Corsi finalizing criminal complaint against Mueller

Attorneys for conspiracy theorist and conservative author Jerome Corsi are preparing to file a criminal complaint against special counsel Robert Mueller.

Larry Klayman, the founder of the conservative watchdogs Judicial Watch and Freedom Watch who joined Corsi’s legal team this week, told The Hill on Thursday that the document will claim that the special counsel and his team were asking Corsi to lie and commit other criminal violations like witness tampering.

He also said that the complaint could be filed as soon as Thursday or Friday, and would be lodged with Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker, the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility and the department’s inspector general.

When asked what lie the special counsel had asked Corsi to make, Klayman declined to provide further details,  but pointed to Corsi’s statements claiming that he did not willfully mislead federal investigators during his questioning.

{mosads} Klayman also said that if Mueller were to indict Corsi, it could give Corsi’s legal team the opportunity to challenge the special counsel’s authority.

“I trust that he will be wise enough not to seek an indictment of Jerry Corsi,” Klayman said.

A spokesperson for the special counsel declined to comment. Another attorney for Corsi, David Gray, did not return multiple requests for comment.

Corsi and President Trump’s longtime confidant Roger Stone have both faced scrutiny from Mueller over their communications and statements ahead of WikiLeaks’ release of damaging Democratic emails ahead of the 2016 presidential election. 

They have both denied being in touch with WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange about the release of the emails.

Corsi revealed earlier this week that he had received a plea deal offer from Mueller, but had rejected it.

In draft court documents obtained by The Hill and other publications, the special counsel alleges that Corsi lied while being questioned by investigators earlier this year.

The documents state that Corsi made the false statement when asked about a July 25, 2016 email sent by an individual – who Corsi identified as Stone – who asked that Corsi look into what emails WikiLeaks possessed and would release ahead of the 2016 election.

Corsi told authorities during the questioning that he had “declined the request from [Stone] and made clear to [Stone] that trying to contact [WikiLeaks] could be subject to investigation,” according to the documents.

However, Corsi did forward the email from Stone to another individual and later responded to him, writing in an email sent on Aug. 2, 2016, “Word is friend in embassy plans 2 more dumps,” referring to Assange.

“One shortly after I’m back. 2nd in Oct. Impact planned to be very damaging,” he continued, according to the documents.

In multiple interviews with The Hill, Corsi has maintained that he did not willfully give false information to Mueller’s team, but did not recall at the time of his questioning what he had said in response to Stone.

Corsi has claimed that he “deduced” that emails hacked from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and written by Clinton campaign chair John Podesta would be released shortly ahead of the presidential election, after emails by Podesta were not included in previous WikiLeaks email dumps.

And Stone has said that he had an inside source that told him that WikiLeaks had damaging information that would disrupt the 2016 election.

Mueller has indicted 12 Russian military officers in the DNC hack.

Corsi has publicly stated multiple times that he was planning on filing a criminal complaint against Mueller, including during an interview with Hill.TV set to air on Friday.

Corsi was a major proponent of the so-called “birther” conspiracy theory, claiming without evidence that former President Obama was not born in the United States. Obama released his birth certificate to counter the claims, which were also promoted by Trump.