It has been noted that the infamous political operative Roger Stone was recorded on tape telling an associate to “abduct” and “punish” a prosecutor who led the case against him as part of the Mueller probe.
In December 2020, one month after Donald Trump’s defeat to Joe Biden, Stone was working on the effort to overturn the election.
In audio from that time reviewed by Mediaite, Stone can be heard at his Florida condo speaking with Sal Greco, who was an NYPD officer and served as security for Stone. (Greco would, months later, be fired by the NYPD over his ties to Stone, who he was with during the Jan. 6 riot.)
In the audio, the pair discuss Aaron Zelinsky, a prosecutor who served as a deputy to former Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and who led the case against Stone.
“He needs to be punished,” Stone tells Greco in the audio. “You have to abduct him and punish him. That has to be done. It will be easy to abduct him because he is a weakling.”
It has been noted that Stone was convicted of federal crimes in the Mueller probe. However, his sentence was commuted by Trump days before he was set to report to prison. Zelinsky had already recused himself from the case, accusing Trump’s Justice Department of intervening to push for a lighter sentence for Stone, a longtime ally of the then-president.
A source familiar with the discussions between Stone and Greco said the political operative had a “vendetta” against Zelinsky because of his role in the Mueller probe.
“Roger Stone holds a vendetta forever,” the source said. “Aaron Zelinsky is top on his list.”
Stone denied making the comments in an email to Mediaite, saying, “You must have been subjected to another AI generated audio track. I never said any such thing.”
In a text to Mediaite, Greco wrote, “I had no involvement in any criminal acts that occurred prior, during or after January 6. Anything else is political fodder.”
A rep for Zelinsky said he has no comment.
Stone was previously caught on video making other violent remarks around the 2020 election and the Capitol riot. “F*** the voting, let’s get right to the violence. Shoot to kill,” he was recorded saying the day before the election by a documentary crew. Stone claimed those videos were fake as well.
“He talked many times about the election not going our way,” the source told Mediaite. “‘They’re going to steal it. We have to be prepared to get straight to the violence.’ That was his theme. ‘Get to the violence.’ He didn’t think Trump would win. He was pushing for violence before because he thinks the entire system is rigged.”
