Roger Stone says he would sue Twitter for suspending his account
Roger Stone,
a longtime Republican strategist and an informal adviser to President Donald
Trump, plans to file an antitrust lawsuit against Twitter after the company
permanently suspended his account on Saturday.
"I am
going to sue Twitter on multiple grounds," Stone told Business Insider on
Sunday.
He did not
elaborate when he would file the suit, and when asked what grounds he planned
to sue Twitter on, he replied that he would let the suit "speak for itself
when filed."
Stone told
New York magazine, which first reported the news, that he had been advised he
has a "very strong legal case."
"Twitter
wants to avoid being regulated like a utility," he told the publication.
"No one has been willing to file the anti-trust case. I am."
Stone's
Twitter account was suspended on Friday after he railed against several CNN
personalities following the outlet's report that special counsel Robert Mueller
had filed the first charges in his Russia investigation. Mueller is examining
Russia's interference in the 2016 election, as well as whether any members of
the Trump campaign colluded with Moscow to tilt the election in his favor.
After the
news broke, Stone took to Twitter and lashed out at CNN's Jake Tapper and Don
Lemon, as well as network commentator and New York Times columnist Charles
Blow. He accused them, without evidence, of lying and called them "fake
news," as well as several derogatory slurs.
He said that
his criticisms of Lemon were based on the host's "nonsensical claim that
the Clinton's [sic] have been cleared in the Uranium One scandal."
Though the
2010 deal made its way back into headlines over the last week, extensive
reporting and fact-checking found no signs of wrongdoing when the Obama
administration allowed Rosatom, a Russian nuclear energy firm, to acquire
Canada-based Uranium One, which had significant mining stakes in the US.
Stone also
tweeted out CNN's story about Mueller's charges and captioned it,
"Breaking: Mueller indicts @PaulManafort's driver for double
parking." He was referring to Paul Manafort, Trump's former campaign
chairman who is one of Mueller's key subjects in the Russia investigation.
He later
followed up, writing that Mueller was indicting "@PaulManafort's maid for
tearing labels of sofa cushions."
When asked
whether he had spoken to Manafort following the CNN report, Stone replied,
"I do not believe Manafort will be indicted on Monday morning,"
adding that he was not at liberty to say any more.
It initially
appeared that Stone's suspension from the social media platform was temporary.
"I have
been informed that I have been suspended for 3 hours and 12 minutes,"
Stone said in a text message on Saturday. "While I am uncertain why,
sometimes the stark truth offends some people. I'll be baaaaaak."
But BuzzFeed
confirmed that his suspension was permanent.
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