Roger Stone, a longtime confidant of Donald Trump, was "directed" by a senior official on the president’s 2016 campaign team, to seek emails damaging to Hillary Clinton from Wikileaks, prosecutors have claimed.

Mr Stone, 66, was arrested on Friday in a pre-dawn raid by heavily armed FBI agents in night-vision goggles at his home in Florida.

He faces seven charges including lying to Congress, obstruction, and witness tampering, brought by Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating whether Mr Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia.

Mr Stone later appeared in court in shackles and was released on $250,000 bail. He did not enter a plea.

On Twitter, Mr Trump condemned the case as the "Greatest Witch Hunt in the History of our Country!" and added: "NO COLLUSION!"

The arrest was a significant development in the Mueller investigation, the first time the special counsel has alleged that people close to the president coordinated with Mr Stone over the Clinton emails, which were hacked by Kremlin-backed Russian operatives.

According to the detailed 24- page indictment, Mr Stone first informed "senior Trump campaign officials" in June 2016 that Wikileaks had information damaging to Mrs Clinton.

After the first release of emails on July 22, 2016, a "senior Trump campaign official was directed to contact Mr Stone about any additional releases, and what other damaging information" Wikileaks had, it was alleged.

Prosecutors wrote: "Stone thereafter told the Trump campaign about potential future releases of damaging material."

The indictment did not say who the Trump campaign officials were, or who "directed’ them to work with Mr Stone.

On Octtober 4, 2016, Stone received an email from a "high ranking Trump campaign official" asking about future Wikileaks releases.

Mr Stone responded that Julian Assange, the Wikileaks founder living at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, had a "serious security concern," but there would be "a load every week going forward".

Three days later Wikileaks published embarrassing emails hacked by the Russians from John Podesta, Mrs Clinton’s campaign chairman.

Soon after, an "associate of the high ranking Trump campaign official" texted Mr Stone, saying: "Well done".

The New York Times reported that the high ranking official appeared to be Steve Bannon, Mr Trump’s campaign chief executive, based on previous email exchanges it has published between the pair. 

In one exchange the newspaper published from October 2016, Mr Stone emailed Mr Bannon to tell him more WikiLeaks disclosures were due to be published, “a load every week going forward”. The same email is quoted in Friday’s indictment without naming the official.  Mr Bannon has not commented. 

Mr Mueller’s team alleged that Mr Stone had two conduits to Mr Assange. The first, referred to as "Person 1" was Jerome Corsi, a political commentator and conspiracy theorist.

On July 25, 2016 Mr Stone sent an email to Mr Corsi telling him to "get to" Mr Assange regarding hacked emails about the Clinton Foundation.

Mr Corsi forwarded the email to "an associate who lived in the United Kingdom and was a supporter of the Trump Campaign," according to the indictment.

Mr Stone’s second alleged conduit, referred to as "Person 2," was Randy Credico, a radio host who interviewed Mr Assange. 

In evidence to a congressional committee Mr Stone has referred to Mr Credico as an "intermediary and go-between" to Mr Assange, and called him "the gentleman who confirmed" that Mr Assange had information on Mrs Clinton.

Prosecutors alleged that Mr Credico sent Mr Stone messages saying Mr Assange had "kryptonite on Hillary" and, in early October, that "Hillary’s campaign will die this week".

Following one request from Mr Stone, Mr Credico forwarded it to "a friend who was an attorney with the ability to contact" Mr Assange, prosecutors said. Mr Credico has not been accused of any wrongdoing. During the ongoing Russia investigation Stone allegedly made extensive efforts to keep Mr Credico from giving evidence.

He allegedly told Mr Credico to "do a Frank Pentangeli," a reference to The Godfather: Part II. The Frank Pentangeli character lies to Congress.

Mr Stone also allegedly wrote a message to Mr Credico that said: "You are a rat. A stoolie. You backstab your friends – run your mouth. My lawyers are dying [to] Rip you to shreds. I am so ready. Let’s get it on. Prepare to die."

In another message he allegedly threatened Mr Credico’s pet, saying he would "take that dog away from you".  Mr Credico has a white Coton de Tuléar service dog called Bianca. Grant Smith, Mr Stone’s lawyer, said he would "vigorously" contest the charges.

Mr Smith added: "There was no collusion. He forgot to tell something to Congress and what it was was immaterial."

Mr Stone, a self-described "dirty trickster," began his political career as a campaign aide to Richard Nixon, and has a large tattoo of the former president on his back.

He was one of the first members of Mr Trump’s campaign team, but left after a few months and remained in contact.

Asked whether it was Mr Trump who "directed" an official to contact Mr Stone about Wikileaks, Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, said: "This has nothing to do with the president."

If Mr Trump did give the direction, he would have engaged in a conspiracy to violate federal hacking statutes, said Paul Rosenzweig, a lawyer who worked on the Whitewater investigation into former President Bill Clinton.

"You are directing Stone to take possession of what he knows to be stolen materials," said Rosenzweig, now a fellow at the R Street Institute think tank.

Mr Stone was released on a $250,000 bond. He did not enter a plea.

Leaving court, a smiling Mr Stone said he intended to fight the charges. "After a two-year inquisition, the charges today related in no way to Russian collusion, WikiLeaks coordination or any other illegal act in connection with the 2016 campaign," he told reporters, flashing the twin "V for Victory" signs that the disgraced President Richard Nixon was famous for.

He added: "I will not testify against the president because I would have to bear false witness against him."

A crowd chanted "Lock Him Up," riffing on the "Lock Her Up" chant that Trump and his surrogates led against Clinton at rallies in 2016. Someone played the Beatles song "Back in the U.S.S.R." Others cheered in support of Stone.

US Senator Cory Booker on Friday declared his bid for the presidency in 2020 with a sweeping call to unite a deeply polarized nation around a “common purpose.”

The New Jersey Democrat, who is the second black candidate in a primary field that’s already historically diverse, delivered his message of unity amid an era marked by bitter political division. He announced his run on the first day of Black History Month, underscoring his consequential status as America’s potential second black president after Barack Obama.

“I believe that we can build a country where no one is forgotten, no one is left behind; where parents can put food on the table; where there are good-paying jobs with good benefits in every neighborhood; where our criminal justice system keeps us safe, instead of shuffling more children into cages and coffins; where we see the faces of our leaders on television and feel pride, not shame,” Booker said in a video message to supporters, subtly jabbing at President Donald Trump.

“It is not a matter of can we, it’s a matter of do we have the collective will, the American will?” he added. “I believe we do.”

Booker enters what’s shaping up to be a crowded presidential primary, with three of his fellow Democratic senators – Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kamala Harris of California and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York – already either declared or exploring a run.

But he’s spent months telegraphing his intentions to join the race, visiting the early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina to build connections with key powerbrokers. He already has slated trips back to those states later this month.

Booker also will begin reaching out to key constituencies Friday, conducting call-in interviews with three radio shows popular with black and Hispanic listeners.

Later on Friday, Booker will be a guest on “The View,” a TV talk show popular with female audiences, where his mother plans to sit in the audience.

A former mayor of Newark, New Jersey’s largest city, Booker won a special Senate election in 2013 to replace Democrat Frank Lautenberg and then won a full Senate term in 2014.

He will be able to run for a second full Senate term in 2020 while running for president, thanks to a law that New Jersey’s governor signed in November.

But that doesn’t mean the 49-year-old’s path to the nomination will be easy.

As many as five more Democratic senators could soon mount their own primary bids, creating a competition for voters’ attention, and several of Booker’s rival presidential hopefuls bring higher name recognition to a race that may also feature popular former Vice President Joe Biden.

Booker also will likely stand alone as an unmarried candidate, though he brings a compelling personal biography that could help elevate his message of bringing Americans together around what he described as “common purpose.”

Booker’s father grew up in a low-income community in North Carolina, and the senator has recalled his family’s later struggle to settle in suburban New Jersey amid discrimination against black homebuyers.

The senator has brought a heartfelt and passionate style to his achievements in the Senate, at times fusing his personal spirituality with policy proposals that focus on social justice. Booker played a key role in the bipartisan criminal justice reform bill that Trump supported last year, for example, a deal he helped strike two months after sparring with Republicans during the battle over Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation.

In his announcement video, Booker invoked the fight against slavery and the role of immigration in building the nation’s character.

“The history of our nation is defined by collective action; by interwoven destinies of slaves and abolitionists; of those born here and those who chose America as home; of those who took up arms to defend our country and those who linked arms to challenge and change it,” he said.

Born in the nation’s capital but raised in New Jersey, Booker made a name for himself as Newark mayor by personally shoveling the snow of residents. He has $4.1 million left in his campaign coffers that could also be used to assist his presidential run.

Rather than opening an exploratory committee to test the waters, Booker took the direct step to open a campaign seeking the Democratic nomination.

Booker is aligning with many other prominent Democratic White House contenders by forswearing all donations from corporate political action committees and federal lobbyists to his campaign, dubbed Cory 2020.

A prominent Booker supporter, San Francisco attorney Steve Phillips, says he is working on millions of dollars in committed donations to a so-called super PAC that would boost the senator’s candidacy, but Booker’s campaign is openly against super PACs playing any role in the presidential race. 

A former mayor campaigning on an anti-corruption ticket swept to victory in El Salvador’s presidential election on Sunday, bringing an end to a two-party system that has held sway over the violence-plagued Central American country for three decades.

Nayib Bukele, the 37-year-old former mayor of the capital, San Salvador, won 54 percent of votes with returns counted from 88 percent of polling stations, said Julio Olivo, the head of the electoral tribunal.

Mr Bukele’s two rivals from mainstream political parties conceded defeat. Definitive results would be announced within two days, Olivo said.

Mr Bukele must now contend with U.S. President Donald Trump’s frequent threats to cut aid to El Salvador – as well as neighboring Guatemala and Honduras – if they do not do more to curb migration to the United States.

"Today, we won in the first round and we made history," Mr Bukele said in a victory speech to cheering supporters in the capital, after turning to snap a selfie with the crowd.

"We’ve turned the page on power."

Mr Bukele, who was mayor from 2015 to 2018, capitalized on the anti-establishment feeling sweeping elections across the region and further afield, as voters seek an alternative to traditional parties.

"Let’s see if he can do what he’s promised for us," said Baltazar Sanchez, 30, one of hundreds of Salvadorans dancing, waving flags and blowing whistles in a plaza that Bukele had revitalized when he was mayor.

"After 30 years of two parties, we’ve been dealt the best hand."

Gang violence has made tiny El Salvador one of the world’s most murderous countries in the past few years, driving Salvadorans to flee to the north.

Among his campaign promises, Mr Bukele, an avid social media user who often sports a black leather jacket, said he would push infrastructure projects to limit such migration.

Since the end of its civil war in 1992, El Salvador has been governed by the ruling leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) and its rival, conservative Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA).

Though he describes himself as from the left and was expelled from the FMLN, Mr Bukele has formed a coalition including a right-wing party that together has just 11 seats in the legislature.

Outside the hotel in San Salvador where Bukele waited for the results, a group of supporters set off fireworks, beat drums and danced as early figures came in.

"Yes, we did it! Yes, we did it!" they chanted.

FMLN candidate Hugo Martinez conceded defeat shortly after Mr Bukele’s victory speech while ARENA candidate Carlos Calleja said he recognized the election results and would call Mr Bukele to offer congratulations.

Besides challenges on the international stage, when Mr Bukele takes office in June, he will face a sluggish economy and rampant poverty.

He wants to modernize government and create an international anti-corruption commission with the support of the United Nations, following similar committees in Guatemala and Honduras.

"We’ll create a (commission) … so that the corrupt can’t hide where they always hide, instead they’ll have to give back what they stole," Bukele said in January.

Growing up, Mr Bukele’s relatively wealthy family was sympathetic to the FMLN, the former leftist guerrilla army that became a political party at the end of the civil war.

But  <rBukele has turned away from Latin America’s traditional left, branding Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega as well as conservative Honduran Juan Orlando Hernandez as dictators.

"A dictator is a dictator, on the ‘right’ or the ‘left’,"  Mr Bukele wrote last week on Twitter.