Roger Stone Recorded Fleeing DC Jan. 6: ‘I Really Want to Get Out of Here’ – Newsweek

The day before the January 6 Capitol riot, Roger Stone told a crowd of then-President Donald Trump supporters he would stand with them "shoulder to shoulder," but abruptly packed his bags and fled during the next day's insurrection out of fear of prosecution, footage from a coming documentary shows.

The footage was recorded by a Danish documentary film crew for A Storm Foretold, which captures the activities of the longtime Republican political operative over a two-year period. The footage, extensively reviewed by The Washington Post, sheds new light on Stone's actions during the 2020 presidential election and its tumultuous aftermath.

"I really want to get out of here," Stone is recorded telling an aide as he watched news coverage of the January 6 insurrection from his Washington, D.C., hotel, according to footage reviewed by the Post.

Stone, a longtime advisor to Trump, quickly packed his suitcase as the riot unfolded and left the city. He said he was afraid of being prosecuted by the incoming attorney general, Merrick Garland.

"I'm not sure what they thought they were going to achieve," Stone is said in the footage as he packed his bag. "I think it's really bad for the movement."

Following the insurrection, federal prosecutors have brought charges against multiple people in the ransacking of the Capitol. The House Select Committee investigating the incident has recently signaled it has evidence that Trump and his allies illegally conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

In December, Stone said he pleaded the Fifth Amendment when questioned by the congressional panel.

"I did invoke my Fifth Amendment rights to every question, not because I have done anything wrong but because I am fully aware of the House Democrats' long history of fabricating perjury charges on the basis of comments that are innocuous, immaterial or irrelevant," he told reporters after being questioned.

Stone has denied having anything to do with the insurrection. Last year, he denied involvement with the January 6 riot during an appearance on Newsmax. He recently again denied any role in a statement to the Post.

"Any claim, assertion or implication that I knew about, was involved in or condoned the illegal acts at the Capitol on January 6 is categorically false and there is no witness or document that proves otherwise," Stone said, accusing the newspaper of using guilt by association, insinuations and half-truths.

However, Stone helped organize the protest that attracted thousands of Trump supporters to Washington, D.C., on January 6, according to the Post. Additionally, video shows a member of the far-right Oath Keepers, later charged in the attack on the Capitol, was in Stone's room at the Willard Hotel before the insurrection. Stone also said he "feared that top organizers were trying to exclude him from the rally," reported the Post.

A federal judge last month wrote in an order in a lawsuit filed by Capitol Police and Democrats against Trump over January 6 that Stone's link to far-right groups may be "an important one."

The documentary also captures the fallout after Trump didn't offer pardons requested by Stone.

"See you in prison," Stone wrote that evening in a message to a Trump associate, according to the Post.

Newsweek has reached out to Stone for comment.

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Roger Stone Recorded Fleeing DC Jan. 6: 'I Really Want to Get Out of Here' - Newsweek