On Monday, a former FBI official made quite the controversial comparison when he pointed out supposed similarities between former U.S. President Donald Trump and two of his closest allies within the political sphere, Representative Matt Gaetz and conservative political consultant Roger Stone, and the Mafia.
Former FBI assistant director for counterintelligence Frank Figliuzzi spoke to MSNBC very recently regarding the hot topic of The Washington Post’s new reporting of a back and forth between Stone and Gaetz. Though the recording is from 2019, it’s been making the rounds across various social media platforms due to the contents within it. Gaetz can be heard assuring Stone that “the boss” would offer a presidential pardon to him. Assumedly, “the boss” Gaetz was referring to was Trump himself.
In his conversation with MSNBC, Figliuzzi also commented on how Stone, who has long been an ally of the former president, had mentioned in the past that he was counting on Gaetz, alongside “dozens of others” to aid in the mitigation of his legal woes.
The former FBI official noted that the situation appears to be “much larger” than even those closest to the issue ever could have predicted.
“It’s a much larger conspiracy than I think even those of us who followed it every day could have imagined,” he said.
Figliuzzi went on to say that he believes the leaked conversation between Stone and Gaetz was representative of a larger issue going on behind the scenes, one that herded all allies of Trump into a single unit and sought to maintain a mentality that everyone was serving part of a bigger purpose. A “we’re all in this together” mentality, one that Figliuzzi believes Trump and his allies to run on.
“You know, La Cosa Nostra, the Italian Mafia, translates as, ‘This Thing of Ours,’” Figliuzzi elaborated. “That’s all I keep hearing here: ‘We’re all in this together.’”
He even went as far as to say that the conversation between Stone and Gaetz sounded eerily similar to those of wiretapped discussions of mobsters that he’d heard over the years.
“And they’re part of a criminal enterprise,” Figliuzzi added. “It’s a criminal organization. They know it. They know they’re screwed with regard to legality, and they know the only way out is for the boss to get them out of it.”
As heard in the recording, Stone also mentioned that he may be left with no other choice than to “appeal to the big man” because most jurors surveyed for his trial were not fond of him as an individual.
In response, Gaetz could then be heard agreeing with stone, admitting that stone would be “f*cked” in regard to the trial. Still, Gaetz then added that Stone likely wouldn’t serve any time in prison because the “big guy” wouldn’t allow it to happen.
