Mueller scrutinizing Roger Stone’s interaction with Gates during campaign: report

Special counsel Robert Mueller is scrutinizing Roger Stone’s campaign interactions with former Trump campaign aide Richard Gates, who has been indicted on bank fraud charges.

Stone, a career Republican strategist, is now a key focus of Mueller’s probe into whether Trump campaign officials colluded with the Russian government during the 2016 presidential race, according to CNBC.

A lawyer for Stone, who previously worked at a political lobbying firm with Gates, told CNBC that while the two were in contact while working for the Trump campaign, they had no “substantive or meaningful interaction.” 

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Mueller, whose team has brought charges against Gates and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, is reportedly looking into the topics of conversation between Gates and Stone before and during the campaign.

Gates joined the Trump campaign in the spring of 2016 and stayed on board even after Manafort’s ouster that August. 

Stone has previously faced scrutiny over his interactions with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has been suspected of working with the Russians to strategically release damaging information against Trump’s opponents. Stone has denied meeting with Assange.

Gates and Manafort, who once headed a lobbying firm alongside Stone, are both facing charges and possible jail time for money laundering and conspiracy against the U.S. for their work with pro-Russia politicians in Ukraine.