Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 2/7/2019
CHICOPEE – City Councilor Joel McAuliffe loves politics and history and found himself at the center of both on Jan. 25.
“It was quite a ride,” McAuliffe said with a laugh.
Through a series of unplanned events, McAuliffe not only wound up next to indicted Republican activist Roger Stone, he managed to ask Stone a question during his press conference in Fort Lauderdale, FL.
McAuliffe was seen on every network and media outlet that covered the press conference.
“My phone blew up. Everyone had seen me on every channel imaginable,” he told Reminder Publishing.
McAuliffe had taken a Thursday night flight to Fort Lauderdale for a weekend in Florida. When he awoke Friday morning he turned on the news and saw the footage of Stone, a key Trump advisor, being arrested by the FBI as part of the Mueller investigation into possible collusion with the Russians during the last election.
Doing some quick research, McAuliffe found out where the federal court was located and that Stone was scheduled to appear before the judge at 11 a.m.
He headed down to the courthouse, confirmed the public could attend the indictment as long as he had no electronics with him, and passed the security checkpoint.
He waited an hour and half with several reporters and was glad he got there early. By the time people were allowed in the courtroom, there was a line of 60 people. Only 40 were allowed and McAuliffe was among those.
He said the session in court only lasted 10 minutes. The normally bombastic Stone – who described himself in the recent documentary, “Get Me Roger Stone!” as an “agent provocateur” – appeared “humbled” in court.
McAuliffe, a fervent Democrat who supported Hillary Clinton for president – Stone led the “Lock Her Up” movement – readily admitted seeing Stone in this situation was a “beautiful sight to see.”
McAuliffe said Stone was “very reserved and very quiet.”
When Stone left the courtroom, McAuliffe went outside where there was a podium set up for a press conference. McAuliffe stood near the microphone and to his surprise, he found himself inches from Stone.
Any news organization that had a camera on Stone had a camera on McAuliffe.
Seeing an opportunity, McAuliffe asked Stone a question: did anyone in the Trump presidential campaign direct him to connect Wikileaks?
Stone said, “No. I’ve already answered it.”
McAuliffe returned to a normal mini-vacation in Florida once the press conference was done.
It didn’t take long for McAuliffe to realize his image and question was all over the media. He said with a laugh his grandmother called him to tell him she had just seen him on “Inside Edition.” T
he rest of his weekend was “very relaxing and very nice.”
Thinking how this incident might figure in contemporary American history, he said was lucky to have been there.
“I was at the right place at the right time,” he said.