Report: Roger Stone told two people he was in contact with Julian Assange
Despite claiming otherwise, former Trump adviser Roger Stone said in 2016 that he was in contact with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, according to a report.
Two people who spoke to Stone, a longtime conservative political operative and Trump friend who parted ways with the future president’s campaign in 2015, told the Washington Post that he claimed during the election to be talking to the radical transparency advocate.
Sam Nunberg, who worked for Trump after being connected to him through Stone, told the newspaper that he had described the matter to investigators for Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
The other source that heard Stone speak about communicating with Assange was unidentified, but said that the conversation took place in spring of 2016, earlier than other reported contact.
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Mueller is probing at election meddling efforts from the Kremlin, and is looking at Stone as he questions whether there was collusion between Moscow and the Trump campaign.
Stone has repeatedly denied direct contact with Wikileaks, which published thousands of emails from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton adviser John Podesta, through a journalist.
He said publicly in August 2016 that he was in contact with Assange, but told Congressional investigators last year that he communicated with Wikileaks only through a journalist.
Contact was also denied by Wikileaks and Assange, who has been holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for years over fears of extradition to Sweden for a sexual assault case or possible the U.S. for charges related to leaking government secrets.
Private messages reported by The Atlantic last month showed Stone telling Wikileaks via Twitter in October 2016 that it should not attack him, though both the adviser and Assange say that the tense exchanges are evidence that they were collaborating together.
Stone told the Washington Post that he was joking with Nunberg when he said that he would go to London to visit Assange.
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