Mueller subpoenas former Roger Stone media adviser

Special counsel Robert Mueller has subpoenaed a social media specialist who previously worked for Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone, according to a report.

A lawyer for social media and Twitter expert Jason Sullivan told Reuters that two subpoenas were delivered last week to Sullivan’s lawyers.

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The report says the subpoenas seem to indicate that Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election is partly focusing on Stone and his communications with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Stone has made contradicting statements about whether he knew in advance that WikiLeaks was going to publish a trove of hacked Democratic National Committee (DNC) emails.

He appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee last year and denied collusion between those close to Trump and Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign. 

“I am aware of no evidence whatsoever of collusion by the Russian state or anyone in the Trump campaign,” he told reporters in September. 

President Trump has also denied collusion between his campaign and Russia, often referring to Mueller’s probe as a witch hunt. 

Sullivan told Reuters that he worked as Stone’s chief strategist on the Trump campaign, and currently is in charge of Cyphoon.com. 

Sources close to the Mueller probe told Reuters that Mueller is investigating whether Trump campaign associates helped WikiLeaks time the release of the DNC emails.

Sullivan told Reuters that he helped Stone and the Trump campaign create Twitter “swarms” that would boost social media support for the candidate. One strategy document obtained by Reuters that Sullivan prepared referenced “The Age of Weaponized Social Media.”

Reuters cited an Election Day tweet from Trump, which garnered more than 343,000 retweets. 

Sullivan told the outlet that swarm from that tweet contributed to overcoming a surge in pro-Clinton social media posts. 

Mueller has subpoenaed Sullivan to appear before a grand jury on May 18 and to turn over documents and electronic information.

Updated at 3:55 p.m.