New footage has emerged of longtime Donald Trump ally Roger Stone discussing a plot to overturn the 2020 election results before Joe Biden had officially been declared the winner.
The footage, which was obtained by MSNBC having been captured by Danish filmmaker Christoffer Guldbrandsen for his documentary A Storm Foretold, shows Stone dictating to an associate a plan to install a group of electors who "accurately reflect" that Trump had won in states where the results had been "illegally" denied to him "through fraud."
The clip of Stone discussing ways to overturn the election results was recorded on November 5, 2020, two days before Biden was declared the winner.
MSNBC's Chief Legal Correspondent Ari Melber said the footage disproves the suggestions from Trump and his aides that the plan to overturn the election results was based on a "good faith belief they had won," as Stone was already discussing a plot to install fake electors to falsely name the former president as the winner in several key states before Biden had even won the last election. Stone also discussed the need to "lobby" Republican figures to support the plan.
"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 in the clip, which had been edited for clarity.
"Any legislative body may decide on the basis of overwhelming evidence of fraud to send electors to the Electoral College who accurately reflect and reflect the president's legitimate victory in their state which was illegally denied him through fraud.
"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," Stone said.
The fake electoral plot is a key focus of inquiry in Special Counsel Jack Smith's federal investigation into attempts to overturn the 2020 election, in which Trump has pleaded not guilty to four charges, as well as Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' election interference probe, where the former president and 18 others have been indicted.
In July, 16 Republicans were charged by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel's office in connection to a fake elector scheme to declare Trump the winner of the state in 2020.
Stone has so far not been officially implicated in any criminal investigation into the fake electoral plots in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin at the last election.
Stone is not one of the six co-conspirators who were listed in Smith's federal election indictment against Trump, but he may be one of the 30 unnamed, but not indicted, co-conspirators who were mentioned in the sprawling 98-page indictment from Willis' office.
Stone has been contacted for comment via email.
Speaking to MSNBC, former federal prosecutor John Flannery said he "absolutely" considers the newly obtained footage incriminating for Stone and Trump's inner circle.
"They knew that he'd lost the election before it was announced, and that's why they began these initiatives then. And in the weeks and months beforehand, they had to know what was going on," Flannery said.
Clips of Guldbrandsen's A Storm Foretold documentary—which followed Stone for three years, including the weeks before and after the 2020 election—were previously played during the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack's live presentations in 2022.
Footage played by the panel showed the veteran political consultant stating "f*** the voting, let's get right to the violence," on the eve of the 2020 election. Stone insisted the remark was merely a joke.
Stone was also recorded on November 1, 2020, suggesting that Trump should declare himself the winner of the election even it it hadn't been decided yet.
"I really do suspect it'll still be up in the air. When that happens, the key thing to do is to claim victory. Possession is nine tenths of the law, no we won," Stone said.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, domestic policy ... Read more
