Roger Stone denies links to Russian hacks

Top Donald Trump supporter Roger Stone is categorically denying any connection to hacks into Democratic groups that have led to a stream of leaked documents in recent months.

{mosads}Democratic lawmakers and advocates are calling for the FBI to investigate links between Stone and the Russian groups accused of perpetrating the hacks.

“The idea that I, an anticommunist conservative, would throw in with a totalitarian regime is bullshit,” Stone said Tuesday.

On Saturday, the Democratic Coalition Against Trump filed a complaint with the FBI about the GOP presidential nominee’s potential connections to Russia, alleging cyberterrorism and treason by colluding with Russia in recent data breaches.

It echoed a formal request from four top Democratic congressmen to investigate the same issue. 

Both groups have used Stone as evidence they have a case. Stone acknowledges that through a mutual friend, he has had some “back channel” communication with WikiLeaks head Julian Assange. 

On Aug. 21, well before the site began to leak Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta’s breached emails, Stone tweeted, “Trust me, it will soon [be] Podesta’s time in the barrel.#CrookedHillary.”

Both groups of Democrats believe this showed foreknowledge that Podesta’s emails had been hacked. 

But Stone said he was responding to attacks on then-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who was forced to resign over connections to pro-Russian groups. Podesta, too, would crumble under scrutiny, Stone claimed he was saying.

Even if he had advance knowledge that WikiLeaks would publish Podesta’s emails — which Stone denies — it would not necessarily mean he had a connection with the Russian intelligence agencies believed to be behind the attacks.

Stone denies any connection to Russia, be it clients or business dealings or friends.

“This is the new McCarthyism. This whole thing is about censorship,” he said. 

Stone said he himself was also the victim of politically motivated hacking — claiming hackers deleted files and stole money from his bank account.

He said he would have no have no sympathy for a hack perpetrator — but the publisher of files stolen in a hack is different.

“All I can say is those files are incredibly newsworthy,” said Stone. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: If someone has documents on Trump, they should release them, too.”