oh, well #" "[Stone] The slash-and-burn politics of today are what's required to get noticed." "God bless you." "I'll be happy to sign books for those patriots who are smart enough to buy them." "[crowd cheers]" "If you can't communicate with people, you can't get them to adhere to the idea you are trying to educate them about." "You have to be outrageous to get noticed." "[blows]" ""For Roger, with fond memories and the highest regard and affection for his good work in the 1980 campaign." "From a good friend, Roy Cohn."" "[commentator] This is a man that everybody is going to enjoy meeting." "He's Roy M. Cohn, who was confidential assistant to the United States Attorney General." "[reporter 1] In 1953, Roy Cohn became chief counsel to Senator Joe McCarthy's communist-hunting investigations committee." "[reporter 2] His reign of televised intimidation in the 1950s has become synonymous with demagoguery, fearmongering and character assassination." "[reporter 3] Cohn went on to private practice and made millions." "He became one of the most politically connected lawyers in the nation." "[reporter 4] The last two decades of his career were marred by allegations of fraud, blackmail and perjury." "When I was assigned New York for Ronald Reagan in 1979, for the 1980 election, shortly thereafter I was invited to a dinner party being thrown by a Washington socialite... who, in all honesty, I was trying to lay... and Cohn was present." "So I made my way up to him." "I introduced myself." "I said, "Mr. Cohn, I'm..." "I'm Roger Stone."" "He looked at me and said," ""Are you the son or the grandson of the Roger Stone who's running the Reagan campaign here in New York?"" "I said, "No, that's me."" "He turns to his partner Tom Bolan." "He says, "Reagan's in trouble."" "[Wayne Barrett] I wrote a lot about Roy Cohn." "I started hearing about Roger from people who were close to Roy." "Roy Cohn is the single most evil person I have ever covered." "If that's a magnet for you as a young man, it says you're soulless before you start." "Well, my attitude regarding those who criticize me for being friends with Roy Cohn or Richard Nixon is... fuck 'em." "[Ann] Roger's relationship with Cohn was, in part, mentor." "Cohn had a slice of history, and a circle of friends that would not have necessarily been part of our orbit." "It's how we met Trump." "Donald Trump is probably one of the most important names in America today." "He is, as I say, the closest thing to a genius I've ever met in my life." "On "Special Segment" tonight, Mike Jensen profiles a man who, at the age of 39, is not content with being New York City's latest real estate billionaire." "Donald Trump has also ventured into gambling and professional football and says he could negotiate a nuclear disarmament treaty with the Soviet Union." "[man on TV] Donald Trump, a tough man in a tough city." "Steve, you're gonna have to start pushing these people now, 'cause it's getting a little ridiculous, as far as I'm concerned." "[man on TV] At the age of 39, Donald Trump has become one of America's best known and most successful builders." "And, not surprisingly, he has an ego almost as big as his empire." "I had a lawyer, who was a very good lawyer, tough lawyer, named Roy Cohn." "He introduced me, at one point, to Roger Stone." "Roy thought Roger was a very tough guy." "Roy knew some very tough guys, I will tell you that, but Roy always felt that Roger was not only tough, but a smart guy and very political." "[man on TV] Trump is an expert at getting what he wants, particularly from politicians." "He's gotten tax abatements and other concessions." "Politicians have gotten campaign contributions." "Big ones." "[Manafort] Roger's the first one who introduced us to Donald, and Donald was one of our clients at Black, Manafort, Stone in the early '80s and was a client of ours for a long time." "[Toobin] In the early days of the Reagan administration," "Roger was so prominent and so successful, he could have become a sort of great man of the party." "He was a real insider." "He was a political consultant, a lobbyist, someone who was right in the thick of things." "Paul Manafort, Roger Stone and I had worked together through the Reagan campaign." "When the Reagan campaign got short of cash, and decided to start a political consulting firm." "Paul Manafort came in one day and said," ""You know, we ought to start a lobbying firm, because I'm getting a lot of calls from people who know we all work for Reagan and know the people who are gonna be in the Reagan administration," "and they want lobbying."" "So we did." "[indistinct chatter]" "Good to see you." "This is Paul Manafort." "[Manafort] What we were doing was trying to use our relationships that we had built up, first through the Young Republicans and then through NCPAC, and to create a business that would focus on political consulting." "[Jane Mayer] Lobbying had been considered kind of a sleazy business, but Roger Stone unabashedly came out and said," ""I'm gonna make a pile of money off this and no apologies."" "Black, Manafort  Stone was the shit." "It was the biggest, most powerful lobbying operation in Washington." "We did things that nobody else had ever done." "# That's the way you do it #" "# Money for nothin' And your chicks for free #" "# Money for nothin' #" "# And your chicks for free #" "# Money for nothin' #" "# And your chicks for free #" "# Look at that Look at that #" "# Money for nothin' #" "# And your chicks for free #" "[Mayer] There were a lot of gray people in gray suits and tan raincoats in Washington." "They were all sort of interchangeable." "And then you had Roger Stone." "And when he went to fancy parties, he wore black patent leather slippers." "He was a whole new level of, sort of, splash and show business and money and glitz." "# Money for nothin' # [interviewer] Joining us now, Roger Stone, who belongs to one of Washington's most successful consulting firms." "The argument, I gather, seems to be that you helped elect 'em, and now you're helping to tell them what to do, and this really isn't what the Founding Fathers had in mind." "First of all, the term "influence shops" is really not accurate at all." "I think that what we provide for our clients, be them foreign countries or corporations or individuals, is a superior understanding of how Washington works." "[Toobin] Before Black, Manafort  Stone, it was considered somewhat distasteful for campaign types to immediately go into lobbying, trying to influence the people they just elected." "What Black, Manafort  Stone said was, "We're unapologetic." "We got this guy elected, and now we're going to make money by charging for access to his administration."" "There's been a massive expansion of the lobbying sector in Washington." "Some of them are so powerful and successful that we don't question it." "We just assume it's a fact of American political life." "[Toobin] Black, Manafort  Stone, in their brazenness, really created the modern sleazeball lobbyist." "[Harry Siegel] They elected people." "As soon as those people were in office, they lobbied them." "And so they crossed a line that hadn't been crossed." "Washington's been worse for it ever since." "[reporter] Paul Manafort of Black, Manafort, Stone  Kelly stands with his partners at the receiving end of $31 million in subsidies." "I will stipulate for the purpose of today that you could characterize this as influence peddling." "[congressman] Thank you." "I will bring new people to Washington." "People that come there to serve and not to profit." "We will have the highest possible ethical standards." "We're gonna bring in the best." "[reporter] The best?" "Charles Black is a senior advisor to Bush." "So are Paul Manafort and Roger Stone." "And Lee Atwater is George Bush's campaign manager." "All these men are partners in a firm that, in 1985, received $3.4 million in foreign lobbying fees." "Black, Manafort  Stone saw a business opportunity in being the torturers' lobby." "In representing the most distasteful dictators," "Mobutu, Marcos, UNITA in Angola." "They did not care about being acceptable in the salons of Georgetown." "They cared about making money." "You know, one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist." "[reporter] There are reports of gross human rights abuses in rebel-held areas, including the burning alive of Savimbi's political opponents." "The Cold War was going on." "You know, I'll take criticism if they give it to Reagan and the majority of Congress who put the funding in." "[reporter] Tens of thousands of men have been killed or wounded in the fighting." "The US missiles will escalate the war even to a more deadly level." "When people think of Washington corruption, they think of organizations like Black, Manafort  Stone, that shook down dictators, took all their money, and then tried to take America's government and make them serve the dictators' interest." "You know, it is the swamp." "I'm proud of the job I did at Black, Manafort  Stone, because I made a lot of money, and I can't think of anything I did that was either illegal or immoral." "You play by the rules as they're written." "When they change the rules, you change the way you play the game." "[Toobin] When you talk to Roger about his business and morality, he sees morality as a synonym for weakness." "That's something that he's always going to have contempt for." "[Stone] Those who say I have no soul, those who say I have no principles, are losers." "Those are bitter losers." "Everything I have done, everything I have worked for, is to propel ideas and a political philosophy that I want to see dominant in government." "Donald Trump has now elevated the issues that I believe in." "Anti-elitism, that was first identified by Richard Nixon..." "To you, the great silent majority..." "[Stone] ...mined by Ronald Reagan..." "Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem." "[Stone] ...and now Donald Trump." "The silent majority is back, and we're gonna take the country back." "[crowd cheering]" "The image they have of politics is a dirty image of politics." "It's that, um, everybody's for sale." "When Trump talks about, you know," ""I gave my money 'cause I thought I might need a favor later."" "Everyone's for sale." "Nobody's there to serve the public good." "It's an anti-government view and an anti-political view and, um... very lacking in idealism, very cynical." "There's no nobility in it." "The money in politics?" "Well, I think there should be, frankly, more transparency." "Because I see a guy like Jeb Bush with $114 million, which is now higher, and nobody even knows who put the money in." "And they all control him like a little puppet, okay?" "I know half of the people." "I don't know who they are because I can't find it out." "But as soon as I do, I will know most of 'em." "They're friends of mine." "I used to be there." "I used to be the king at that, okay?" "[crowd cheering]" "[Barrett] In 1981, Roger runs Tom Kean's campaign for governor in New Jersey." "Donald is just really getting into the throes of casino life in Atlantic City, so they came together on a common agenda." "[Matt Labash] Trump gave him a lot of casino business." "Roger and Trump, peas in a pod, you know?" "Trump is someone, through the '80s, who took enormous risks and succeeded." "Roger represented Donald Trump from Donald Trump's earliest days." "Then the Ethics Commission made a finding against Donald Trump and him for all of the illegal things that they did." "When Roger wants something, he pursues it with vigor." "Now politics, sort of." "New York developer Donald Trump caused a stir this morning when he took out an ad in some major newspapers charging American foreign policy lacks backbone." "Immediately the question came up, is he running for something?" "In 1987, I suggested that Trump should explore a bid for the presidency." "This sounds like political presidential talk to me, and I know that people have talked to you about if you wanna run." "Would you ever?" "Probably not, but I do get tired of seeing what's happening with this country." "And if it got so bad, I would never wanna rule it out totally, because I really am tired of seeing what's happening with this country." "I was like a jockey looking for a horse." "You can't win the race if you don't have a horse, and he is a prime piece of political horseflesh in my view." "I interceded with the Portsmouth, New Hampshire Chamber of Commerce to arrange a lunch." "The helicopter landing was as big a news as his speech." "This is kind of the first time I saw the power of Trump." "The public interest in Trump was palpable." "It was, like, electric." "And he lit the place on fire." "I'm not here today because I'm running for the presidency." "I'm here because I'm personally tired of seeing this great country of ours being ripped off." "Roger always wanted me to run for president." "And in 1988, he wanted me to run, but I had no interest." "I did a book called The Art of the Deal, which was the number one best-seller of the year." "It was a tremendous book." "Roger wanted me to run so badly, and I just didn't want to do it." "What I want is, I want extreme competence." "I want strength and extreme competence." "[Michael Caputo] In 1988, when I was at the New Orleans convention," "Roger Stone had me setting up chairs in a reception room for an executive out of New York who I didn't really know, Donald Trump." "Even though his candidate for president, Jack Kemp, had the possibility of being selected as vice president, he was squiring Donald Trump around the convention." "You have said that if you ran for president, you'd win." "I'd have a very good chance." "I like to win." "When I do something, I like to win." "I like to do well, and I think I probably would have a pretty good chance." "Roger saw the value of the outsider image." "He saw the value of somebody who brought business experience to the political process." "He saw something that nobody else saw back in the early '80s." "Once he'd had conversations with Trump about that," "Trump started to take seriously that maybe he should run." "[Donald Trump] So long." "Thanks a lot, folks." "Florida is a great place to live." "It's a sunny place for shady people." "Welcome to Casa del Stone." "This is, uh, where I live with my wife, three cats and three dogs." "And my 91-year-old mother." "Tough as nails." "If you ever saw The Sopranos and you're familiar with Tony's mother, that's my mother." "These guys are liberal filmmakers." "They cannot be trusted." "Hi." "Come here, Sambo." "Sammy is, uh..." "He's not well." "He's been losing weight." "And we've been taking him back and forth to the vet." "Come here, baby." "Give me a kiss." "Give me a kiss." "No kiss?" "No kiss?" "Okay. [kisses]" "This is my wife." "We met working on the Reagan campaign, where she was employed as a photographer for the campaign and I was working for Reagan as a regional political director." "This is the designated smoking area." "Kind of a contemplative garden." "[man] What do you contemplate out here?" "Political strategy and destroying my enemies." "[announcer] And now may I introduce Mr. Roger Stone to all of you." "[crowd applauding]" "Bill Clinton is a Bill Cosby-style sexual predator, who has preyed on probably hundreds, but at least 27, individual women." "If Bill Cosby is going to be held responsible for his actions, then Bill Clinton should be held responsible for his actions." "Bill and Hillary Clinton are the penicillin-resistant syphilis" "of the American body politic." "[crowd laughing]" "...everything you're doing." "Thank you very much." "You, too." "Hey, sir." "How ya doing?" "Pleasure." "Good to see you." "This is my daughter and my granddaughter." "Hello." "How are you?" "I'm excellent." "Thanks for coming." "Of course." "Of course." "I was going to point out that..." "[Danielle Stevens] There's a side of him that they don't see." "The side we get to see." "The family side, the loving side." "That persona of the dirty trickster is not what we see at home." "We do see the trickster." "[laughs] -[Stevens] Yeah." "Hold up your lens up here just a little higher." "Little higher." "Little higher." "Little higher." "Yeah, that's it." "Okay!" "[Nydia Stone] I was actually terrified of him the first time I met him." "I walked in his office, and I told him later that he looked like a Nazi Hitler Youth." "Nydia taught me how to smile and how to laugh." "Uh, and she's made me a better person." "And I'm not complete without her." "[man] You're a Buddhist." "Do you think that you centered Roger?" "Yes. -[Stone] She certainly has tried." "And I think, in some cases, she has been effective in doing so." "[Nydia] Centered and censored." "[chuckles]" "And sometimes I need both." "And with Nydia, I got instant family." "I got children." "I got grandchildren." "I got a mother-in-law." "All things that I didn't have with my first wife." "So I became a family man overnight." "[crowd cheering]" "He is a political strategist, and he was just named the senior advisor to the Dole presidential campaign." "That should be an interesting job in the next few months." "Roger Stone!" "[crowd cheering]" "Roger..." "I think we've got this figured out." "We've got the slogan." ""Bob Dole and Jack Kemp." "Together they offer the people 133 years of experience."" "[all laughing] [crowd chanting] We want Bob!" "We want Bob!" "[Dole] Thank you." "I can't imagine Roger being less excited to work with a presidential candidate than he was with Bob Dole." "There are endless reasons to end the failed presidency of Bill Clinton." "But renewing the strength of America by restoring our social and moral order has got to be somewhere near the top of that list." "The Dole-Kemp ticket was still counting on the evangelical vote to defeat the Clintons." "In fact, if you look at the numbers back then, there was no way they could win unless they had that vote." "There's no doubt about it that many American people have lost their faith in government." "They see scandals almost on a daily basis." "They see ethical problems in the White House today." "[man] Do you think that's a legitimate issue?" "I do." "I think the character of the president of the United States-- [man] Do you think this issue of marital fidelity, which you keep blaming on the media, is a legitimate issue?" "This is something the voters are gonna wanna know about, yeah." "[Carlson] Roger could have become much more successful in conventional terms than he did." "And the reason he didn't is because he self-sabotaged." "[reporter] There was once a time when political consultants were unknown and unseen." "No more." "Some of the tabloids say a Republican strategist, Roger Stone, a partner in the prestigious Washington lobbying firm of Davis, Manafort  Stone, has been advertising for sex in swinger magazines along with his wife, Nydia." "He joins us from Washington." "Good to have you with us." "[Stone] Surely." "[reporter] Do I quote you correctly, that these ads were planted by someone else out to get you?" "Yes, indeed, um..." "An exhaustive investigation now indicates that a domestic employee who I discharged for substance abuse... on the second time that we learned that he had a drug problem, is the perpetrator." "I'm deeply troubled by this notion of paid sources who can say anything anonymously about you." "Provide no photographs, no proof, no documents." "You know, it's very hard." "My granddaughter, who's seven years old, said to my wife on Sunday," ""Why are they doing this to you, Grandma?"" "It's a very hard question to answer." "[reporter] All right, appreciate you joining us." "Thanks for being here." "Glad to be here." "Roger Stone's first impulse was to deny." "In fact, if you look at Stone's Rules, one of the rules is "deny, deny, deny, deny."" "And he began by following his own rules." "'Cause it wasn't until much later that he admitted that everything was true." "The National Enquirer scandal, which I'm not interested in rehashing at great length, uh, probably required that I be even more of an outlaw." "I never ran for public office." "So how I conduct myself in my private life is nobody's business." "Did you hear about this?" "This guy, Roger Stone, top Republican advisor for Bob Dole, has now been accused of going to sex clubs with his wife." "It's unbelievable, isn't it?" "On the other hand, this gives you an idea how conservative the Dole campaign is." "This guy is in trouble for having sex with his wife!" "That's how conservative those people are." "Having... [crowd applauding]" "[Labash] I think something snapped in him when the swinger scandal happened, and he got chased out of Washington." "And he just said, "Eff this." "What do I need this for anymore?"" "What the '96 scandal meant is that Roger was never gonna be the out-front political genius." "The Karl Rove, the David Axelrod." "He was always gonna have to operate in the shadows." "If it weren't for 1996 and all the trouble he had, maybe Roger wouldn't have embraced the kind of, you know, darker side of his capacity, of his talents." "If there hadn't been a sex scandal in 1996, we might have had a President Al Gore." "They always return to the scene of the crime." "[crowd chanting] We want Bush!" "We want Bush!" "We want Bush!" "We want Gore!" "We want Gore!" "This is where the recount of the 2000 presidential contest took place." "This is where the recount ended." "This is where George W. Bush became president of the United States." "[reporter 1] Good grief." "Look at that." "Eleven." "[reporter 2] Eleven." "That means automatic recount." "[William Daley] There is one state left to be decided, and we believe when those votes are counted and that process is complete, totally complete," "Al Gore will have won the Electoral College and the popular vote and, therefore, is... will be the next president." "[reporter] The hand recount in Florida will continue, and the votes will count." "That, according to a unanimous ruling from Florida Supreme Court last night." "Vice President Al Gore praised the decision, saying," ""It allows for a full and accurate counting of the ballots."" "This is a street fight for the presidency of the United States." "I want our protestors down there in Palm Beach, Tallahassee, and Miami." "Call Roger Stone." "[Stone] In 2000, my old friend Jim Baker called me and asked me to go to Miami-Dade to work on the recount." "I thought it was vitally important that we matched the Democrats in terms of protesters who wanted an end to the 2000 presidential election." "This country was born on civil disobedience and the will of the people standing up against the powerful!" "There's nothing wrong with Clinton getting his dick sucked in the middle of the Oval Office, is there?" "This is where the trailer was set up to communicate with our operatives inside the building." "[woman] He's got a ballot!" "He stole a ballot!" "[Stone] When some of my operatives reported that two democratic commissioners were attempting to take a sheaf of ballots, remove them from the counting room, which was being viewed by reporters and lawyers for both sides," "and take them to a small anteroom without windows, this is what sparked the so-called Brooks Brothers Riot." "[clamoring]" "I said, "Flood the hall and don't let them shut that door."" "[crowd chanting] Let us in!" "Let us in!" "[Toobin] They started banging on the doors and were intimidating the people who were counting the ballots to stop." "And they did stop." "So Al Gore could not gain any votes." "That was critical in making sure that the results in Florida, certifying George Bush as the winner, stood." "[crowd chanting] Let us in!" "Let us in!" "Most people, they want to underplay anything they did wrong or improper." "And with Roger, what you have to worry about is that he's lying to make himself worse than he actually was." "The history of the 2000 recount was essentially written by Roger Stone, and he wrote himself in, in a pretty big role." "He was sitting next to Washington as they crossed the Delaware." "He was with Eisenhower on D-Day." "He was cradling Bobby Kennedy in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel." "[laughing] I mean, he really sort of put himself there." "I mean, Roger was there." "But let me ask you, is it more brilliant and impressive to influence world events or to stand on the periphery of world events and yet get recorded as having influenced world events?" "Maybe the latter." "Yeah, I think he played a role in the Brooks Brothers Riot." "I don't dispute that." "But I'm the only one to approach what I think is the best story I've ever done on Roger." "I don't believe George W. Bush would have ever been president of the United States if it wasn't for Roger Stone." "We're back now at 9:40 Eastern Time." "Ross Perot proves to be a major factor here tonight." "The Bush campaign headquarters in Houston, they believe that Ross Perot may have cost them the presidency." "Thank you." "[Barrett] When George H. W. Bush loses in 1992, we all know the reason he lost." "It was the Reform Party and Ross Perot." "[Stone] The Reform Party was drawing a disproportionate number of votes from the Republicans." "Bill Clinton, the great politician, he never got 50% in any election." "No Ross Perot, no Bill Clinton." "[Barrett] So when the son is running in 2000, and the Reform Party is still on the ballot in every state in the United States, then they're very concerned about who is going to wind up the Reform Party candidate for president." "Today, I am ending my lifelong membership in the Republican Party and I'm declaring my intention to seek the nomination of the Reform Party for the presidency of the United States of America." "[crowd cheering]" "[Barrett] Roger Stone comes up with the brilliant idea of getting Pat Buchanan out of the Republican line and to get him to run for the Reform Party." "[Stone] Yes, I..." "I encourage him to run, but I also, yeah, I have an interest in the Reform Party imploding at that point." "[reporter] Just when Buchanan hoped to have the political stage to himself, he was trumped." "Businessman Donald Trump announcing today, he too will switch from the GOP to the Reform Party and may even seek its presidential nomination." "And if he does, he says, it will not be just a publicity stunt for his empire of office buildings, casinos and hotels." "He will run to win, he says, despite his reputation." "When Donald Trump announces that he's going to run, it completely throws everything into chaos." "George, should the American people take the Reform Party seriously?" "Well, not if Donald Trump is their leader." "[reporter] Donald Trump is being supported by a fellow named Roger Stone, who is a longtime political activist who had worked for Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan." "It looks to me like Pat Buchanan is going to get in the water, and a Trump-Buchanan race, it'd be a great race." "It's unexpected." "No one sees it coming." "And to make matters worse," "Trump doesn't exactly run for the nomination so much as he runs against Pat Buchanan." "He's a Hitler lover." "I guess he's an anti-Semite." "He doesn't like the blacks." "He doesn't like the gays." "[reporter] What's wrong with Pat Buchanan?" "Well, it's pretty obvious, isn't it?" "He's obviously in love with Adolf Hitler in some form, and I don't think the Reform Party should be taking losers." "Have a good time." "Bear in mind that the arch-strategist of the Trump campaign is Roger Stone." "Do you think that Roger is up to something here that deserves closer inspection?" "Well, Roger's always been a little arch." "Uh, I don't know that he's the arch-strategist." "Do you think that Trump is just a stalking horse for, say, George Bush?" "[Timothy Stanley] Stone goes overnight from backing Buchanan to backing Trump, it's very hard not to conclude that Stone had intended all along to undermine Buchanan's candidacy in order to make the Reform nomination completely untenable," "and thus give Bush a clearer shot at the presidency." "Political observers this morning are still wondering what Donald Trump really wants." "Is he running for president, or just getting his name and face on television?" "[Barrett] He was in the game enough to get a tease to the national news media, and then out of the game." "I'm ashamed of this party!" "[reporter] Political pros say that to have any impact on the race for the White House, the Reform Party will have to shed its image as a circus." "[man] We will not have mob rule in this party." "[Barrett] Now, what Roger freely admitted to me, is that he had known since the Nixon days that Pat Buchanan had an illegitimate child." "Nominating somebody for the president of the United States whose name will appear on the ballot in all 50 states, who you are blackmailing at the same time so that he won't really run." "That's not just a dirty trick." "That's a transformation of democracy." "[Stone] The allegation that I spread the rumor that Pat Buchanan had an illegitimate child, this all comes from Wayne Barrett." "Wayne Barrett is full of shit." "It's false." "[Stanley] Pat Buchanan got less than half a percent of the vote." "That was humiliating." "Humiliating for him, for the Reform Party, and arguably it put the entire third party campaign effort back by decades." "After the Reform Party cost the Republicans the White House in '92, again in '96..." "Yeah, I may have played some role in derailing them as a party." "Roger Stone knows how to do the triple bank shot." "The one that nobody else can do." "And it ends up changing the face of a campaign." "Changing the whole tenor of a debate." "Shifting the entire paradigm." "People today say that they like doing dirty tricks." "They're pikers compared to Roger." "Roger has raised it to an absolute art form." "[indistinct chatter]" "Sometimes you confuse me with the Stephen Colbert character that I sometimes play called Roger Stone." "Don't... don't confuse him with the real Roger Stone." "[man] What's the difference?" "You'll have to sort that out." "[Steve Malzberg] Joining me now, Roger Stone, political consultant and strategist." "And great to see you." "There is a Hillary-Nixon connection that's very historic and important." "In 1964, Hillary Clinton was fired from the House Nixon Impeachment Committee for leaking and lying." "Now, she held this grudge for 40 years." "Hillary repeatedly blocking Nixon from meeting with Clinton." "Finally, Clinton overrules her." "Nixon and Clinton meet, and they hit it off." "And Nixon met Hillary." "I said, "Mr. President, what did you think?"" "He said, "She's cold." "Cold as ice." -[chuckles] [man] You're doing a documentary?" "Yes, this gentleman's doing a documentary." "He's one of those dangerous liberal, pinko, left-wing..." "I hate people like you." "...homosexual, New York Times commies, but he's not a bad guy." "I know who they are." "Part of the reason we've always paid attention to Roger, is he just looks different from everyone else." "You know, here we have a bodybuilding dandy." "A category, as far as I'm concerned, of one." "[announcer] Ladies and gentlemen, the Prince of Darkness, Roger J. Stone." "I am no longer a Republican." "I joined the Libertarian Party." "[Toobin] I do think he is really alienated from the contemporary Republican Party." "He is, I think, spiritually, and now politically, a libertarian." "From the time that I was a Young Republican," "I always had a libertarian streak." "I have always been pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, pro-marijuana." "As a Libertarian-Republican," "I've always believed in gay marriage equality." "It's a civil right that equal access is guaranteed by the Constitution." "So, uh, I'm going to the Gay Pride parade today." "[crowd cheering] [woman] Let's welcome the Log Cabin Republicans!" "[cheering]" "The Log Cabin Republicans is the nation's only organization of Republicans who support fairness, freedom and equality for gay and lesbian Americans." "[booing]" "He may have, as a result of his personal life, some authentic beliefs at the age of 60 or 61." "I think he's internalized some of the gay rights agenda." "I think he's internalized some of the pro-drug agenda." "After the scandal devours him in 1996..." "Since he's been rejected and essentially thrown out of mainstream Republican politics, he doesn't really have any choice but to figure out some third-party avenue." "And so he's looking for a reprise of 2000." "He's looking to see if he can find an angle where he can matter." "I've stayed away from Roger, personally, because he's so charming, and you can see the ways in which he distorts the reporters who are around that charm." "At the same time, there's no way to avoid writing about him, since he's been everywhere dark and ugly in our politics for many, many years." "In 2004, he's blamed for forging the documents that destroyed Dan Rather's career and also helped re-elect President Bush." "[Terry McAuliffe] Roger Stone, an old dirty trickster from the Nixon days, may have been involved in the production of these documents." "Look, politics is a rough-and-tumble business, but this is just a cheap shot." "[applause]" "[Siegel] That same year, Stone consulted for Al Sharpton's presidential run that helped disrupt the Democratic primary process." "What Stone is in this for, is to use Sharpton as a disruptive force." "Some out there who follow presidential politics ascribe to you magical powers, consider you the puppet master of the Sharpton campaign." "Look, Roger's always been an outlaw and drawn to like-minded outlaws, like Sharpton, like Trump." "I don't think that's changed at all." "What's changed is the country." "[Siegel] A few years later, he took credit for bringing down his nemesis," "New York governor Eliot Spitzer." "I am deeply sorry that I did not live up to what was expected of me." "I am resigning from the office of governor." "[Siegel] He says he got a tip from a hooker in a sex club." "You had heard that the governor liked to wear his socks when he engaged in sexual activities?" "I ask you, Dominic, what kind of guy does it with his socks on?" "Sounds like Eliot Spitzer to me." "[Toobin] Roger understands the dark heart of the media even better than we understand ourselves sometimes." "Because if he tells us that Eliot Spitzer was wearing black socks when he had sex, he knew that that would be irresistible, even if it had absolutely nothing to do with the truth at all." "[man] What do you say to people who say," ""It's awfully convenient that you happened to meet a prostitute who was involved with Eliot Spitzer, given your animus toward Eliot Spitzer"?" "Uh, there are skeptics everywhere." "Stone's so desperate to stay in the public eye, that he peddles garbage conspiracy theories." "Like the supposed tape of Michelle Obama saying "whitey."" "Roger, you can't just say that and say you have no proof for it and make a comment like that." "No, no, no." "Let me finish." "[Siegel] And worse, the now infamous "birther" lie that President Barack Obama is a secret Muslim and a Manchurian president who wasn't really born in America." "[reporter] Donald Trump's one of the last people that was still touting that, because Roger Stone and he were conspiring one day and Roger giggled and rubbed his hands together and said," ""I can get the real birth certificate from Kenya."" "And Trump, you know, went and believed it." "If he wasn't born in this country," "it's one of the great scams of all time." "[Bill O'Reilly] Absolutely." "But I don't think that's the case." "Well, you don't..." "There's something on that birth certificate that he doesn't like." "[Whoopi Goldberg] Oh, my God!" "That's a terrible thing to say!" "[all arguing]" "Have you ever heard of any white president asked to be shown their birth certificate?" "When you become a president of the United States of America, you know that he is American." "I'm sorry, that's BS." "Why is Donald Trump so happy to throw himself into the "birther" pool?" "Longtime Trump casino lobbyist and GOP advisor Roger Stone told Politico" ""Personally, I think it is brilliant." "It's base building." "It gives voice to a concern shared by many on the right."" "Is there such a thing as coded appeals to racist sentiment?" "There is such a thing. -[Stone] Of course, but I see none here." "Okay, as far as you're concerned." "The whole "birther" movement, which was so crazy and so wrong and so racist, that is the basis of Trump's political appeal." "[crowd cheering]" "[Trump] Ladies and gentlemen," "I am officially running... [crowd cheering] ...for president of the United States, and we are going to make our country great again." "What's your precise role with Donald Trump?" "Are you a paid advisor?" "Uh..." "I am now." "I'm just helping as a general communications strategist, I guess." "People get the impression that this is performance art for Donald Trump." "Is he serious about being president of the United States?" "I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will have Mexico pay for that wall." "[woman] Yes!" "Mark my words." "Is this a president talking?" "If there is one murder, if there is one crime by someone who is not supposed to be in the country, that's one crime too many." "I think Trump has identified a legitimate hot-button issue." ""Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on."" "[Mayer] Roger Stone came to power with Nixon." "And Nixon, of course, had the Southern strategy, which was all about milking people's racial resentments, and in the case of Trump, anti-immigrant resentments." "Working up hate that would turn them against the government and against the so-called elites who were in government." "The political system is a cesspool." "I've been a lobbyist." "I worked on the Senate side." "I worked on the House side." "I saw how the sausage are made." "The whole process is deeply corrupt." "Trump is the only one who can clean it up." "[crowd chanting] Trump!" "Trump!" "Trump!" "Trump!" "Trump!" "Trump!" "We are going to Washington, DC, and we are going to do what?" "Drain the swamp." "[crowd cheering]" "It is so corrupt." "The best part is that he's just kicking the political establishment in the balls." "They are shitting a brick, because he's challenging the status quo." "All these other candidates are really for the status quo." "Roger's the ultimate insider, which makes him incredibly good at seeing how to package someone he could sell as an outsider." "We are going to stand up for the American worker like nobody has ever stood up for that worker before." "There is real upset over jobs, over globalization, over people losing their sort of status and their incomes." "You know, there are all kinds of answers to these questions, but the answers that he's provided, for the most part, are the answers that billionaires are interested in." "We're also going to eliminate job-killing regulations." "And lift the restrictions on the production of American energy, including shale, oil, natural gas and beautiful, clean coal." "There's no grassroots movement to gut the EPA and give people dirty water and dirty air." "The only people who are really caring about that are the polluting industries." "They say I have the most loyal people." "Did you ever see that?" "Where I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters, okay?" "It's, like, incredible." "[crowd laughing]" "Roger understands that I've always gotten great ratings, whether it's on The Apprentice or virtually any interview, and that's why people want to interview me." "And I think that's one of the things that's always fascinated Roger, because, ultimately, it is all about the ratings and it is all about people watching and the eyeballs." "Mr. Trump, you've called women you don't like "fat pigs,"" ""dogs," "slobs," and "disgusting animals."" "Your Twitter account" "Only Rosie O'Donnell." "[crowd laughing]" "Unlike every other candidate I have ever worked with, he is unscripted, he is unrehearsed, he is unhandled." "Contrast that with Jeb Bush, who looks both bored and annoyed, like, "Just..." "This is mine." "Just anoint me and give it to me." "Father, Father, tell them it's my turn to be king."" "[interviewer] Roger, before you go, uh, will you remain with the Donald now throughout the campaign?" "I'll do whatever the Donald asks me to do." "[reporter] Good evening." "It's been 48 hours since the first Republican presidential debate, and a testy exchange between Donald Trump and moderator Megyn Kelly has become a flash point in the campaign." "[Trump] You know, you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, uh, blood coming out of her wherever." "Now members of the Republican field are lining up to criticize him." "And word this evening that an advisor and a longtime friend of Trump's has resigned from the campaign." "Trump says he fired him." "[Trump] Roger Stone's a nice guy, but I let him go because I really wasn't using him, and he liked to get a lot of publicity for himself, which I didn't want." "He's real, he's genuine, and it's entertaining." "That's why he's doing so well." "So why'd he fire you?" "He didn't." "I quit." ""Oh, you can't fire me." "I quit!"" "[all laughing]" "[Labash] Did he get fired or did he quit?" "I don't know." "He still hasn't admitted to me that he got fired, and I've tried numerous times." ""Bullshit, you got fired." "Come on."" ""No, no, no!"" "Because Roger, you know, Roger the feminist, was really offended about what Trump said about Megyn Kelly." "[Stone] I don't need the Trump campaign to generate press coverage for myself, and I can get in the tabloids any time I want." "But to say that you want me to work on your campaign, but you don't want me to talk to reporters would be like saying to me," ""I just don't want you to breathe air between now and November." "If you could just agree not to breathe any air or eat any food, everything will be fine."" "Talking to reporters is what I do." "That's my value." "Roger Stone and I don't agree on anything." "[stammers] I don't..." "He does not represent the Trump campaign." "Not what he says." "What Roger Stone says and what the truth are are two factually very different things." "[Michael Caputo] There's no question Lewandowski worked behind the scenes to get Roger thrown out of the campaign." "He is an expert at stabbing people in the back." "That guy's got an incredible capacity for treachery." "By the way, I spoke to a Polish language expert the other day." "I was unaware of the fact that Lewandowski, loosely translated, means "cocksucker."" "Well, Roger is a tough guy, and Roger will make enemies sometimes that I always say, there's no reason for it." "[Toobin] Roger is older now, and I think he sees the Trump campaign, at once as his creation, but also something that he's not allowed to participate in day to day." "And that, understandably, makes him sad." "[Stone] I have no interest in going back." "Although I strongly support Trump, we have managerial differences." "And, meanwhile, I'm just making the very best case for him in public that I can, 'cause I do think he has what it takes." "There's always this tension between the candidate and his consultant." "The candidate resents the credit the consultant gets for his words." "The consultant resents, you know, the fame and fortune the candidate gets when he did all the work." "And Trump hated the fact that Stone was showing up on cable news and that people were, you know, calling him Trump's brain." "So he fired him." "But it doesn't mean he stopped relying on him." "It seems to me there is more than meets the eye here with Roger Stone parting company from the Trump campaign, coming on my program and others and giving the big Trump pitch." "You media types are so conspiratorial." "[laughs]" "No." "No, the Stone-Trump types, I think, are the conspiratorial." "Unlike..." "Only two campaigns have a plausible path to the nomination." "Ours and Donald Trump's." "Nobody else has any mathematical possibility, whatsoever." "L-Y-I-N-apostrophe, lying' Ted!" "The Bible held high, he puts it down and then he lies." "Most of the time, I win the evangelical vote." "The evangelicals, the Christians, like Donald Trump." "I'm a straight shooter." "[reporter] After a crushing 13-point defeat in Wisconsin," "Trump turned a page, sidelining campaign manager Corey Lewandowski." "[Trump] He wasn't as effective for the last couple of months." "[reporter] News breaking that the GOP front-runner, by the way, has hired Paul Manafort to lead his campaign's convention efforts." "Paul Manafort, former partner of mine, the single best vote counter and convention strategist in the Republican Party." "When Paul Manafort got publicly named, I got a phone call that day." "And it was Roger on the other end of the line." "And you know what he sang?" ""Back in the Saddle Again."" "I mean, Roger knows what Roger's doing." "[Manafort] Trump asked me to get involved because my reputation, among other things in politics, is understanding of the convention process, the delegate process." "And most of the major successful big conventions over the last 30 years, I've been intimately involved in." "[man] Did Roger recommend you for the job?" "Roger was one of the two or three people who strongly recommended me, yes." "Even after Roger stopped being the principal political advisor to Trump, he continued to be a very important advisor, and is to this day." "[interviewer] I want to start with Roger Stone, because you just launched a pro-Trump super PAC." "I thought, A, Donald Trump didn't like super PACs," "B, I thought you quit or he fired you." "I'm not still sure what happened there." "So what the heck is this all about, Roger?" "Roger told me when I was very young, "Caputo," he says, [chuckles]" ""The media is two things." "They're either evil or they're lazy, or they're both." "And if you understand that, you can do whatever you want."" "Yeah, I live a pretty Machiavellian life, and I'm a skeptic." "I tend to believe the worst of people because I understand human nature." "Human nature has never changed." "That's why one of Stone's Rules is that hate is a stronger motivator than love." "That's because it is." "[Ted Cruz] The National Enquirer published a story." "It is a story that quoted one source on the record, Roger Stone." "Let me be clear." "This National Enquirer story is garbage." "And it is a smear that has come from Donald Trump and his henchmen." "[Stone] One of the keys to defeating an opponent is getting inside their head." "He incorrectly claims that I am the source of this story regarding allegations that he has been adulterous." "[Cruz] And I would note that Mr. Stone is a man who has 50 years of dirty tricks behind him." "He's a man for whom a term was coined... for copulating with a rodent." "I, of course, am quoted in this story, on the record, saying that it would hurt him badly with his evangelical followers." "He has, as you know, attacked me on CNN..." "Roger Stone has been Donald Trump's chief political advisor." "He planned and ran his presidential campaign." "...attacked me on Megyn Kelly." "His entire business has been dirty tricks, has been lies, has been personal smears." "These attacks on me by him and by his surrogates," "I find this most satisfying." "I hope he's laying awake at night, worrying about what I'm going to do next." "[Mayer] He's a little bit like the Joker in Batman." "I mean, he gets a kick out of doing this." "To some extent, his pleasure [stammers] at burning down the house is infectious for people." "And as a reporter, you call him up because you want the outrageous quote." "You want, you know..." "You want to hear what he's gonna say." "He's also very plugged-in." "He's in the know." "He talks to a million people." "[Stone] I just got a call from this reporter who was calling to warn me that Corey is now openly telling people he's got the goods on Manafort." "He is telling reporters that he has something on Manafort that will blow him out of the campaign." "Yeah, we gotta take the little prick out." "I've been backgrounding reporters on what a total fucking disaster he's been." "And there's a story that just went up by Mike Isikoff at Yahoo that dips into the whole Pakistani blah, blah, blah." "If you look at Manafort's long history of lobbying, it is about as controversial as you can get." "You are as connected to the insider game of, what you've even said on record yourself," ""influence peddling," as anybody." "How can you be the antidote or anything to help Trump when you seem to go against his main message?" "It depends on who you talk to if I'm part of the establishment or part of the antiestablishment." "You better get rid of the super PACs because they're causing a big problem with this country." "...and a lot of bad decisions that are being made for the benefit of lobbyists and special interests." "Donald Trump tells America the system is rigged by the lobbyists and the super PAC money, and who does he turn to as his top guys?" "Roger Stone and Paul Manafort, who literally put up that rigging." "It's a crooked system, it's a system that's rigged, and we're going to go back to the old way." "It's called "You Vote and You Win."" "Thank you very much, everybody." "Thank you." "Donald Trump is riding a crest of voter anger over 30 years of failed policies." "Voter anger explains the entire rise of Trump." "[Trump] I love the old days." "You know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this?" "They'd be carried out on a stretcher, folks." "Go fucking make my tortilla, motherfucker, and build that fucking wall for me!" "Trump!" "[crowd chanting] Trump!" "Trump!" "Trump!" "Roger Stone, he's very smart about anger." "It's one of the things he understands best." "It's angry, white working-class voters whose resentments are being milked to push an agenda that's useful to some of the richest people in the country." "These are hardly people who are in tune with the little guy's interests." "Um, but they understand how to manipulate the little guy's interests." "[Malzberg] Can you hear me?" "Yes, I can." "Can you hear me?" "You're awesome." "Easy on the rape stuff." "Let's not" "I'll do the best I can, but" "I know, I know." "Let's just, like..." "Facts are facts, you know?" "Do you believe it's too early for Trump to be bringing up Bill Clinton?" "Should Trump save all of this and wait until he's the nominee and he's running against her in the general?" "No, I don't agree." "I don't think he had any choice, 'cause he didn't bring this up." "Hillary Clinton brought it up when she attempted to play the victim card." "Does he know everything that's in your book?" "Are you giving him information at all?" "Well, as you know, and it's been well documented, she went after the women very, very strongly and very viciously, according to the women and according to other sources." "Uh, a major book's been written about it." "And it's a book that's a very well-respected book." "[Siegel] If you read Roger's blog, The Stone Zone, or follow him on Twitter, it's like coming attractions for the attacks Donald Trump will be launching two weeks later." "It is Hillary who hires the heavy-handed private detectives who break into these women's homes and ransack them, who threaten their children, who kill their pets." "[Trump] She's married to a man who was the worst abuser of women in the history of politics." "And Hillary was an enabler, and she treated these women horribly." "Roger's, you know, relationship with Trump has been so interconnected that it's hard to define what's Roger and what's Donald." "While it'll be clearly a Trump presidency," "I think it's influenced by a Stone philosophy." "Shake-up at the Trump campaign as the campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, has now parted ways with the campaign." "[reporter] Paul Manafort taking the reins of the Trump campaign." "[Carlson] Well, let's see." "Is it a surprise that Paul Manafort [chuckling] wound up as the campaign chairman for Trump?" "No, of course not." "That was engineered by Roger as a way to get Corey Lewandowski bounced out of the campaign." "It took a couple months, but they did it." "Roger has had a guiding hand in all of this." "Now, Trump is hard to guide." "He spits the bit out." "You know, he doesn't want to be driven at all." "But Roger's had as much influence on the campaign as anyone." "I think the campaign's being professionalized." "Manafort's doing a phenomenal job." "I think he instills confidence in the campaign that they didn't have before." "[man] Did you give any reporters background on Lewandowski?" "No." "[crowd chanting] Just stay silent!" "Just stay silent!" "Just stay silent!" "Just stay silent!" "Just stay silent!" "[reporter] How often do you talk to him?" "Uh, from time to time." "Are you an informal advisor?" "Would you call yourself that?" "I'm just an FOT, Friend of Trump." "We need, in our country, law and order." "And if I'm elected president, that will happen." "[reporter] How real is the Dump Trump movement inside the Republican Party?" "It's real because you've got, now, an attitude within the Republican Party, at the highest levels, that this would be better for the party." "[reporter] Discussions about cutting Trump loose are focused on the Republican Convention." "Finding a way to free delegates for Trump to vote for someone else." "[Stone] I could see Donald Trump going to the convention in Cleveland and having the nomination stolen from him." "So, I have set up a convention operation to try to ensure that the Republican nomination is not stolen from Donald Trump." "[Trump] I'm representing a tremendous many, many millions of people." "I think you would have problems like you've never seen before." "I think bad things would happen." "I think you'd have riots." "I have warned the public of what I believe is "the big steal."" "We're going to have protests." "We will disclose the hotels and the room numbers of those delegates who are directly involved in the steal." "[man] What about the issue of Donald Trump's hit man, Roger Stone, threatening violence in Cleveland?" "Appropriate rhetoric?" "I'm not giving him my hotel room." "Okay, so do you sort of-- -[stammers]" "Roger is not an official part of the campaign." "Did he bring you in?" "Okay." "No." "In fact, not at all." "Roger Stone threatened yesterday that he will send Donald Trump supporters to the hotel rooms of any Republican delegate who tries stealing the nomination from Trump this summer." "And those delegates will probably answer the door, too, because they're expecting a prostitute." "[audience laughing] -"Hey!"" "[indistinct chatter]" "Caputo." "How are you, man?" "I'm good." "What's going on?" "Thank you." "One more photo?" "All right." "Give 'em hell." "[man] Mr. Stone." "How are you?" "Thank you for your years of service." "Thank you very much." "I appreciate it." "That's very kind." "Make America great again." "[crowd cheering]" "I'm very sorry, but I am not gonna do this again." "[reporter] Delegates were denied an opportunity to vote on the rules." "Some saw it as their last chance to take the nomination from Trump." "[crowd chanting] We want Trump!" "We want Trump!" "Trump is able to take over the Republican Party because the Republican Party is a bit like the Reform Party in 2000." "It's become a shell." "When it's something which is so out of touch with its own voters, someone who steps in and communicates through social media straight into television, with tremendous charisma, is able to steal the party." "One half of the Trump story is the story about how one man's ego led him to take over the Republican Party." "The other half of the story is how the Republicans became so hollow that someone could do that to them." "The Trump campaign is the apotheosis of Roger Stone's politics." "America!" "[crowd cheering]" "[Toobin] It's the part of the Republican Party that he represents:" "toughness, anger, not being politically correct." "If you look at the crime rate in places like Chicago, it's out of control, yes." "Trump is the law and order candidate." "He does speak to the silent majority." "I'm here with Roger Stone, the one and only." "Kind of a legend in political consulting, and, I think fair to say, one of the, if not the, architect of the Trump movement." "You've had an interesting career, because you were in the kind of establishment political world and you had a great career there." "Then you kind of went off into your Stone world for a while." "And now you're back." "Now you're a big deal." "We're now in the age of Stone." "I mean, I feel like it's come all the way around, back to the days when you and I and Terry Dolan were plotting a takedown of the establishment." "Then we became the establishment." "Then we became antiestablishment." "Roger is a lot more than a dirty tricks artist." "He kind of grabs that persona." "It's like his pro wrestling name." "But in the real world of politics, he's a real strategist." "And I think whenever he kind of creates the dirty trickster thing for the media, he's having fun, but he's slumming a little bit." "You're a rape denier!" "You're a rape denier!" "America may be collapsing and breaking apart, but Roger Stone is determined to enjoy it." "This for you, right here." "It's "rape." It's Bill Clinton." "It says "rape."" "Okay, you know who does this kind of shirt?" "First of all, a sick guy." "Get him, Stone!" "Come on!" "You know who's accused in court papers of being a rapist?" "Donald J. Trump!" "[Stone] By Jane Doe." "By Jane and Tiffany Doe." "Jane Doe." "Who's Jane Doe?" "[Uygur] It's in court papers." "You're a sick man, Roger Stone." "No." "You're a liar." "Stone-cold liar." "[Uygur] You're the biggest liar." "No." "You're a piece of-- -[Stone] Spitzer, he's a great guy?" "First of all, Alex, this ain't your fucking show." "And, Roger, it surely ain't your fucking show!" "Blowjob!" "Blowjob!" "Blowjob!" "Bullshit!" "Bullshit!" "Bullshit!" "You're a hatchet man." "I don't know why anyone in the media takes you seriously." "[Stone] You're a lightweight." "You don't know anything." "All you do is lie." "You're known as the biggest liar in media." "[Stone] Name the lie." "The biggest liar in media." "Name a lie, loser." "There's nobody watching your show, dude." "The guy starts pointing at me and yelling like a maniac." ""You're a liar!" "A proven liar!"" "I say, "What have I lied about?" He says, "Eliot Spitzer."" "I said, "He didn't like hookers?" "He doesn't like to choke women?" "Don't you read the newspapers, dude?"" "[Caputo] Roger doesn't want to be considered a sweetheart." "He's gonna be considered the Prince of Darkness." "And if he dies with that on his tombstone, I think he'll consider himself a success." "[Stone] I wanted to say hello." "Hey." "How are you?" "You remember... -[chuckling]" "[Manafort] Roger's relationship with Trump, they both see the world in a very similar way." "If Trump is elected president, I think Roger will see one more very significant impact he's had on world history." "[Ivanka Trump] I could not be more proud tonight to present to you and to all of America, my father and our next president, Donald J. Trump." "[crowd cheering]" "Friends, delegates and fellow Americans," "I humbly and gratefully accept your nomination for the presidency of the United States." "[crowd chanting] USA!" "USA!" "USA!" "I would argue that Roger Stone, after 30 years working for Donald Trump, is one of his primary influences, perhaps the primary influence." "And to think that the guy who calls out people on Twitter like Roger does, who's done the things and told the stories, is actually in the catbird seat with a Republican nominee is something for the record books." "CNN has banned Roger Stone, the Republican strategist and former Trump advisor, from appearing as a guest." "This after the discovery of his offensive tweets against CNN contributors." "Stone once called Ana Navarro an "abusive diva" and "borderline retarded."" "Stone also called then-contributor Roland Martin a "stupid negro," a "moron" and a "token,"" "and suggested he eat more fried chicken." "To ban someone because you disagree with their views demonstrates you're not really a news organization, but you're an opinion organization." "CNN means Clinton News Network. than watching MSNBC and, at some hours, CNN combined." "[Alex Jones] Ladies and gentlemen, we are broadcasting worldwide." "Roger Stone, the consummate Trump insider, the vice-Trumpian joins us." "You've got Alex Jones, he's like the sort of main conspiracy theorist, probably the most popular in American life now." "You know, Roger Stone goes on that show every day." "There's this crazy vortex of all that stuff back from the '90s just now sort of exploding through the channel of Trump." "I'm never a lesser-of-two-evils person, but with Hillary, there's not even the same universe." "I mean, she is an abject, psychopathic demon from hell." "[Stone] Alex Jones is very important." "I realize the elite media likes to call him a conspiracy theorist." "I don't like 'em putting chemicals in the water that turns the frickin' frogs gay!" "Do you understand that?" "[grunting] I'm sick of this crap!" "[Stone] He has a bully pulpit that allows him to reach millions of people, and they are Trump's people." "They are outsiders, skeptical about government, skeptical about the bullshit government is always trying to peddle you." "Mexico is a globalist client state." "And they teach 'em, "America belongs to you." "You're gonna get the gringo." "Plan of San Diego."" "Don't know what that is?" "It's a plan to take over in a race war and kill all whites below the age of 16." "Sure it's a non-elitist crowd, but they're Americans and they vote." "Tell us, Mr. Trump, about Mr. Stone, who helped get this interview set up." "Well, Roger's a good guy, and he is a patriot." "He's a tough cookie, but people like him." "But he's been so loyal and so wonderful." "And thank God for the Breitbarts and the Daily Callers and the so many alternative media sites where we can learn the truth and we can tell the truth and we can spread the truth." "This is not conservatism as we have known it." "This is not Republicanism as we have known it." "These are racist ideas, race-baiting ideas, anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant, anti-women." "All key tenets making up the emerging racist ideology known as the alt-right." "I think Trump should get more, you know, more, quote, "conspiratorial."" "We created ISIS." "The vacuum created by George W. Bush and then Hillary Clinton armed ISIS." "ISIS is honoring President Obama." "He is the founder of ISIS." "He's the founder of ISIS." "I would say the cofounder would be Crooked Hillary Clinton, cofounder." "I think it's whatever Roger Stone e-mails Donald Trump in the middle of the night." "He wakes up, and that's their strategy." "That's right." "[coughing] Excuse me." "So go online and put down "Hillary Clinton illness."" "Take a look at the videos for yourself." "This fringe allegation that Hillary Clinton is not well, her health isn't good, is something that we're seeing more and more with Donald Trump supporters." "Some of the Breitbart readers have brought it up." "Also, Roger Stone has been talking about it." "She's got no stamina." "I think it's abundantly clear." "She doesn't have the strength or the stamina to make America great again." "Believe me." "The people behind Trump's candidacy, including Giuliani, including Roger Ailes, including Roger Stone, including his so-called brain trust, believe this stuff works." "[Labash] Now the children's table is the adult table." "And Alex Jones is, you know, passing the dinner rolls." "And we're all conspiracy America now." "[Stone] Thank you." "Even if Donald Trump loses, I still win, because the Stone brand has been front and center, and my brand of politics have finally come into their own." "CNN, MSNBC, they're now the fringe." "Alt-right communications, we are the mainstream." "Did Trump really believe that Obama was not born in the United States?" "Does Roger Stone really believe that Bill Clinton raped all these women?" "You know, it doesn't matter to them is more the point." "It's their tactic in the political wars." "And for them, there are no boundaries." "Anything goes." "Anything that wins, fine." "[reporter 1] Today, WikiLeaks releasing 1,700 new stolen e-mails." "[reporter 2] The Clinton campaign is accusing a top Trump advisor of scheming with WikiLeaks and Russian intelligence against Hillary Clinton." "I, actually, have communicated with Assange." "I believe the next tranche of his documents pertain to the Clinton Foundation." "Have you spoken with the WikiLeaks founder?" "No, I have not spoken to Mr. Assange," "I have not met with Mr. Assange, and I never said I had." "[reporter] House Democrats now saying in Washington," ""Let's investigate Roger Stone's ties to the Russians."" "Has the FBI interviewed Roger Stone about his communications with Julian Assange, or his knowledge of how WikiLeaks got these illegally obtained documents?" "I can't comment on that." "[Stone] Only Mr. Assange knows what he's going to do." "Now, I think he's a hero, fighting the deep state, taking on both the Republicans and the Democrats." "Taking on the establishment, really." "[reporter] Law enforcement sources tell CNN that the FBI has been conducting multiple investigations and it continues to examine allegations against Roger Stone, a Trump supporter, about possible connections to WikiLeaks." "Those probes include a year-long investigation of Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and his firm and their alleged ties to pro-Putin figures in Ukraine." "These cyberattacks come from the highest levels of the Kremlin, and they are designed to influence our election." "I find that deeply disturbing, and I think it's time..." "She has no idea whether it's Russia..." "...you take a stand China, or anybody else." "I'm not quoting myself." "I'm quoting 17..." "Hillary, you have no idea." "[Stone] The Clinton thugs, they're the ones saying," ""Donald Trump is a traitor to his country, in bed with Vladimir Putin,"" "a man he's never even met." "Russia, if you're listening," "I hope you're able to find the 30,000 e-mails that are missing." "It's the low road in American politics." "They have unabashedly embraced the toughest tactics you can take." "And you can see it in Roger Stone, and you can see it in Trump." "I mean, no boundaries to what they would do." "They'll twist the truth if they need to." "They're cynical about politics." "They think people who take the high road or who try to act virtuously are chumps." "The Trump campaign's latest reboot now underway." "Two new top officials who Trump is bringing in." "Pollster Kellyanne Conway as campaign manager, and Breitbart News honcho Steve Bannon to be Trump's new campaign CEO." "Sources say Manafort is being, quote, "sidelined."" "Another bombshell from the Trump campaign today." "The resignation of the embattled campaign chairman Paul Manafort, amid a wave of bad headlines and growing questions about Manafort's connections to Russia." "Also added to the team is the disgraced Fox News chief Roger Ailes, and also Roger Stone, who is a political operative." "Roger Ailes, Roger Stone, Steve Bannon, they play rough." "Bannon is a bomb thrower in the Stone mold." "Somebody I like enormously." "He's got guts." "He understands new media in a way that" "I think no one else in the Trump campaign did." "He understands the fine points of the Clinton oeuvre, if you will." "Uh, he has republished all of my toughest material from The Clintons' War on Women at Breitbart News." "So he understands the enemy better than, perhaps, anybody else in the Trump campaign." "And like Donald Trump, he's fearless." "He's tough as nails." "He's driven." "Uh, I think he's the campaign's secret weapon at this point." "Good evening, everybody." "It is now established, this is indeed the dirtiest presidential campaign in modern history." "[reporter] The last four weeks of the campaign," "Roger Stone said it's going to be brutal." "Earlier today, the Washington Post released audio of Donald Trump from 2005." "[woman] Kind of relevant to people whether their future president happens to also be a sexist pig." "[reporter 2] A new poll reveals how much that tape of Donald Trump is hurting his poll numbers." "Breitbart and Roger Stone are in Donald Trump's head telling him, "You need to go all-out scorched-earth."" "Bill Clinton sexually assaulted innocent women, and Hillary Clinton attacked those women viciously." "I expect in the fall that many of these women will be speaking out." "Bill Clinton raped me, and Hillary Clinton threatened me." "[reporter] Kathy Shelton was paid $2,500 in May by a pro-Trump super PAC run by Roger Stone." "If you look at Bill Clinton, far worse." "Mine are words and his was action." "After the most recent debate, Clinton leads 49 to 41." "You've got Roger Stone running out there saying that the system is rigged and that there'll be revolution and blood in the streets." "It's just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country." "Because you'd be in jail." "[audience clamoring] [reporter] FBI director James Comey announced the bureau is renewing its investigation into her personal e-mail server." "[Trump] Crooked Hillary Clinton." "It's not clear if the tightening in the polls stems from FBI director James Comey's widely condemned disclosure." "Donald Trump has taken this country to the brink." "And tomorrow, voters are likely to take it back." "[reporter 1] Good morning to you." "576 days campaigning, more than 280 campaign events and now this historic day is finally here." "Hillary Clinton calls this election the test of our time." "[reporter 2] In Rochester, New York, dozens put "I voted" stickers on the grave of suffragist Susan B. Anthony on the day the first woman nominee for president with a major party was on the ballot." "We're looking at the first woman president of the United States." "Aren't you excited for the first female president?" "No!" "I am." "We can't go for Crooked Clinton." "We can't go for her." "If Hillary Clinton can run for president, can you do anything?" "Yeah." "[reporter] Hillary Clinton is favored to win today." "The polls have all shown her ahead by four points or so." "I'm not fatalist." "I just see them with CNN, ABC, all about how Hillary's gonna win all day." "And I see they're pre-scripting she's gonna win." "They're very hopeful." "They're optimistic." "A glass ceiling they're hoping to, symbolically, burst through tonight." "Super excited." "I wanna make sure that I'm here to experience history." "What we see from the early returns is that her ground game has really delivered." "Let me tell you this, it is Florida, Florida, Florida." "[reporter] Donald Trump has taken the lead in Florida." "[Stone] I talked to some of my colleagues in Trump Tower just a few minutes ago." "There's a little optimism here." "No one thought it was gonna be this close at this point." "Trump can still win this." "[reporter] We have another state to project." "It is North Carolina." "Battleground state." "It's going to Donald Trump." "I was actually ready to go to bed, uh, then I started seeing the Electoral College come in, and I'm, like, super psyched." "This is going to be a very close election." "[Stone] I'm seeing these late-breaking trends." "This could hand Trump the presidency." "Folks, this is not, by any means, over." "I think there's some real jitters setting in at Clinton headquarters right now." "Wolf, the scene here is so different than it was a few hours ago when people were happy and relaxed." "This is most unexpected." "It certainly is a huge, huge surprise to so many people out there..." "[Todd] I think we all thought it couldn't happen, that he couldn't do what he did." "And guess what?" "He may just do it." "[man] Donald Trump has taken the lead." "He has 216 electoral votes." "The beginning of the end for Hillary Clinton's campaign." "[man] He's pulling ahead of Hillary Clinton." "You see it there, 222 a number of groups who are likely feeling real fear right now." "You've got women, immigrants, who have been threatened by Donald Trump with deportation." "How do I explain this to my children?" "I have Muslim friends who are texting me tonight, saying, "Should I leave the country?"" "America is crying tonight." "I'm not sure how much of America, but a very, very significant portion." "And I mean literally crying." "[cheering] [crowd chanting] Trump!" "Trump!" "Trump!" "[reporter 1] This is a very unexpected turn, and now, his crowd here is saying, "President Trump, President Trump,"" "and there is vast celebration going on here." "[reporter 2] Donald Trump will be the 45th president of the United States." "Ah, yeah." "[woman] The basket of deplorables has arrived." "[cheering] [man] People have talked about a miracle." "I'm hearing about a nightmare." "[crowd chanting] USA!" "USA!" "[woman] This is your life now." "This is us." "This is our country." "[Stone] Stone's Rule." ""Past is fucking prologue."" ""Silent majority," "the forgotten Americans."" ""I am the candidate of law and order."" "It's not me who found this trend." "It's those who went before me." "I just saw Trump's ability to utilize it to become president." "This is the manifestation of a dream I've had since 1988." "And I've always thought Donald Trump had the size and the courage and the balls to become president of the United States." "We're in the age of Stone because the change in our politics, the rough-and-tumble cutthroat politics, the slash-and-burn of what was just probably the dirtiest, nastiest campaign in American political history, are now in vogue." "[man] What message would you have for the viewers of this film who will loathe you when the credits roll?" "I revel in your hatred, because if I weren't effective, you wouldn't hate me." "[crowd chanting] Equal rights!" "Equal rights!"