Roger Stone, the Trump confidant recently praised by the president for his truthfulness, has agreed to run ads in national newspapers apologizing for spreading lies. As part of a settlement in a $100 million defamation lawsuit brought by exiled Chinese businessman Guo Wengui, Stone has admitted using the conspiracy website InfoWars to spread false statements, the Wall Street Journal reports. Stone accused Guo of being a "turncoat criminal who is convicted of crimes here and in China" and claimed he had made illegal campaign donations to Hillary Clinton. Stone, who won't be required to pay damages if he retracts the statements, described his behavior as "irresponsible."
Stone also claimed Guo was financing a White House bid by former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, NBC reports. Stone said in a statement Monday that he had "improperly" relied on former Trump campaign adviser Sam Nunberg instead of doing his own research. "Mr. Guo graciously agreed to accept my regrets and apology," Stone said. The defamation case isn't directly related to special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, though the settlement will give ammunition to critics who believe Stone was lying when he claimed that he had no idea that WikiLeaks would be releasing hacked Democratic National Committee emails before the 2016 election, the Washington Post reports. (Stone invoked the Fifth Amendment when asked to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee.)
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