Hi, I'm Isaac DeVair and welcome to Off Message.

Roger Stone is today's guest.

Roger Stone is a Republican operative who is one of those guys that has been around politics for a very long time, a sort of unique figure in politics.

I first came to know Roger Stone when I was covering New York politics.

I was in his apartment, actually, about 10 years ago.

He has a fancy apartment on Central Park South, and I was there, at least he had the apartment.

I was there because there was a fundraiser that

Elliot Spitzer, then the governor of New York, was doing at a very rich person's apartment, a few

floors above, and Stone held a sort of protest party that he invited a bunch of reporters to,

and it was quite a scene. Stone is a character, and he is a character who has been part of Donald Trump's life

for close on 40 years at this point and was pushing Trump to run for president.

He says as far back as 1988.

He now is a person who is very much of interest because he is one of the people who

seems to be caught up with this FBI investigation that we are learning bits and pieces about,

but that seems to be suggesting that there is a connection being investigated into some Trump associates and Russians.

We don't know much about it or whether there's actually anything substantive there.

But Stone's name keeps coming up, and it's not because he has chased away any of the intrigue.

What he does say is that for all the things that he's been accused of,

he's not a traitor. He doesn't, he doesn't practice treason. But he has also not been called in

front of the House Intelligence Committee, which he feels is his right to do. He says that Jim Comey

has essentially slandered him and lied about what's going on and lied about the investigation.

And so as Paul Manafort, his former business partner, is now heading to the House

...