Excerpt:
Stone quickly sought to dampen expectations surrounding “the whole pardon circus.”
“This is treacherous territory with a lot of different players such as Jared and Giuliani playing a hand,” Stone wrote, presumably referring to Trump adviser Jared Kushner and the president’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. “I have two things I’m trying to get done. Sit tight.”
On Dec. 21, Greenberg told Stone that government investigators were pressing him to cooperate. “The FBI, DOJ, Secret Service and a bunch of people from DC have repeatedly made attempts to meet with my [sic] lately. I have declined. But they are definitely ramping up pressure.”
“They want me to flip,” he continued. “They have made offers which I’ve declined. I even fired my lawyers this week because they tried to convince me to cooperate and that a pardon was impossible.”
Greenberg then revealed to Stone that his former lawyers were aware of the “whole story” regarding Matt Gaetz’s role.
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“My lawyers that I fired, know the whole story about MG’s involvement. They know he paid me to pay the girls and that he and I both had sex with the girl who was underage. So naturally they think that is my golden ticket,” Greenberg wrote.
“And while I have not had any communication with MG, he absolutely has to know that the sex charge they hit me with would be what they would hit him with,” Greenberg continued.
A distressed Greenberg told Stone that he felt “abandoned" by his allies, but emphasized that Gaetz—who was “like a son” to the president of the United States—could save him: “One conversation with POTUS and he can get this done and it all goes away.”
Greenberg said that while he had discussed pardons with Gaetz’s lawyer, he had not heard a reply and would “have to do what’s best for me and my family” after Trump left office.
“You think MG is going to come visit me in prison?” he said, then proposed the $250,000 bitcoin deposit.
Stone replied that he had considered those points, but “cannot push too hard because of the nonsense surrounding pardons.”
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As Trump neared his final days in office, he signaled an intent to issue a wave of pardons, and reports at the time suggested legal reprieve could be had for the right price. Stone communicated with Greenberg about his efforts to navigate the heavy traffic of pardon-seekers.
Today is the day. We will know by the end of the day. I think you sent me some document but it disappeared. I hope you are prepared to wire me $250,000 because I am feeling confident.
— Message from Roger Stone to Joel Greenberg
On Dec. 23, Trump pardoned Stone for the crimes from his 2019 conviction. The next day, on Christmas Eve, Stone acknowledged to Greenberg that he was having difficulty with the Gaetz dimension.
“It is hard for me to understand why MG would do nothing[.] Yes he is potentially damaged if the matter goes forward,” Stone wrote. The three men—Greenberg, Stone, and Gaetz—all shared a friendship dating back several years, and Stone apparently couldn’t figure out why Gaetz wouldn’t help Greenberg get a pardon.
But on the morning of Jan. 13, Greenberg received this text from Stone: “Today is the day. We will know by the end of the day. I think you sent me some document but it disappeared. I hope you are prepared to wire me $250,000 because I am feeling confident.”
There was only a week left in the Trump presidency. It’s unclear if money was ever exchanged, but Greenberg offered to pay extra if Stone could, in fact, get him a pardon.“If you can get this done today I’ll add another 50k,” Greenberg texted Stone.
In a subsequent message, Stone wrote that White House lawyer Pat Cipollone had taken Greenberg’s name out of the list of hundreds of people who might be pardoned. Cipollone didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment Thursday, but according to three people familiar with the matter, Greenberg’s name repeatedly made it to the Trump White House for a presidential pardon. The Daily Beast was shown an image of one such list, and Greenberg’s name and a favorable mini-profile were indeed included.
Administration officials swiftly shot down Greenberg’s application, however, and several senior White House officials at the time said they were not even aware that Stone was involved in a behind-the-scenes maneuvering.
But as Stone explained it in a Jan. 30 text—a full 10 days after Trump left office—Gaetz was partly to blame.
“What I don’t understand is why MJ would not help me at all and actually told me not to help you which I tried to do anyway. In the end it would not have mattered. Cipollone killed everything we wanted to get done and that includes stuff MG wanted,” Stone wrote, immediately clarifying that “MJ” was a typo and that he meant “MG.”
“Ok. He actually said not to help me? Wow,” Greenberg replied.
“If you repeat it you’re really going to hurt me,” Stone warned.
“I won’t Roger. I don’t and haven’t talked to him. I won’t,” Greenberg said.
I made no formal or informal effort in regard to a pardon for Mr. Greenberg... I never requested or received a penny from Mr. Greenberg
— Roger Stone to The Daily Beast
Stone acknowledged Thursday night that there may be “copies of correspondence between me and Mr. Greenberg,” but he questioned whether they were complete, unedited, or accurate.
“I made no formal or informal effort in regard to a pardon for Mr. Greenberg,” Stone said. “I recall requesting a document explaining his prosecution The [sic] details of which I was unfamiliar with.”
“I never requested or received a penny from Mr. Greenberg,” he added. “I recall him offering to retain me and I declined. To be clear I did advocate pardons for a number of people who I had [sic] been unfairly treated by the justice system and was compensated by no one for doing so.”
“Urge you to be very careful,” Stone said at the end of his text. “I will take any appropriate legal action in the event that you publish anything that is false or defamatory. Sounds to me like you have been presented some kind of cut and paste record.”
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