Roger Stonea longtime advisor to President Donald Trumpthreatened to steal an associate’s therapy dog and then allegedly told him to “do a Frank Pentangeli.”

The expression is a reference to the classic mob movie The Godfather and in this case refers to Stone allegedly ordering the associate in question, radio personality Randy Credico, to avoid revealing that Stone had perjured himself.  On Friday morning, Stone was arrested by the FBI for lying to Congress and obstructing justice in special counsel Robert Mueller‘s Russia probe. Stone’s indictment has since raised questions about whether Trump directed his 2016 campaign to obtain information on hacked Democratic National Committee emails, a scandal WikiLeaks was also involved in. Witness tampering was among the charges presented in Mueller’s unsealed indictment.

Stone reportedly accused Credico of being a “rat” for turning against him and according to Mueller threatened to take away his service dog, a white Coton de Tulear named Bianca.

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Credico served as the middle man between Stone and WikiLeaks, which collaborated with the Kremlin in a plot to leak emails belonging to Trump’s 2016 opponent Hillary Clinton. In September 2017, Stone told the House Intelligence Committee that he and Credico had not exchanged any type of communication. The Committee then subpoenaed Credico and that’s when Stone urged him not to say he had perjured himself.

In 1974’s The Godfather: Part II, mobster Pentangeli lies to a congressional committee in order to avoid incriminating mob boss Michael Corleone.

In one message exchange, Stone reportedly told Credico: “If you testify you’re a fool. Because of tromp I could never get away with a certain [sic] my Fifth Amendment rights but you can. I guarantee you you are the one who gets indicted for perjury if you’re stupid enough to testify.”

Credico is listed as “Person 2” in Mueller’s latest indictment. Stone also allegedly told Credico “Prepare to die” in another message.

On Friday, Stone spoke before a crowd of protestors who repeatedly chanted “Lock him up!”

“I will plead not guilty to these charges,” Stone told the crowd, smiling before adding he believes he was falsely accused.

 

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