Officials in President Trump’s 2016 campaign asked longtime Trump associate Roger Stone about future email releases by WikiLeaks ahead of the 2016 presidential election, special counsel Robert Mueller’s office has alleged.
In an indictment unsealed Friday, federal prosecutors allege that Stone spoke with senior members of Trump’s campaign staff about WikiLeaks and that a campaign official was “directed” to ask Stone “about any additional releases and what other damaging information [WikiLeaks] had regarding the Clinton Campaign.”
{mosads}“Stone was contacted by senior Trump Campaign officials to inquire about future releases by Organization 1,” the document states, in an apparent reference to WikiLeaks. Those communications took place after WikiLeaks released emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee in July 2016.
The indictment charges that Stone stayed in touch with the campaign about WikiLeaks and potential email releases in the months leading up to the election.
Federal prosecutors say that Stone received an email from a “high-ranking Trump Campaign official asking about the status of future releases” by WikiLeaks in early October 2016.
Stone replied that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange had a “serious security concern” but that the group would start releasing “a load every week going forward.”
That exchange mirrors emails previously obtained and published by The New York Times, showing communications between Stone and former Trump campaign chief Stephen Bannon.
After WikiLeaks’ released emails stolen from 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta, an associate of the top Trump campaign staffer texted Stone “well done,” according to federal prosecutors.
“In subsequent conversations with senior Trump Campaign officials, Stone claimed credit for having correctly predicted the October 7, 2016 release,” the indictment states.
The special counsel’s office charges that Stone lied during his testimony before the House Intelligence Committee as part of its investigation into Russian election interference.
When asked if he had discussed his conversations with his former associate Randy Credico — whom Stone claimed was his intermediary with WikiLeaks — with anyone involved with the Trump campaign, Stone said he had not, according to the court document.
“In truth and in fact, and as described above, Stone spoke to multiple individuals involved in the Trump Campaign about what he claimed to have learned from his intermediary” to WikiLeaks, the document claims.
Stone was arrested Friday morning after the special counsel’s office unsealed its indictment against the former Trump campaign aide. He has been indicted on seven counts: one count of obstruction of an official proceeding, five counts of false statements and one count of witness tampering.