MSNBC Legal Analyst, Former US Attorney and Trump Advisor Roger Stone Clash Over Secret Audio Recording

On June 18th, a self-proclaimed progressive documentary filmmaker Lauren Windsor released a secretly taped audio recording of controversial political operative Roger Stone that was made at a Catholic Event at Mar-a-Lago on March 23, 2024, and at a Turning Point USA Event in Palm Beach in June. Last week Windsor posted the video to her X account, which caused a media firestorm.

Windsor, a partner at Mike Lux Media and Democracy Partners, served as Tom Steyer’s deputy communications director in the 2020 Presidential election.

Stone says the video consisted of him speaking about efforts by the Republicans in the upcoming 2024 Election to ensure ballot security, and ready poll-watchers and observers, lawyers, technology, and the judicial system to ensure a free, fair, and honest election. His critics say otherwise.

Any way you slice it, the video caused a tidal wave on the internet.

What Did Roger Stone Say In the Secret Mar-A-Lago Recording?

Here is the  actual transcript of the exchange. You can decide whether Stone’s comments were inappropriate.

*Ballroom At Mar-A-Lago*

WINDSOR: “Do you mind taking a photo with me, Mr. Stone?”

STONE: “Sure.”

WINDSOR: You’re in a position to know more than anybody else. How are
you feeling about the election?

STONE: Too Early To Say

WINDSOR: Biden Can’t Win Again

STONE: No, but it can be stolen again

WINDSOR: We’re in a whole – but there’s gotta be something we do to
prevent that.

STONE: We’re working on that, but I’m not just, I’m not saying that I’m
totally confident yet, because I’m not. By the way in 2020, only 65% of
evangelical Christians bothered to vote. SO when you tell people, “Oh
we’re doing great,” then this (inaudible) thing. “I don’t have to worry
about voting.” That’s our bigges – overconfidence is one of our giant
problems right now among our own people.

WINDSOR: But so what are we going to do to stop it, though?

STONE: I’ll tell you the same thing I told her (Points to other
unattractive operative) we’re working on it. We’re working on it:
lawyers, judges, technology,

WINDSOR: Governors?

STONE: Some, but there aren’t many with any guts.

WINDSOR: We gotta use every lever we can.

STONE: We are doing that. Alright, nice to meet you.

WINDSOR: You’re doing the Lord’s work.

STONE: Thank you (leaves)

Windsor associate Ally Sammarco approached Stone at at TPUSA Event in Palm Beach. This is also in the video Windsor posted on her X account.

ALLY SAMMARCO: I genuinely think you’re an American hero. Yeah,
yeah, I wanted to ask you, it’s such an important election year, and I
wanted to get your take on this. What are we going to do – this election
you know because Democrats stole it (last time).

STONE: Yes, but we’re gonna, between now and then, we’re going to
work very hard and very smart to try to make sure that doesn’t happen.
So far, given the incredible power they have and they will use
ruthlessly, we are beating them as of today. So in the end –

ALLY: How are we beating them? Because at this point —

STONE: The president’s trial in Georgia is falling apart. I think the judge
Is on the the verge of dismissing the charges against him in Florida.
They’re delayed in New York City and they’re now delayed in
Washington. So it’s not clear that they can have a trial before the
election, which is the absolute key to being able to convince people
that the reason we lost was ‘cause of the trial. Right now, if they they
steal it, people will say, “Well that’s not possible. Trump was leading in
all the polls.” They want to try him, suck up his money, suck up his time,
and create the reason why their theft in plausible, believable. You see?

ALLY: What stops them from just like – voter fraud? Like ballot
harvesting

STONE: In some states it’ll be easier to stop. In other places, it won’t.
But at least this time, when they do it, you have a lawyer and a judge,
his home phone number standing by so you can stop it. We made no
preparations last time, none.

ALLY: Well, I was at the Capitol on January 6, so I’m prepared to go
back.

STONE: Well, that may not be necessary. There are technical, legal
steps that we have to take to try to have a more honest election. We’re
not there yet, but there are things that can be done.

ALLY: Like what ?

STONE: Changes in state law, real time voter list monitoring, going to
court as we just did to challenge some of the vote laws. The election is
not tomorrow We challenged, we went into court to sure in Michigan
over the hand ballots. We should be suing in hald a dozen places. I
mean we’re finally now on offensive footing. Remember, the
Republican National Committee raised $200 Million, and they didn’t
spend any of it to try to get cleaner elections, or to look at what
happened last time. We now finally have control of that. Don’t be
discouraged. We’re gonna win.

ALLY: So they’re gonna spend, the RNC’s gonna spend more money now
that Lara…

STONE: Far more…

ALLY: Do you want to get a picture?

STONE: Sure.

Stone asserts that everything he said within both of these exchanges is perfectly legal, but his critics on the left attributed his statements to a much darker purpose.

Stone’s Comments Generate Controversy In Left-Wing Media Circles

Media coverage of the undercover footage revealed by Lauren Windsor last week was ubiquitous to say the least, though if you primarily get your news through Conservative sources, you may not have seen it at all. The story was picked up by Salon, Rolling Stone, the New Republic, MSNBC, and other left-leaning media sources in near unison, with each outlet echoing similar talking points.

A sample of the headlines is included below,

Several primary critics of Stone’s comments emerged, particularly several legal analysts that routinely appear on MSNBC’s cavalcade of 24//7 political coverage. 

One critic, Joyce Vance, is the former United States Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama. Now serving as a legal analyst for MSNBC, Vance accused Stone of having insider knowledge about the verdict of Trump’s classified documents case in Florida being overseen by Judge Aileen Cannon.

In a piece posted to her Substack blog page, Vance says,

“Election lawyers (Stone is not one) often reach out to judges when something goes awry on election day. Here’s an example: everyone who is already in line when the polls close is entitled to vote. But in some instances, poll workers have tried to close the polls. That may require emergency recourse to a judge to correct the situation so people can vote. That’s a legitimate reason for having contact information for judges at hand. But to the extent Stone is insinuating something more sinister, that they have judges in their pocket, that’s entirely different, entirely wrong. Perhaps he’s just making it up when he says Judge Cannon will soon dismiss the case against Donald Trump and that they have other judges available during the election. But given his background and history, it would be foolish not to be concerned.”

Speaking in the video Stone says “But at least this time, when they do it, you have a lawyer and a Judge, his home phone number standing by so you can stop it. We made no preparations last time.”

Stone told Slingshot News that he was that he was speaking about a process that is perfectly common in politics, saying,

“The reason you want your lawyers to be able to contact a Judge at night when the courts are closed is in case you need to file an emergency motion when you’re observers are illegally removed from accounting center as was done in Detroit and Philadelphia in 2020. The Judge can decide the legitimacy of your emergency motion.”

Stone pointed out that there have been instances where Federal Judges had to be called at home by an attorney and gotten out of bed in the D.C. Circuit to receive an emergency motion. “Surely Ms. Vance knows that,” said Stone specifically. 

In a New Republic article entitled, “Roger Stone Seems to Imply Trump Totally Controls Judge Cannon,” which covers Vance’s Substack article, the left-wing outlet echoes the case against Stone made by Vance in her exhaustive piece. Vance claims that Stone implied and insinuated he had either advanced knowledge or contact with Judge Cannon, but again Stone simply said he “thought” that Cannon would dismiss the charges against Trump. 

Stone told Slingshot News that he does not know Judge Aileen Cannon, and has never been in contact with Judge Cannon in his life. He further elucidated that everything he knows about the Trump classified documents case from the public case filings, which he reads, as well as the relentless coverage of reporter Julie Kelly for RealClearInvestigations.

Vance did not respond to our request for comment on the controversy.

Stone Responds To Critics Of His Comments In Secret Recording

Following the release of this secretly recorded footage of the Connecticut-native, Stone announced that he will be pursuing legal action against Lauren Windsor for the release of this story, citing dual-party consent laws in the State of Florida.

According to the Florida Reporter’s Recording Guide, in order for a recording to be legally obtained in the State, that “All parties must consent to the recording or the disclosure of the contents of any in-person, telephone or electronic communication in Florida. Disclosing communications in violation of the state’s statute is prohibited.”

State law includes an exception for public events or spaces where the person being filmed can have no reasonable expectation of privacy, but both the ‘Catholics For Trump’ event and the Turning Point USA event where Stone was recorded were private events that required a ticket and production of ID upon entry.

Stone points out that Windsor’s filming and posting her video on X violated the law because she is profiting off the video through monetization. 

State law says “These prohibitions, however, apply to recordings made for the person’s “amusement, entertainment, sexual arousal, gratification, or profit, or for the purpose of degrading or abusing another person,” and therefore presumably should not apply to recordings made strictly for newsgathering. Fla. Stat. § 810.145; see Parkerson v. State, 163 So. 3d 683, 690 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2015).”Thus,” says Stone, “Windsor cannot claim her illicit video is ‘Newgathering.'”

Presumably, we will have the opportunity to see the facts and evidence of this case play out, as Stone has vowed to take legal action over the the recording which he calls a smear.