Stone Arrest is Mueller’s Political Theater; No Decision Yet on Constitutional Challenge

The dramatic, predawn arrest of Roger Stone demonstrates how Robert Mueller’s investigation has devolved into political theater. Helmets and flak vests, really, were they afraid Roger would hurl martini glasses at them? Or maybe Roger would come out blazing with his tennis racket? This show of force — with CNN’s camera’s conveniently present — was meant to suggest that Stone was some kind of dangerous criminal.

But the indictment itself is proof positive that Mueller probe has come up empty. Finding Stone’s role in the release of DNC emails by WikiLeaks was always Mueller’s Plan B. If he could not directly implicate Trump in Russian campaign interference, he could at least link a prominent Trump supporter to the email release, but he hasn’t even been able to do that. Mueller poured an enormous amount of time and resources into the pursuit of Stone, but it turned out to be a dry hole. Mueller does not allege that Stone had anything to do with the email release, instead alleging that Stone made false statements about his non-role.

Mueller is certainly a runaway prosecutor. That is why a constitutional challenge to his appointment was launched by Andrew Miller, a former aide to Stone who has been subpoenaed to appear before Mueller’s grand jury. Miller is represented by constitutional and appellate lawyer Paul Kamenar, who is supported by the National Legal and Policy Center. We are currently awaiting a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals. The case was argued on November 8 before a three-judge panel.