Trump Ally Roger Stone Suspended From Twitter

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Roger Stone, a high-profile supporter of Donald Trump, has been suspended from Twitter after using the network to attack journalists.

Stone, who advised Trump during his presidential campaign, said he had been told he had violated Twitter's rules.

His suspension came hours after he used abusive and homophobic language to target journalists, including a gay CNN presenter, Don Lemon.

Twitter has not commented or confirmed if Stone's suspension is permanent.

Stone was an aide to President Richard Nixon in the 1970s, and became a political consultant. He claims in the Netflix documentary Get Me Roger Stone that he got Mr Trump to run for president.

While he acted as an adviser during the early days of the Trump campaign, he left his role in disputed circumstances in August 2015 - Mr Stone says he quit, Mr Trump says he was fired.

Since then, Mr Trump has tried to put some distance between himself and Mr Stone, who regularly appears on network television to support his former employer.

Over several hours on Saturday, Mr Stone took to Twitter to attack CNN and New York Times journalists over their reporting.

His attacks came hours after CNN reported that the first charges had been laid by a grand jury in the investigation into Russian influence on the 2016 election.

In a Facebook post, Mr Stone said he believed his suspension should have ended "some time ago yet my Twitter feed is still not functional".

He added: "Several media outlets are reporting that I have been permanently banned but Twitter has not informed me that that is the case."

One of the people he targeted on Saturday, CNN contributor Ana Navarro, said she did not sympathise with Mr Stone over his suspension.