CITIZEN GREEN: The lunatic fixers behind our democratic breakdown

Right out of the gate, let’s
acknowledge the subversion of democracy in President Trump’s efforts to
interfere on behalf of his friend, political dirty trickster Roger Stone.

The political deterioration under
Trump doesn’t just mean that citizens are rendered helpless in the face of an
arbitrary and capricious exercise of executive power; it means we’re forced
against our will to inhabit a bizarro world manufactured by the president and
his henchmen.

To recap the subversion of
democracy: Stone was indicted for lying to federal investigators in Special
Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible collusion between the
Trump campaign and Russia. Judge Amy Berman Jackson imposed a gag order on
Stone, who issued a death threat against a witness and his therapy dog.
President Trump expressed his displeasure about the sentence length recommended
by federal prosecutors via tweet. Attorney General Robert Barr overrode the
sentencing recommendation, deeming it unduly harsh. Stone’s supporters — a
network of political operatives and right-wing media personalities including
Fox News’ Tucker Carlson — launched a campaign to get Trump to issue a pardon
to Stone.

A week before his Feb. 20
sentencing, Stone sat at a deposition for a slew of somewhat related civil
suits filed by lawyer Larry Klayman in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Klayman — formerly
a Stone associate, now arch enemy — became entangled in Special Counsel Robert
Mueller’s prosecution against Stone through representing Jerome Corsi, a
potential witness.

Corsi and Klayman have also sued
conspiracy monger Alex Jones and producer Owen Shroyer for defamation.

“Even before Stone was indicted, he
began a public relations campaign in this district, nationally and
internationally to maliciously defame, smear, intimidate and threaten Dr. Corsi
and plaintiff Klayman, plaintiff Corsi’s lawyer and defense counsel,” the suit
alleges.

Specifically, the suit cites a quote
published in an article by Jeffrey Toobin in the New Yorker, said by
Stone in reference to Corsi: “He’s certifiably insane, and has told multiple
provable lies.”

During his marathon, five-hour
deposition last month in Fort Lauderdale, Stone acknowledged that Corsi has
ghost-written books for him.

The suit against InfoWars and Jones
concerns a series of appearances Stone made as a co-host of “The War Room” with
Shroyer. Among the statements made on the show that Klayman claims to be
defamatory, the suit quotes Stone as saying about Klayman: “He’s incompetent,
he’s a numbskull, he’s an idiot, he’s an egomaniac, and he could be the single
worst lawyer in America. With him as Jerry Corsi’s lawyer, Corsi may get the
electric chair.”

As you might suspect, neither party
in this dispute has clean hands.

Klayman’s troubled legal career includes a pending judicial ethics investigation for “egregious” misconduct over his treatment of a former client that could result in him being barred from practicing law in the District of Columbia. He is also a frequent contributor to World Net Daily, a far-right website that has published numerous articles promoting the falsehood that President Obama was not born in the United States.

Ironically, now that Klayman and
Corsi are on the outs with the Trump club, their advocacy for “birtherism” — a
conspiracy that Trump himself promoted — is being used against them.

“I think you’ve been deep state from
the beginning,” Stone reportedly charged Corsi through his broadcast with
Shroyer. “Your whole birther thing is used as a club to destroy conservatives….
I look forward to our confrontation. I will demolish you. You’re a fraudster. Out
of your alcoholic haze, you made up lies about David Jones [the father of the
InfoWars owner] and Alex Jones and Roger Stone, and now I suspect they want you
to lie about the president.”

The Feb. 12-13 deposition in Fort
Lauderdale degenerated into a pissing match when the two started discussing
plans for another meeting so that Stone could depose one of Klayman’s
witnesses.

“You may be in prison by then,”
Klayman mused.

“You may be disbarred by then,”
Stone shot back, his lips quivering with rage. He added, “The clock’s ticking
faster on you than me, pal.”

Later, disputing the relevance of
Klayman’s questions, Stone repeatedly said, “You have nothing.”

Klayman couldn’t help himself.

“That’s what you told Mueller,
right?”

“F*** you,” Stone said.

It got worse.

“If you want to keep insulting, this
will be over and you can run back to the judge like a little b****,” Stone told
Klayman.

“I’m doing what?” Klayman responded.
Then adding, “Did you just call me a b****?”

“You’re acting like one,” Stone
said, slapping the table for emphasis. “You don’t have any proof, my friend.
You’ve got nothing.”