Roger Stone Answers Department of Taxation Justice Department. Surprise! He blames Robert Mueller.

“This case would never have been brought up if it hadn’t been for Roger Stone.”

So it begins Roger Stone’s MAGA is tough The long-awaited answer to a lawsuit the Justice Department filed seven months ago accuses him and his wife, Nydia, of tax evasion and defrauding the US government.

The opening line is 11 pages long refuse, which Stones attorneys filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida — the same day congressional investigators subpoenaed Stone in connection with his participation in the events surrounding January 6 attack on the United States Capitol.

The couple face federal civil charges related to $2 million in unpaid taxes accumulated over a decade, as well as an alleged fraudulent real estate transaction Prosecutors say it was designed to shield the property from government collectors while the couple maintained a lavish lifestyle.

But the Stones’ denial blames another legal battle with a familiar, if only loosely related, scapegoat: Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

Stone has long complained about what he describes as unfair and politically motivated prosecutions by Mueller’s team. And true to form, the hard-line libertarian begins by contextualizing his current predicament as a in a string of injustices at the hands of a vengeful federal government.

Most specifically, Stone re-emphasized many of his apparent grievances with Mueller’s Russia investigation, which in November 2019 secured the Trump whisperer’s conviction on seven counts of lying and witness tampering. — a process that “nearly bankrupted” the Stones and ended up with the IRS to cancel their payment agreement, according to the filing.

One problem with this argument: The new fees, which focus primarily on transactions made in February and March 2019, prior to that test.

Another problem: Federal prosecutors argued that Stone participated in the alleged fraud precisely because he anticipated the ordeal that could bankrupt him.

The document says Stone’s denial began with targeting the IRS, which “refused to engage” with the couple, and instead “filed this lawsuit despite the good faith efforts of the couple.” Stones” to make their payments.

But from there, the dossier moved into a protracted phase of discontinuation, leaning more toward the Mueller investigation and praising the former president, a longtime ally who blocked Stone’s sentencing last July. before the amnesty in December.

“The Mueller investigation made no allegations regarding any collusion between Stone or the Trump Campaign and Russia,” the document said, adding that “parts have not been recently reflected.” A recent report from the Mueller Report revealed that the Government lacked any evidence that Stone engaged in any improper conduct related to the 2016 campaign.” (Former Trump associates have implicated Stone’s WikiLeaks connects in testimony.)

As the investigation “dragged,” the filing said, Stone was targeted with “process” crimes — an attempt to discredit seriously of fees. The defense later reminded the court that Stones was again a victim of the government’s “infamous pre-dawn television raid by the FBI.”

Notably, the denial makes no attempt to assert Stone’s innocence of those criminal charges. But it indicated that Trump had “fully and unconditionally pardoned Stone” for his crimes, and “did so after publicly determining the Mueller investigation was conducted with malicious intent.” at the outset” and challenged the “fundamental fairness” of Stone’s trial.

“The Mueller investigation and subsequent trial nearly bankrupted Stone,” the filing said. At the conclusion of the trial, the document notes, Stones tax attorneys “proactively contacted the IRS to begin discussions about resumption of the payment plan” – the government report “ignored” before filing The current lawsuit is “just four months after Stone pardoned . ”

However, prosecutors say the Stones owed about $2 million in unpaid taxes dating back a decade. Complaint DOJ made a complicated plan, describes an apartment purchase — involving a mysterious loan and a series of financial transfers between personal, business and trust accounts — as a public act of fraud designed to conceal funds from the government before the expected default period.

But that sale and default didn’t happen after the trial, as Stone’s denial might suggest. In fact, the Stones purchased the apartment shortly after Roger Stone’s arrest in January 2019. Prosecutors claimed that the Stones anticipated default on their IRS payments and knew it. will trigger the government to take their assets.

They defaulted the day after buying the apartment, eight months before Stone was sentenced.

The Stones deny wrongdoing. Their response to the indictment went on to address the DOJ’s allegations point-by-point, acknowledging some of the circumstances but primarily issuing a series of denials and “lack of knowledge” statements. The small apartment, they maintain, was a legitimate purchase that now serves as their primary residence.

When asked for comment, an attorney for the Stones told The Daily Beast the filing speaks for itself.

If anything, legal seas only got tougher for Roger Stone following Trump’s December pardon. This was soon followed by the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol, which was prompted by protests that Stone attended with members of the Oath Keeper militia. And on Monday, the January 6 House selection committee subpoenaed Stone over his alleged role in the event.

Then, in April, the DOJ hit the Stones with tax evasion charges. However, the trial quickly stalled, while Nydia Stone was treated for stage 4 cancer. After several renewals, the couple informed the court last month that they were ready to move forward.

But through all of this, the Roger Stone Legal Defense Fund remains open to contributions. The foundation, founded by Stone in 2017 as Mueller began tightening ties with the Trump world, has over the past four years amassed untold amounts of financial aid to martini-loving popinjays who, seems to need it more than ever.

The disclaimer on the donations page informs backers that “contributions are not deductible for federal income tax purposes.”