Roger Stone sought dirt on Clinton from Assange during 2016 election: report

Former Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone wanted WikiLeakers founder Julian Assange to give him damaging information on then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

Emails reportedly show Stone requesting an acquaintance ask Assange for emails about Clinton’s alleged role in interfering with a possible peace deal in Libya in 2011, when she was secretary of State.

“Please ask Assange for any State or HRC e-mail from August 10 to August 30 — particularly on August 20, 2011,” Stone wrote in a September 2016 email to Randy Credico, a New York radio host who had recently interviewed Assange.

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Credico initially told Stone that if the emails existed they would be on the WikiLeaks site, to which Stone replied, “Why do we assume WikiLeaks has released everything they have ???”

Credico later told Stone that the “batch probably coming out in the next drop…I can’t ask them favors every other day .I asked one of his lawyers…they have major legal headaches right now..relax.”

He told the Journal that he never passed Stone’s request onto Assange despite telling Stone otherwise, saying he “got tired” of Stone “bothering” him.

Stone told the Journal that Credico “provided nothing” to him and that WikiLeaks never provided him with any emails.

“I never had possession or access to any Clinton emails or records,” Stone said.

The newspaper noted that Stone, a longtime Trump ally, did not have a formal role on the campaign at the time of his request.

The Journal noted that the emails raise questions about Stone’s testimony before the House Intelligence Committee earlier this year. He told lawmakers at the time that he “merely wanted confirmation” from an acquaintance that Assange had information on Clinton.

The Hill has reached out to Stone for comment.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told the Journal that the committee hadn’t received his emails with Credico.

“If there is such a document, then it would mean that his testimony was either deliberately incomplete or deliberately false,” Schiff said.

Stone’s lawyer told the Journal that the adviser didn’t turn over the emails to the House committee because they were “not encompassed within the scope of the committee’s request.” 

Stone told the paper that the emails were preserved at the request of the Senate, but his attorney said the messages had not yet been handed over.

The former adviser is reportedly a person of interest in special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russia’s election interference.

Mueller’s team is reportedly looking into Stone’s contacts with WikiLeaks during the 2016 election, including an email in which Stone said that he met with Assange.

Stone has said the email was a joke and that he never met with Assange.

During 2016, WikiLeaks published troves of emails hacked from Democratic organizations and individuals, including Clinton’s campaign chairman. Intelligence officials believe those hacks were perpetrated by Russia.