Fox's Charles Payne Denies That Dirty Trickster Roger Stone Is A “Proxy” For Trump

“I Don't Think Roger Stone Is A Proxy For The Donald Trump Campaign, Despite The Idea That I Think He Tries To Act Like He Is”

From the May 2 edition of Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto:

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CHARLES PAYNE (HOST): Donald Trump actually does have a plan B if he does face a contested convention, it reportedly includes using outside groups with names like “Stop the Steal” and “Bikers for Trump” to take on the GOP Real Clear Politics's Caitlin Huey-Burns says things could get messy. I think the biker one caught my attention more than any other. 

CAITLIN HUEY-BURNS: I agree with you on that. You never know who is going to turn out for Donald Trump but what's happening here is Donald Trump and his supporters are organizing groups to perhaps protest the convention if in fact he does not make that magic number of 1237, which is the majority of delegates as we know, and the convention becomes contested. As we also know, Donald Trump has railed against the use of outside groups and super PACs and those sorts of things. Now he is soliciting support of outside groups to really help in this endeavor. This is being directed, the AP reported, by Roger Stone, who is a -- obviously a close ally of Donald Trump, a former -- 

PAYNE: Yeah, but we should point out that Donald Trump did fire Roger Stone, and I think it might be somewhat misleading to suggest that Donald Trump is overseeing this because essentially what we're saying is that there could be efforts to create a violent atmosphere or a very hostile atmosphere if indeed the process goes a certain way, and it goes into rounds of voting and Donald Trump doesn't got the nomination, that somehow it was set up to have an explosive, even violent end. You're not -- maybe the AP -- are they suggesting this? That Donald Trump is orchestrating this? 

BURNS: Well it is orchestrated by Donald Trump supporters, so yes, Roger Stone is not aligned with the campaign officially. He was let go of the campaign but he is still a Trump supporter. And what's interesting about this movement, though, is that it really is in line with the message that Donald Trump has been trying to promote, this kind of idea of a rigged political system. The idea that a candidate can win the most votes, can win the most states, and still possibly not win the nomination. That -- the argument has -- he's earned a lot of mileage out of that argument. That's the thing that really resonates with voters. He has brought new voters into this process who weren't necessarily aware of the rules, or those who were kind of agree that the rules don't make that much sense in the terms he has put them. And so this helps to kind of bolstered his appeal that way. And we're also seeing that resonate in polling. Various polls have shown that Republican voters -- a majority of them -- agree that whoever comes closest to the number of delegates, who whoever win most states and most votes, however the polling puts it, should get the nomination. 

PAYNE: Well over 65 percent, I think, in the latest poll. Caitlin, I want to ask you about tomorrow. Indiana, do or die for Ted Cruz. How is the polling looking to you? I know there's some internal polls that don't really get publicized much. We know about the big poll that has Donald Trump ahead by 15 points. 

BURNS: We I think we can see from Ted Cruz's behavior over the past week that Indiana is looking problematic for him. Remember, this time last week, he had struck a deal with John Kasich to get Kasich out of Indiana so he could compete one-on-one with Donald Trump. He introduced Carly Fiorina as his running mate last week as well and also worked very hard to get Mike Pence to come out, the conservative governor of Indiana, of course, to endorse him, and he is campaigning with him today. So he's really pulled out all the stops, which shows that, not only publicly but internally, they're looking at Indiana as an uphill climb at this point. And because it's a winner take most state, this is the last stand of sorts for the anti-Trump efforts, and Cruz has become the vessel of that effort. 

PAYNE: Absolutely, no doubt. But at the end of this I want to say I don't think Roger Stone is a proxy for the Donald Trump campaign, despite the idea that I think he tries to act like he is. So we want to separate those two things, even though the Bikers for Trump guys, they've been around and there's some serious muscle. 

Previously:

Ted Cruz Is Right To Question Roger Stone’s Close Ties To The Trump Campaign

Longtime Roger Stone Ally Paul Manafort Gets Larger Role In Trump’s Campaign

Roger Stone Sells Himself As Trump's Inside Man To Gathering Of Conspiracy Theorists