Former informal Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone acknowledged Friday night that he “probably” is the unnamed person referred to in special counsel Robert Mueller’s latest indictment against Russian intelligence officers.
Stone, who earlier Friday said he did not believe he was the unnamed person mentioned in the indictment, said on CNN’s “Cuomo Prime Time” that he now thinks he is the person in the filing released earlier Friday.
{mosads}
The document makes reference to an unnamed individual “who was in regular contact with senior members of the presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump” and exchanged Twitter direct messages with Guccifer 2.0, an online persona allegedly used by the Russian officers.
Stone told CNN’s Chris Cuomo that he hadn’t had the chance to read the indictment before he made his earlier statements.
The longtime GOP operative also claimed that he had “never denied” that he was the person referred to in the indictment, saying he “didn’t understand the earlier reference.”
Mueller indicted 12 Russian military officers in the 2016 hacking of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) on Friday, alleging they hacked DNC officials and dispersed the stolen documents through online personas, including Guccifer 2.0.
The document includes messages exchanged between Guccifer 2.0 and the person in contact with Trump campaign officials. Those messages match ones that Stone previously released relating to the hacker.
The GOP operative told The Hill earlier Friday that his messages with Guccifer 2.0 are “benign based on its content context and timing.”
“This exchange is entirely public and provides no evidence of collaboration or collusion with Guccifer 2.0 or anyone else in the alleged hacking of the DNC emails, as well as taking place many weeks after the events described in today’s indictment,” Stone said.
Stone also said on CNN that he would like for the indicted Russian military officers to be extradited “so that we can have a trial, so the DNC server can be examined and so this charge can be proven or disproven.”
The former Trump adviser told Hill.TV’s “Rising” last month that it’s possible that he’ll be indicted in Mueller’s probe.