While the indictment provides some new insight into the Trump campaign, it deals largely with what prosecutors say were Stone's false statements about his conversations about WikiLeaks with NY radio host Randy Credico and with conservative writer and conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi, who rejected a plea offer from Mueller a year ago.

Stone, as a long-time ally of Trump, is one of the closest to the president to be arrested. Mr Stone had been predicting his indictment for some time.

Some of the false statements were made to the House Intelligence Committee in at the US Congress.

Stone said the raid was an "overreach" by Mueller, and was concerned about the impact it had on his wife and his dogs.

Mr Stone still possessed many of those communications when he gave false testimony about them, prosecutors said in the indictment. They say he also falsely claimed he didn't have documents requested by the committee when he did.

While the indictment provides some new insight into the Trump campaign, it deals largely with what prosecutors say were Stone's false statements about his conversations with a conservative writer and conspiracy theorist, Jerome Corsi, and a NY radio host, Randy Credico. Stone on Sunday denied that the president has suggested doing so.

He's a longtime political consultant, a purveyor of conspiracy theories and an unabashed reveller in his own reputation for underhanded tactics.

While the White House used to deny collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian Federation, it now settles for highlighting only the president's innocence. Though he was quickly ousted from the campaign, he has remained an ardent defender of the president and a coloruful critic of the Mueller probe.

"If Roger Stone was indicted for lying to Congress, what about the lying done by Comey, Brennan, Clapper, Lisa Page & lover, Baker and soooo many others? Let me just say I look forward to total and complete vindication".

"The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about", he told the scores of reporters waiting for him.

Criminal investigation being held by United States against Huawei: WSJ report
Meng is facing charges in the US related to possible violations of trade sanctions on Iran. Neither the US Justice Department, nor Huawei, provided comment for the article.

The indictment provides the most detail to date about how Trump campaign associates in the summer of 2016 actively sought the disclosure of emails the United States says were hacked by Russian Federation, then provided to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks.

Mr Stone has faced scrutiny for his support for Mr Trump during the 2016 presidential election campaign, when Mr Stone implied he had inside knowledge of data obtained by hackers that could embarrass the Democrats, including Mr Trump's rival for the White House, Ms Clinton. He says his committee will be eager to learn who directed the official.

Court documents lay out Stone's conversations about the stolen emails posted by WikiLeaks in the weeks before Trump defeated Clinton.

Stone became a lobbyist for Trump and in 1998 made the first of what would become a recurring suggestion - that he should run for president.

Indeed, in the 2008 feature in the New Yorker, Stone was accused by a senior Ronald Reagan aide of being a "fringe player" and a "little rat" who exaggerated his closeness to the Nixon administration.

It adds to the growing list of Trump associates who have been charged in the special counsel's probe. But he is also reveling in cable news network's latest bit of interest in his political life.

An old friend of Donald Trump, Roger Stone has worked on Republican political campaigns since the 1970s.

The indictment also paints an unflattering picture of the president's campaign.

'What about the Fake and Unverified 'Dossier, ' a total phony conjob, that was paid for by Crooked Hillary to damage me and the Trump Campaign?'

Jimmy Gurule, a Notre Dame law professor and former Justice Department official, said that so far Mueller's Russian defendants stand accused of one set of crimes and the American ones accused of separate violations, without direct evidence linking the two.