Russia has responded - as it always does, methodically and asymetrically - by advancing Syrian-Russian control of the country, successfully building a temporary bridge across the Euphrates and pounding 'ISIS' positions in Deir ez-Zor and Idlib provinces.

Roger Stone, a longtime political adviser to Donald Trump, released his opening statement Monday that he plans to deliver to the House Intelligence Committee Tuesday.

The House Intelligence Committee is investigating alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and invited Stone to testify behind closed doors, despite Stone's requests for an open hearing.

"I am most interested in correcting a number of falsehoods, misstatements, and misimpressions regarding allegations of collusion between Donald Trump, Trump associates, the Trump Campaign and the Russian state.

I view this as a political proceeding because a number of members of this Committee have made irresponsible, indisputably, and provably false statements in order to create the impression of collusion with the Russian state without any evidence that would hold up in a US court of law or the court of public opinion."

The famed political operative known as a "dirty trickster" goes on to write, "There is one 'trick' that is not in my bag and that is treason."

The opening statement includes rebuttals to remarks from members of the committee that Stone says are false.

One example is ranking member Adam Schiff's comments in a hearing asking, "Is it a coincidence that Roger Stone predicted that John Podesta would be a victim of a Russian hack and have his private emails published, and did so even before Mr. Podesta himself was fully aware that [his] private emails would be exposed?"

However, Stone never made this prediction and simply tweeted, "Trust me, it will soon be the Podesta's time in the barrel."

"Note, that my Tweet of August 21, 2016, makes no mention, whatsoever, of Mr. Podesta's email, but does accurately predict that the Podesta brothers' business activities in Russia with the oligarchs around Putin, their uranium deal, their bank deal, and their Gazprom deal, would come under public scrutiny," Stone says in the statement. "Podesta's activities were later reported by media outlets as diverse as the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg."

Stone's opening statement concludes:

"Based on what we know now, it is clear that there was a foreign nation which was colluding with a presidential campaign in an attempt to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. Therefore, I strongly urge this Committee to investigate the numerous, publicly documented contacts between Ukraine and the Clinton campaign, particularly in light of recent public reports that Ukraine is now providing sophisticated missile technology to North Korea."

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