Mueller looking into possible witness intimidation by Roger Stone: report
Special counsel Robert Mueller is reportedly looking into whether former informal Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone attempted to intimidate a man whom Stone has claimed served as a back channel to WikiLeaks.
The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that prosecutors on Mueller’s team have been questioning witnesses about Stone’s interactions with and comments about former New York radio host Randy Credico.
{mosads}Stone has claimed that Credico, a former friend of his, was a conduit between him and WikiLeaks. Credico has repeatedly and publicly denied the allegations.
David Lugo, a filmmaker who knows both Credico and Stone, told the Journal that he testified before Mueller’s grand jury about a blog post Stone helped him write that spoke harshly about Credico.
Businessman Bill Samuels said he was also a witness and was asked about Credico’s response to messages from Stone that were allegedly threatening, according to the Journal.
Stone categorically denied any attempts to intimidate Credico in an email to The Hill
The special counsel’s office declined to comment to The Hill about the report.
Stone told the Journal that he is angry with Credico because he “has refused to tell the truth” about his ties to WikiLeaks.
According to the Journal, Stone told Credico in emails that he would “sue the f—” out of him and he should “prepare to die c—sucker.”
Stone shared his responses to the Journal with The Hill, in which he stated that he sent the emails to Credico “to get him to tell the truth.”
Stone’s attorney Grant Smith told The Hill in an email that Stone didn’t “do anything other than implore Mr. Credico to tell the truth.”
“Mr. Credico’s narrative bears no resemblance to his actual exchanges with Mr. Stone during the campaign,” he said.
In an interview with The Hill on Tuesday, before the Journal’s report was published, Credico said Stone was continuing to point to him as a back channel to WikiLeaks only because it matched Stone’s testimony before Congress.
“He’d throw his own mother under the bus,” Credico said of Stone.
Stone has come under scrutiny from Mueller’s team over his past claims that he was in touch with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange during the 2016 campaign. He has since said that his statements about Assange were exaggerations.
WikiLeaks dumped thousands of emails hacked from the Democratic National Committee in the weeks ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Mueller alleges that Russian military officers were responsible for the hack.
Stone had appeared to signal that he had prior knowledge of the WikiLeak’s email release in the weeks ahead of the election.
“Wednesday@HillaryClinton is done. #Wikileaks,” Stone tweeted from his since-suspended account on Oct. 2, 2016.
The emails were released five days later, hours after news broke of the “Access Hollywood” tape in which President Trump could be heard bragging about groping and kissing women without their consent.
Stone told The Hill earlier this month that he didn’t have any inside information, but was told by a source that WikiLeaks had a “bombshell” coming ahead of the presidential election.
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