MSNBC’s The Beat aired exclusive footage Wednesday of Roger Stone working to overturn the 2020 presidential election—before the election had even been called for Joe Biden.
The video, originally obtained by Danish filmmaker Christoffer Guldbrandsen for his 2023 documentary A Storm Foretold, shows Stone dictating to an associate on a laptop a strategy to thwart the will of the voters.
“Although state officials in all 50 states must ultimately certify the results of the voting in their state…the final decision as to who the state legislatures authorize be sent to the Electoral College is a decision made solely by the legislature,” Stone said on Nov. 5, 2020, a date in which he would have otherwise been in prison for lying to Congress, obstructing a congressional investigation, and tampering with a witness, had Trump not commuted his 40-month sentence that summer.
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“Any legislative body may decide on the basis of overwhelming evidence of fraud to send electors to the Electoral College who accurately reflect the president’s legitimate victory in their state, which was illegally denied him through fraud,” the longtime right-wing political operative continued.
“We must be prepared to lobby our Republican legislatures…by personal contact and by demonstrating the overwhelming will of the people in their state—in each state—that this may need to happen,” he added.
MSNBC anchor Ari Melber noted that what Stone is captured on video doing occurred before some of the 19 defendants indicted by a Georgia grand jury on Monday put forth their own similar plans. The 98-page indictment also lists 30 unindicted co-conspirators, a number in which it is possible Stone is included.
Melber noted that Stone did not respond to a request for comment from MSNBC. Stone likewise did not respond to questions from The Daily Beast.
After the clip aired, Guldbrandsen told The Daily Beast that Stone is “upset about the publication of the material,” but added: “I respect that he has been able to restrain himself from going after me.”
In another clip from Guldbranden’s film, which The Daily Beastobtained last October, Stone appeared quite upset upon learning on the last day of Trump’s presidency that his ally would not be giving him a pardon. He went on to call Ivanka Trump an “abortionist bitch.”
