Roger Stone in a text to The Hill on Wednesday denied Michael Cohen’s allegation that President Trump knew that Stone was in contact with WikiLeaks about the release of damaging Democratic emails ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
“Mr. Cohen’s statement is not true,” Stone told The Hill.
Stone, who is under a gag order imposed by a federal judge, did not answer further questions about the claims.
{mosads}Cohen made the allegation about the president’s prior knowledge of Stone’s contacts with WikiLeaks during his dramatic testimony before the House Oversight and Reform Committee on Wednesday.
“[Trump] was a presidential candidate who knew that Roger Stone was talking with Julian Assange about a WikiLeaks drop of DNC emails,” Cohen said during his opening statement.
”A lot of people have asked me about whether Mr. Trump knew about the release of the hacked Democratic National Committee [(DNC)] emails ahead of time. The answer is yes,” he continued.
The president’s former attorney alleged that Trump spoke with Stone on speakerphone and that the then-candidate heard Stone say that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange had plans to distribute emails in the near future that “would damage [Democratic nominee] Hillary Clinton‘s campaign.”
“Mr. Trump responded by stating to the effect of ‘wouldn’t that be great,'” Cohen said.
Stone was arrested last month on charges stemming from special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election, alleging that he made false statements to Congress, impeded a congressional investigation and engaged in witness tampering.
Stone has denied the charges and has vowed to fight them in court. He has also denied having any direct contact with WikiLeaks, instead claiming that he had a back channel to the organization.
He was, until recently, vocal about the legal battle.
But after Stone posted a picture to Instagram of the federal judge in his case — Judge Amy Berman Jackson — that also featured a crosshairs in the corner, Jackson imposed a gag order blocking Stone from making any public statements about his case entirely.