Roger Stone

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Re: Roger Stone

Postby seemslikeadream » Sun Jun 17, 2018 9:55 am

RAT-FUCKER EXTRAORDINAIRE ROGER STONE PROBABLY HAD FAR MORE DAMNING TEXTS SEIZED BY FBI ON MARCH 8

June 17, 2018/0 Comments/in 2016 Presidential Election, Mueller Probe /by empty wheel

After two years of denying any contacts with Russians, epic rat-fucker Roger Stone has now willingly disclosed one to the WaPo, revealing details about how a Russian approached Michael Caputo’s business partner, offering dirt on Hillary, which let Stone to accept a meeting with the guy. Here’s what a rat-fucker limited hang-out looks like:

One day in late May 2016, Roger Stone — the political dark sorcerer and longtime confidant of Donald Trump — slipped into his Jaguar and headed out to meet a man with a Make America Great Again hat and a viscous Russian accent.

The man, who called himself Henry Greenberg, offered damaging information about Hillary Clinton, Trump’s presumptive Democratic opponent in the upcoming presidential election, according to Stone who spoke about the previously unreported incident in interviews with The Washington Post. Greenberg, who did not reveal the information he claimed to possess, wanted Trump to pay $2 million for the political dirt, Stone said.

“You don’t understand Donald Trump,” Stone recalled saying before rejecting the offer at a restaurant in the Russian-expat magnet of Sunny Isles, Fla. “He doesn’t pay for anything.”


Stone is disclosing this damning story now for two reasons: First, because he has discovered (surely tipped by someone) that “Greenberg,” whose real last name appears to be Oknyansky, worked as an FBI informant for years (apparently after being flipped in immigration custody). So it feeds the narrative that the Deep State is out to get Trump.

“If you believe that [Greenberg] took time off from his long career as an FBI informant to reach out to us in his spare time, I have a bridge in Brooklyn that I want to sell you,” Caputo said in an interview.

In a separate interview, Stone said: “I didn’t realize it was an FBI sting operation at the time, but it sure looks like one now.”

[snip]

Between 2008 and 2012, the records show, he repeatedly was extended permission to enter the United States under a so-called “significant public benefit parole.” The documents list an FBI agent as a contact person. The agent declined to comment.

Immigration lawyer David Leopold, former president of American Immigration Lawyers Association, said the documents described an immigration history generally consistent with Greenberg’s claims that he had been allowed to enter the United States to assist law enforcement.

In a 2015 court declaration, Greenberg — using the last name Oknyansky — said he’d been giving information to the FBI since returning to Russia from the United States in 2000.


They’re also raising it because Caputo was asked about it in his interview with the Mueller team on May 2 and are now both in the process of “correcting” their sworn testimony to HPSCI.

Stone and Caputo said in separate interviews that they also did not disclose the Greenberg meeting during testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence because they had forgotten about an incident that Stone calls unimportant “due diligence” that would have been “political malpractice” not to explore.

Caputo said that he was asked during a session with the committee in July whether he’d ever been offered information about the Clinton campaign by a Russian, and he either answered “no” or that he could not recall.

However, Stone and Caputo said their memories were refreshed by text messages that Caputo said he no longer has in his possession but was shown during a May 2 interview.


By revealing that Mueller caught Caputo and Stone dealing in dirt with Russians, they reveal a certain detail to other co-conspirators: probably, that Mueller has obtained the contents of Roger Stone’s phone. As a reminder, on March 9, the FBI obtained the cloud-stored contents of 5 AT&T phones (and probably at least as many Verizon ones), at least one but not all of which were Manafort’s. There’s a lot of reason to believe that at least one of the phones obtained was Stone’s.

An earlier filing explained that the second, AT&T, affidavit was obtained on March 9 and it covers “ongoing investigations that are not the subject of either of the current prosecutions involving Manafort.”

On April 4, 2018, the government produced in redacted form, and for the first time, an affidavit supporting a search warrant that had been obtained on March 9, 2018. That affidavit likewise contains redactions—albeit more substantial ones—relating to ongoing investigations that are not the subject of either of the current prosecutions involving Manafort.


As I believe others pointed out at the time, this would put it just a few weeks after Rick Gates pled on February 23, and so might reflect information obtained with his cooperation.

In her ruling, ABJ cited the last week’s hearing, suggesting that the phones still redacted in the affidavit materials might not be Manafort’s.

THE COURT: What if — I think one of them is about phone information. What if the redacted phones are not his phone?

MR. WESTLING: I don’t have a problem with that. I think we’re talking about things that relate to this defendant in this case.


Since just before this phone data was obtained, Mueller’s team has focused closely on Roger Stone, starting with the Sam Nunberg meltdown on March 5, including a retracted claim that Trump knew of the June 9 meeting the week beforehand (there’s a phone call Don Jr placed on June 6 that several committees think may have been to Trump, something Mueller presumably knows). Ted Malloch was stopped at the border and interviewed (and had his phone seized) on March 30, and scheduled for a since aborted grand jury appearance on April 13. Stone assistants John Sullivan and Jason Kakanis were subpoenaed earlier in May. Of particularly interest, Michael Caputo was interviewedabout meetings he and Stone had with Gates before and during the campaign.


And Stone, by all appearances, still has the text exchange with Caputo to share with the WaPo. Which means Mueller has a whole slew of other text exchanges that Stone is not revealing.

We can be virtually certain, too, that Stone is offering just a limited version of the story, as he has done over and over again. Of note: Stone doesn’t claim he said to Oknyansky that he wasn’t interested in the information; rather, he only claims that Trump wouldn’t pay $2 million for it. By the end of the summer someone else — Peter Smith — was offering money for dirt on Hillary. And the Clinton Foundation was a key focus of Stone’s; he raised it 8 times on Twitter between that meeting at the election.

Now, as I said, the reason we’re learning about this particular lie from Caputo and Stone is because it feeds a certain narrative, that the FBI was seeking to set up the Trump campaign. That makes zero sense, given that even accepting the outreach from a Russian would have triggered attention from the FBI, and it’s clear FBI just got this information recently (probably, as I’ve noted, on March 8). Remember, too, the FBI didn’t formally learn that the Russians were targeting the Democrats, to the extent they did (and the Russians targeted Rubio and Graham as well) until June. So there’s no reason the FBI would have used a Russian to deal dirt in May. In other words, Caputo and Stone’s story makes zero sense.

But it is notable that Russians and their partners have used so many former informants in their outreach to Trump’s team. In addition to Oknyansky (whom the Russians would have known by the networks he helped expose), there’s Felix Sater (whose role as an informant was already known), who pitched both a Tower deal and “peace” in Ukraine. And while it hasn’t been confirmed, George Nader would not be a free man right now if he hadn’t traded cooperation for freedom, in light of his serial child pornography violations.

Of course, the Trump team hasn’t said a word about Nader and Sater being FBI informants infiltrating their campaign, perhaps because Mueller had them cooperating before this strategy got rolled out.

I have long said that one of the easiest ways to avoid network analysis scrutiny the US is known to do is to become (or remain) an informant. There’s lots of reason to believe that gets your communication channels pulled from the network mapping programs, for two reasons: first, because informants need to be deconflicted (meaning you need to make sure the DEA doesn’t arrest someone who’s working for the FBI), and because if they remain in the network mapping pool, you’ll soon have half the FBI two degrees from drug lords and terrorists and therefore subject to NSA’s analytical tradecraft.

If I know that, Russia knows that (and there’s good reason to believe Russia has exploited that in the past). Moreover, the FBI has been hacked itself in recent years, possibly multiple times. If data on the FBI’s own networks is available, it’d make it even easier for Russia to identify people it could use as outreach to the Trump campaign.

In other words, it’s possible, if not likely, we’ll see more former FBI assets networked into efforts to compromise the Trump campaign. Because that would be the best way to avoid scrutiny.
https://www.emptywheel.net/2018/06/17/r ... -manafort/





Wendy Siegelman


Trump associate Roger Stone reveals new contact with Russian national during 2016 campaign - Stone met with Henry Greenberg (aka Henry Oknyansky) in Sunny Isles FL, who wanted $2 million for political dirt - mtg was arranged by Michael Caputo




Roger Stone did, actually, meet with a Russian
Roger Stone, a close Trump ally, met with a Russian man in May 2016 claiming to have “dirt” that could help Trump be elected. He previously denied meeting with anyone of Russian origin in the lead up to the election.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/po ... dbe5050fe0



Roger Stone: Russian wanted Trump to pay $2M for dirt on Clinton during the campaign

Former Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone said that he met with a Russian man during the 2016 campaign who wanted President Trump to pay $2 million for damaging information on Hillary Clinton.

The Washington Post reported Sunday that Stone met with the man in May 2016, in a meeting set up by Trump campaign aide Michael Caputo. The meeting was previously unreported.

Stone told the Post that the man had requested Trump pay $2 million for dirt on Clinton, but that Stone rejected the offer.

“You don’t understand Donald Trump,” Stone said he told the man. “He doesn’t pay for anything.”

Special counsel Robert Mueller is now investigating the meeting, Caputo told the Post.

Both Stone and Caputo, who did not reveal the interaction to congressional investigators, alleged that the man, who called himself Henry Greenberg, was a FBI informant.

The Post reported that records do not indicate that Greenberg was a FBI informant. Documents do show that he has stated that he worked as an informant for the agency in the past, but that he said he stopped working with the FBI after 2013.

Greenberg denied to the Post that he was working on behalf of the FBI during the meeting.

“If you believe that [Greenberg] took time off from his long career as an FBI informant to reach out to us in his spare time, I have a bridge in Brooklyn that I want to sell you,” Caputo told the Post.

Both former campaign aides told the newspaper they did not bring up the meeting during their testimony before the House Intelligence Committee because they forgot about the incident.

The men said they remembered the encounter after Caputo was shown past text messages about the meeting during a May 2 interview.

The Post noted that the meeting means that at least 11 Trump officials or associates have admitted to contacts with Russians during the 2016 campaign or transition.

Mueller has been investigating ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. The president has recently made unsubstantiated claims that the FBI spied on and infiltrated his campaign, and has blasted Mueller's probe as a "witch hunt."http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/392662-roger-stone-russian-wanted-trump-to-pay-2m-for-dirt-on-clinton-during


Assange ‘back channel’ Credico forks over computer, phone in ‘Russiagate’ feud with Roger Stone

The Villager
BY LINCOLN ANDERSON | Robert Mueller might be a little interested in this one!

Saying he is sick and tired of Roger Stone lying about him — and, more recently, allegedly threatening him — in connection with the ongoing so-called “Russiagate” probe, Randy Credico says he is fighting back.

“I’m going to bury him,” Credico told The Villager in a recent phone interview.

Specifically, Credico — the standup comic-turned-gonzo radio journalist who has befriended WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange — said he has turned over both his personal computer and his cell phone to “a national magazine.”

“I gave all of my e-mails…going back 16 years,” Credico said, “back to when to when I was on AOL.”

While he would not name the publication, he described it as “a national, award-winning, well-respected magazine with a lot of influence.”

Asked if it was The New Yorker or The Atlantic, Credico would not say.

At another point, though, he said the article might not actually appear in a magazine.

“It’s a major publication and the person is an award-winning writer, but I’m not saying if it’s a magazine or newspaper,” he said.

He predicted, though, it will be “a huge story.”

Of Stone, he said, “He rattled the cage too much, and I’m going to go out and tell the truth.”

Credico also shared with The Villager screenshots of allegedly “harassing” e-mails that he received from Stone within the past three months. He said he sent screenshots because he didn’t want to risk the magazine writer killing the story if it became known Credico was forwarding any of the actual e-mails to another publication.
http://thevillager.com/2018/06/16/assan ... ger-stone/





Caroline O.

Roger Stone, March 10, 2017: Says the claim that the FBI has proof of "meaningful contact" between him and any Russians ("Russkys") are a "steaming pile of dung".

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Roger Stone, Feb. 22, 2017: "no contact with ANY Russians at any time before during or after the campaign."

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Roger Stone, Dec. 18, 2016: "Sorry I have no Russian ties — stop the lying."

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Roger Stone, Oct. 28, 2016 (tweeting from "Stone Cold Truth" account): "Liars get busted again and again, lie after lie, yet they continue! CRIMINAL INSANITY!"

lol.


Image
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Re: Roger Stone

Postby seemslikeadream » Tue Jun 19, 2018 11:21 am

THE TRUMP PEOPLE REALLY REALLY WANT TO KNOW HOW MUCH MUELLER KNOWS ABOUT ROGER STONE’S “COLLUSION”

June 18, 2018/24 Comments/in 2016 Presidential Election, FISA, Mueller Probe /by emptywheel
In a piece that lets Roger Stone claim he un-forgot the Russian he met offering Hillary dirt for $2 million and also fails to ask Stone why it took over a month for him to correct his perjury before HPSCI and also fails to ask if there was follow-up about someone else paying for that dirt on Hillary, Ken Dilanian lets Stone float a claim that Mueller must have obtained the contents of his phone using a FISA order.

Stone also wondered to NBC News how Mueller “has copies of my text messages if not through an illegal FISA warrant. I have filed a notice of my intention to bring a lawsuit against the government for a civil rights and right to privacy violation to get to the bottom of that question.”


As I have noted repeatedly, close to the beginning of the time when Mueller has focused unrelentingly on Stone, on March 9, Mueller obtained a probable cause search warrant to obtain the contents of 5 AT&T phones, “In the Matter of the Search of Information Associated with Five Telephone Numbers Controlled by AT&T (D.D.C.) (18-sc-609).” When Paul Manafort attempted to unseal the parts of the affidavit laying out the probable cause for those phones covered by the warrant that he didn’t own, Amy Berman Jackson refused the request. The court record makes it fairly clear that the other phones don’t belong to Manafort.

THE COURT: What if — I think one of them is about phone information. What if the redacted phones are not his phone?

MR. WESTLING: I don’t have a problem with that. I think we’re talking about things that relate to this defendant in this case.


We should assume that, in addition to those five phones, there’s a warrant covering a proportional number (Verizon covers more of the cell phone market in the US than AT&T does) of Verizon phones.

All of which is to say that the most obvious explanation for how Mueller obtained the text messages Stone has selectively shared with the press showing he did accept a meeting with a Russian offering dirt on Hillary Clinton is that Mueller convinced a judge there was probable cause to believe that there was evidence of crimes were on that phone.

That is, the interest in Roger Stone is no longer strictly a counterintelligence question of whether Henry Greenberg was idly reaching out to Stone to offer dirt. Rather, it’s a question of whether, in his subsequent response (about which no journalist seems to have asked Stone questions) constitutes a crime.

In any case, Roger Stone’s attempt to turn this into another FISA pseudo scandal (including his suggestion that any warrant targeting him would be “illegal”) is just a desperate indication of how badly the Trump people want to know how much Mueller knows about the crimes Stone may have committed.
https://www.emptywheel.net/2018/06/18/t ... collusion/
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Re: Roger Stone

Postby American Dream » Sun Jul 15, 2018 6:45 am

Roger Stone looks at Russian indictments and concludes he’s cleared

Whatever you do, don't look at the mountain of evidence that points to the contrary.

Image

Stone just replied that he didn’t “believe it,” adding that there’s “no evidence in this indictment” that he received any information from the Russian hackers and passed it along to WikiLeaks or DCLeaks.

But then, he told ABC late on Friday that he was, in fact, the unnamed “U.S. person” named in the indictment.

“As I testified before the House Intelligence Committee under oath, my 24 word exchange with someone on Twitter claiming to be Guccifer 2.0 [a name used by Russian hackers] is 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.”

ABC also reported that statements made by Stone in August 2016 seem to indicate that “he knew that Wikileaks was going to leak damaging information on Clinton before it was released,” even as he insisted that he did not know that Guccifer 2.0 was a cover for Russian operatives.

Stone has also claimed that he was not in regular contact with people in Trump’s campaign, only Trump himself.

Indeed, in the face of growing evidence (a mounting tally of indictments and guilty pleas) that Russia’s meddling in the U.S. elections had help from people close to the president’s campaign, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for Stone to deny what is already known:

That Stone was in touch with WikiLeaks through a New York radio host, Randy Credico.

That Stone asked Credico for e-mails stolen from Hillary Clinton by WikiLeaks.

That Stone withheld information and lied to the House Intelligence Committee about his relationship with Credico.


But like Stone, the president continually points to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing investigation into the matter and repeats his mantra of “no collusion” — perhaps in hopes of manifesting the such an outcome.


https://thinkprogress.org/roger-stone-l ... fc3b29367/
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Re: Roger Stone

Postby Elvis » Sun Jul 15, 2018 7:59 am

This is kind of weird—

That Stone asked Credico for e-mails stolen from Hillary Clinton by WikiLeaks.


Wikileaks didn't steal any emails, of course.
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Re: Roger Stone

Postby American Dream » Sun Jul 15, 2018 8:25 am

Yep:

Stone has long denied any involvement with the trove of hacked Democratic National Committee emails that WikiLeaks published during the 2016 campaign. He also testified before the House Intelligence Committee last year that he only “wanted confirmation” that Assange had information about Trump’s opponent.

But according to a series of emails The Wall Street Journal reviewed for its Thursday article, Stone did more than ask for confirmation. In September 2016, he apparently badgered radio personality Randy Credico to press Assange for emails related to Clinton’s alleged role in disrupting a purported Libyan peace deal while she was secretary of state.

Credico reportedly emailed back that Stone should check the WikiLeaks website for the information he wanted, since WikiLeaks had already posted the hacked DNC emails that July. According to the Journal, Stone responded: “Why do we assume WikiLeaks has released everything they have???”

Credico reportedly wrote to Stone that the Libya information would likely be in a “batch probably coming out in the next drop,” presumably meaning in the next set of hacked emails WikiLeaks published.

“I can’t ask them favors every other day,” Credico complained, according to the Journal. “I asked one of his lawyers ... they have major legal headaches ... relax.”

Stone became so insistent that Credico told the Journal that he “got tired” of Stone “bothering” him. Credico said he didn’t even pass along Stone’s message to Assange, whom he had interviewed for his radio program, but still told Stone that he had.

Stone tweeted during the election that he had a “back channel” to Assange, which could have meant Credico. He soon deleted the tweet.

In response to the Journal’s story, Stone sent a text message claiming that Credico and WikiLeaks had “provided nothing” to him and that his testimony before the House intelligence committee was “complete and accurate.”

Investigators have scrutinized Stone for his claims that he communicated with both Assange and Guccifer 2.0, the Kremlin operative identified by U.S. officials as responsible for the DNC hack.

Stone also appeared to know about WikiLeaks’ actions in advance. The day before WikiLeaks published hacked emails of Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta, Stone said Assange was going to deliver “a devastating expose of Hillary.” The emails were published the day the “Access Hollywood” tape was released of Trump boasting about grabbing women’s genitals.


https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ro ... 2d69c979d7
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Re: Roger Stone

Postby American Dream » Sun Jul 15, 2018 11:39 am

I'm going to stick my neck out here and say that I have an informed hunch that this rat-fucker is the unnamed source that Marcy Wheeler reported to the FBI because she thought he was using disinformation to obscure the role of the Russians:


seemslikeadream » Sun Jun 17, 2018 8:55 am wrote:RAT-FUCKER EXTRAORDINAIRE ROGER STONE PROBABLY HAD FAR MORE DAMNING TEXTS SEIZED BY FBI ON MARCH 8

June 17, 2018/0 Comments/in 2016 Presidential Election, Mueller Probe /by empty wheel

After two years of denying any contacts with Russians, epic rat-fucker Roger Stone has now willingly disclosed one to the WaPo, revealing details about how a Russian approached Michael Caputo’s business partner, offering dirt on Hillary, which let Stone to accept a meeting with the guy. Here’s what a rat-fucker limited hang-out looks like:

One day in late May 2016, Roger Stone — the political dark sorcerer and longtime confidant of Donald Trump — slipped into his Jaguar and headed out to meet a man with a Make America Great Again hat and a viscous Russian accent.

The man, who called himself Henry Greenberg, offered damaging information about Hillary Clinton, Trump’s presumptive Democratic opponent in the upcoming presidential election, according to Stone who spoke about the previously unreported incident in interviews with The Washington Post. Greenberg, who did not reveal the information he claimed to possess, wanted Trump to pay $2 million for the political dirt, Stone said.

“You don’t understand Donald Trump,” Stone recalled saying before rejecting the offer at a restaurant in the Russian-expat magnet of Sunny Isles, Fla. “He doesn’t pay for anything.”


Stone is disclosing this damning story now for two reasons: First, because he has discovered (surely tipped by someone) that “Greenberg,” whose real last name appears to be Oknyansky, worked as an FBI informant for years (apparently after being flipped in immigration custody). So it feeds the narrative that the Deep State is out to get Trump.

“If you believe that [Greenberg] took time off from his long career as an FBI informant to reach out to us in his spare time, I have a bridge in Brooklyn that I want to sell you,” Caputo said in an interview.

In a separate interview, Stone said: “I didn’t realize it was an FBI sting operation at the time, but it sure looks like one now.”

[snip]

Between 2008 and 2012, the records show, he repeatedly was extended permission to enter the United States under a so-called “significant public benefit parole.” The documents list an FBI agent as a contact person. The agent declined to comment.

Immigration lawyer David Leopold, former president of American Immigration Lawyers Association, said the documents described an immigration history generally consistent with Greenberg’s claims that he had been allowed to enter the United States to assist law enforcement.

In a 2015 court declaration, Greenberg — using the last name Oknyansky — said he’d been giving information to the FBI since returning to Russia from the United States in 2000.


They’re also raising it because Caputo was asked about it in his interview with the Mueller team on May 2 and are now both in the process of “correcting” their sworn testimony to HPSCI.

Stone and Caputo said in separate interviews that they also did not disclose the Greenberg meeting during testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence because they had forgotten about an incident that Stone calls unimportant “due diligence” that would have been “political malpractice” not to explore.

Caputo said that he was asked during a session with the committee in July whether he’d ever been offered information about the Clinton campaign by a Russian, and he either answered “no” or that he could not recall.

However, Stone and Caputo said their memories were refreshed by text messages that Caputo said he no longer has in his possession but was shown during a May 2 interview.


By revealing that Mueller caught Caputo and Stone dealing in dirt with Russians, they reveal a certain detail to other co-conspirators: probably, that Mueller has obtained the contents of Roger Stone’s phone. As a reminder, on March 9, the FBI obtained the cloud-stored contents of 5 AT&T phones (and probably at least as many Verizon ones), at least one but not all of which were Manafort’s. There’s a lot of reason to believe that at least one of the phones obtained was Stone’s.

An earlier filing explained that the second, AT&T, affidavit was obtained on March 9 and it covers “ongoing investigations that are not the subject of either of the current prosecutions involving Manafort.”

On April 4, 2018, the government produced in redacted form, and for the first time, an affidavit supporting a search warrant that had been obtained on March 9, 2018. That affidavit likewise contains redactions—albeit more substantial ones—relating to ongoing investigations that are not the subject of either of the current prosecutions involving Manafort.


As I believe others pointed out at the time, this would put it just a few weeks after Rick Gates pled on February 23, and so might reflect information obtained with his cooperation.

In her ruling, ABJ cited the last week’s hearing, suggesting that the phones still redacted in the affidavit materials might not be Manafort’s.

THE COURT: What if — I think one of them is about phone information. What if the redacted phones are not his phone?

MR. WESTLING: I don’t have a problem with that. I think we’re talking about things that relate to this defendant in this case.


Since just before this phone data was obtained, Mueller’s team has focused closely on Roger Stone, starting with the Sam Nunberg meltdown on March 5, including a retracted claim that Trump knew of the June 9 meeting the week beforehand (there’s a phone call Don Jr placed on June 6 that several committees think may have been to Trump, something Mueller presumably knows). Ted Malloch was stopped at the border and interviewed (and had his phone seized) on March 30, and scheduled for a since aborted grand jury appearance on April 13. Stone assistants John Sullivan and Jason Kakanis were subpoenaed earlier in May. Of particularly interest, Michael Caputo was interviewedabout meetings he and Stone had with Gates before and during the campaign.


And Stone, by all appearances, still has the text exchange with Caputo to share with the WaPo. Which means Mueller has a whole slew of other text exchanges that Stone is not revealing.

We can be virtually certain, too, that Stone is offering just a limited version of the story, as he has done over and over again. Of note: Stone doesn’t claim he said to Oknyansky that he wasn’t interested in the information; rather, he only claims that Trump wouldn’t pay $2 million for it. By the end of the summer someone else — Peter Smith — was offering money for dirt on Hillary. And the Clinton Foundation was a key focus of Stone’s; he raised it 8 times on Twitter between that meeting at the election.

Now, as I said, the reason we’re learning about this particular lie from Caputo and Stone is because it feeds a certain narrative, that the FBI was seeking to set up the Trump campaign. That makes zero sense, given that even accepting the outreach from a Russian would have triggered attention from the FBI, and it’s clear FBI just got this information recently (probably, as I’ve noted, on March 8 ). Remember, too, the FBI didn’t formally learn that the Russians were targeting the Democrats, to the extent they did (and the Russians targeted Rubio and Graham as well) until June. So there’s no reason the FBI would have used a Russian to deal dirt in May. In other words, Caputo and Stone’s story makes zero sense.

But it is notable that Russians and their partners have used so many former informants in their outreach to Trump’s team. In addition to Oknyansky (whom the Russians would have known by the networks he helped expose), there’s Felix Sater (whose role as an informant was already known), who pitched both a Tower deal and “peace” in Ukraine. And while it hasn’t been confirmed, George Nader would not be a free man right now if he hadn’t traded cooperation for freedom, in light of his serial child pornography violations.

Of course, the Trump team hasn’t said a word about Nader and Sater being FBI informants infiltrating their campaign, perhaps because Mueller had them cooperating before this strategy got rolled out.

I have long said that one of the easiest ways to avoid network analysis scrutiny the US is known to do is to become (or remain) an informant. There’s lots of reason to believe that gets your communication channels pulled from the network mapping programs, for two reasons: first, because informants need to be deconflicted (meaning you need to make sure the DEA doesn’t arrest someone who’s working for the FBI), and because if they remain in the network mapping pool, you’ll soon have half the FBI two degrees from drug lords and terrorists and therefore subject to NSA’s analytical tradecraft.

If I know that, Russia knows that (and there’s good reason to believe Russia has exploited that in the past). Moreover, the FBI has been hacked itself in recent years, possibly multiple times. If data on the FBI’s own networks is available, it’d make it even easier for Russia to identify people it could use as outreach to the Trump campaign.

In other words, it’s possible, if not likely, we’ll see more former FBI assets networked into efforts to compromise the Trump campaign. Because that would be the best way to avoid scrutiny.

https://www.emptywheel.net/2018/06/17/r ... -manafort/
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Re: Roger Stone

Postby American Dream » Wed Jul 18, 2018 9:12 pm

Roger Stone has lied or contradicted himself regarding Russia probe matters on countless occasions

ERIC HANANOKI

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Roger Stone, a longtime adviser to President Donald Trump, has repeatedly lied or contradicted himself on numerous issues related to special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.

Stone is a vicious racist, misogynist, liar, and conspiracy theorist who describes himself as “a 40-year friend and advisor of Donald Trump.” He worked as a paid consultant to Trump’s campaign for part of 2015 and has since advised him in an unofficial capacity.

He was banned from CNN, MSNBC, and even Fox News in 2016 because of his vitriolic rhetoric. However, all three networks have since welcomed him back as a guest. Stone also writes commentaries online and works for conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ Infowars network.

Nothing Stone says should be taken at face value. Even staunch right-wingers don’t trust Stone, calling him “a sleazeball” (Fox News host Mark Levin); “a little rat” (pro-Trump super PAC head Ed Rollins); and “one of the worst people in the world” (radio host Glenn Beck).

Stone’s career as a dirty trickster has come back to haunt him in the form of Mueller’s investigation.

Sources told CNBC that Stone “is apparently one of the top subjects of the Mueller investigation into potential collusion between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign.” ABC News recently reported that “at least seven people associated with” Stone have been contacted by “Mueller, according to interviews with witnesses and others who say they've been contacted.” Stone was also likely one of the unnamed people whose activities were mentioned in Mueller’s July 13 indictment of 12 Russian intelligence officers for election interference.

As he has on so many other topics, Stone has lied and contradicted himself regarding numerous matters related to Mueller’s Russia investigation. For instance:

Stone claimed that he "never had any contacts with any Russians in any way," then admitted he had a meeting with a Russian national about the campaign. (He also communicated with the Russian intelligence account Guccifer 2.0.)

Stone claimed that he "communicated with" WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange," then said he "never communicated with Assange."

Stone claimed that he "never communicated with WikiLeaks," but messages show he directly communicated with the organization.

Stone claimed this month that he wasn't in "regular contact" with the Trump campaign in 2016, but he had previously bragged about his 2016 discussions with the campaign.

Stone claimed that a subpoenaed associate “has not worked for" him "for three years,” but that associate worked for Stone at least in 2016 and 2017.

Stone started a legal defense fund for himself but "has contradicted himself on what he's paying for and how much he's projected to pay” in legal costs.


Continues: https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2018/ ... ons/220719
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Re: Roger Stone

Postby seemslikeadream » Thu Aug 02, 2018 5:54 pm

Roger Stone associate ordered to testify before grand jury in Mueller probe

A federal judge has ordered an associate of former Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone to testify before special counsel Robert Mueller’s grand jury.

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Chief Judge Beryl Howell rejected former Stone associate Andrew Miller’s attempt to challenge a subpoena for his testimony and documents in the probe.

CNN reported on the July 31 ruling, which shot down Miller’s argument that Mueller’s appointment as special counsel was unconstitutional.

"Multiple statutes authorize the Special Counsel's appointment, and the official who appointed the Special Counsel had power to do so,” Howell wrote in her decision to deny Miller’s request on the subpoenas.

She ordered Miller to testify "at the earliest date available to the grand jury, and to complete production of the subpoenaed records promptly."

One of Miller’s attorneys, Paul Kamenar, told CNN that they are “obviously disappointed” in the decision and exploring their options in appealing the ruling.

Miller is one of several Stone associates recently subpoenaed in Mueller’s probe.

Mueller’s recent indictment against Russian intelligence officers for the 2016 hacking of the Democratic National Committee appeared to reference Stone. Stone, who is not facing charges in the probe, said that he is “probably” the unnamed individual referenced in the document.

Stone also revealed in June that he had met with a Russian man during the 2016 campaign, who had offered dirt on Hillary Clinton in exchange for $2 million from then-candidate Donald Trump. Stone said he rejected the proposal.
http://thehill.com/policy/national-secu ... nd-jury-in
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Re: Roger Stone

Postby seemslikeadream » Wed Sep 05, 2018 4:39 pm

Two More People With Ties To Roger Stone Are Slated To Testify In The Mueller Investigation This Week
Conservative author Jerome Corsi has been subpoenaed, his lawyer confirmed Wednesday, although he said they're trying to arrange a private sit-down that could head off a grand jury appearance.


Zoe Tillman

Reporting From
Washington, DC
Posted on September 5, 2018, at 3:37 p.m. ET

Roger Stone
Special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation continues to circle around Trump ally Roger Stone — Jerome Corsi, a conservative author and conspiracy theorist with ties to Stone, was subpoenaed to testify this week, his lawyer said.

Corsi is prepared to appear Friday before the grand jury and cooperate with prosecutors, his lawyer David Gray told BuzzFeed News. But Gray said they're also trying to arrange a meeting with lawyers from Mueller's office on Thursday, which could make a grand jury appearance unnecessary.

Gray said he assumed special counsel lawyers wanted to ask Corsi about his communications with Stone — the two men know each other "personally and professionally," Gray said — but he did not know for certain. Corsi plans to bring a computer and cell phone and turn over his communications with Stone, Gray said. He declined to discuss the substance of those communications, but said Corsi hadn't done anything wrong.


"I can say there was no criminal wrongdoing by my client and he intends to be fully cooperative with the special counsel's office," Gray said.

The New York Times first reported that Corsi had been subpoenaed.

Friday is shaping up to be a busy day for the grand jury at the US District Court for the District of Columbia. The Wall Street Journal previously reported that Randy Credico, another former Stone associate, had been subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury on Friday. Martin Stolar, a lawyer for Credico, told BuzzFeed News that Credico is still set to appear.

"He'll answer whatever questions they ask him," Stolar said. "My guess is that they'll ask him a lot about Roger Stone. But I don't control the questioning.

Earlier this summer, the grand jury heard from Jason Sullivan, who worked as Stone's social media strategist during the 2016 campaign, and former "Manhattan Madam" Kristin Davis, who is friends with Stone. Davis told Fox News that she was asked about a tweet Stone published on Aug. 21, 2016, saying it would "soon" be Clinton campaign chair John Podesta's "time in the barrel."


Another Stone aide, Andrew Miller, was held in civil contempt last month after refusing to comply with a subpoena to testify before the grand jury. Miller is appealing that decision.

Stone has acknowledged speculation this summer about whether he could face criminal charges in Mueller's investigation — the Huffington Post reported that Stone launched a legal defense fund, and in a fundraising email sent last month, he wrote, "I’m next on the crooked special prosecutor’s hit list."

Stone has faced scrutiny over his ties to WikiLeaks during the 2016 campaign. The US intelligence community concluded in a January 2017 report that Russian intelligence used WikiLeaks, among other sources, to publish information stolen from Democratic National Committee networks. CNN reported that Stone had spoken on a number of occasions in 2016 about how WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange had emails related to Hillary Clinton's aides and the Clinton Foundation.

The DNC filed a lawsuit in April claiming there was a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russian government to interfere in the election, and Stone is one of the defendants named. At the time, Stone's lawyer Robert Buschel told BuzzFeed News in an email that Stone "did not conspire, collude, or do any action to subvert the electoral process." The case is pending.

Buschel did not immediately return a request for comment on Wednesday. Peter Carr, a spokesperson for Mueller's office, declined to comment.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/zo ... estigation


Mueller subpoenas Jerome Corsi, birther and ex-Alex Jones associate

A lawyer for the conspiracy theorist says he believes Corsi will be asked about his contacts with former Trump aide Roger Stone.

Sep.05.2018 / 1:47 PM ET
Jerome Corsi, a conspiracy theorist with links to both ex-Trump aide Roger Stone and Infowars host Alex Jones, has been subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., Friday as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe, his attorney says.


Jerome Corsi holds a copy of his book "Where's the Birth Certificate?" during a book signing at Book Expo America in New York on May 25, 2011.Charles Sykes / AP file
Corsi, who has written such books as "Where’s the Birth Certificate?" and "Killing the Deep State: The Fight to Save President Trump" will fully comply with the Mueller team’s subpoena, according to attorney David Gray.

The subpoena was first reported by the New York Times.

Gray told NBC News he expects his client will be questioned about his contacts and communications with Stone.

Questions have long swirled about Stone's possible interactions with WikiLeaks and hacker Guccifer 2.0 during the 2016 campaign, when both entities were releasing Democratic emails that had been hacked by Russian intelligence agents.

Stone has denied any wrongdoing, and says he had no advance knowledge of hacked emails.

Gray also says Corsi will bring his computer and cell phone to Washington as part of his effort to cooperate with the special counsel.


Corsi’s name first came up in the probe in March. As first reported by NBC News, Trump ally and Corsi associate Ted Malloch was detained at Boston’s Logan Airport and questioned by the FBI.

Malloch said federal agents questioned him about Stone, Corsi and WikiLeaks. Malloch said he told them he met Stone a total of three times and always with groups of people, and that Corsi had helped edit one of his books years ago.

A spokesperson for the special counsel’s office declined to comment.

Corsi became the D.C. bureau chief for Infowars in 2017, but no longer works there. Prior to the 2016 presidential election he was a source for Trump's incorrect claims that Barack Obama was not born in the U.S.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-cour ... te-n906756




ROGER STONE’S EXCUSE FOR HIS “PODESTA TIME IN A BARREL” COMMENT IS EVEN STUPIDER GIVEN THE PAUL MANAFORT PROSECUTION

September 5, 2018/0 Comments/in 2016 Presidential Election, Mueller Probe /by emptywheel
In addition to Randy Credico, Jerome Corsi will testify before the Mueller grand jury on Friday. That means that the grand jury will hear testimony from two people who can address the truth of two claims Roger Stone made before the House Intelligence Committee on September 26, 2017.

First, there’s Stone’s claim he learned about WikiLeaks’ plans to release the John Podesta emails in October via Credico.

Now, let me address the charge that I had advance knowledge of the timing, content and source of the WikiLeaks disclosures from the DNC. On June 12, 2016, WikiLeaks’ publisher Julian Assange, announced that he was in possession of Clinton DNC emails. I learned this by reading it on Twitter. I asked a journalist who I knew had interviewed Assange to independently confirm this report, and he subsequently did. This journalist assured me that WikiLeaks would release this information in October and continued to assure me of this throughout the balance of August and all of September. This information proved to be correct. I have referred publicly to this journalist as an, “intermediary”, “go-between” and “mutual friend.” All of these monikers are equally true.


Then, there’s Stone’s claim (first made publicly by Corsi the previous March) that his tweet predicting John Podesta would soon catch political heat pertained to a project he and Corsi were working on at the time.

My Tweet of August 21, 2016, in which I said, “Trust me, it will soon be the Podesta’s time in the barrel. #CrookedHillary” Must be examined in context. I posted this at a time that my boyhood friend and colleague, Paul Manafort, had just resigned from the Trump campaign over allegations regarding his business activities in Ukraine. I thought it manifestly unfair that John Podesta not be held to the same standard. Note, that my Tweet of August 21, 2016, makes no mention, whatsoever, of Mr. Podesta’s email, but does accurately predict that the Podesta brothers’ business activities in Russia with the oligarchs around Putin, their uranium deal, their bank deal, and their Gazprom deal, would come under public scrutiny. Podesta’s activities were later reported by media outlets as diverse as the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg. My extensive knowledge of the Podesta brothers’ business dealings in Russia was based on The Panama Papers, which were released in early 2016, which revealed that the Podesta brothers had extensive business dealings in Russia. The Tweet is also based on a comprehensive, early August opposition research briefing provided to me by investigative journalist, Dr. Jerome Corsi, which I then asked him to memorialize in a memo that he sent me on August 31st , all of which was culled from public records. There was no need to have John Podesta’s email to learn that he and his presidential candidate were in bed with the clique around Putin.


I noted at the time that that Corsi’s explanation didn’t make any sense, because while the July 31 report did pertain to John Podesta, his August 31 report focused exclusively on Tony (Corsi has deleted the document from the post, and I’m looking for a copy of it; note the conflation of Tony for John got repeated in Craig Murray’s explanations for the WikiLeaks go-between he met in September).

But the explanation is even less credible given what has happened since: Paul Manafort, whose plight the Corsi report was explicitly a response to, got indicted in part because he told Tony Podesta to hide his ties to Russian-backed Ukrainian politicians.

That detail is important of a number of reasons. First, because it makes it entirely unlikely that Stone (who was meeting with Rick Gates during this period, if not boyhood friend Manafort himself) learned of Podesta’s ties via Panama Papers and not from Manafort himself. But it also provides a reason why Corsi and Stone would be focusing on Tony at the time — to draw attention away from Manafort, and with it, the corruption that Manafort implicated the Trump Administration in. Indeed, the Manafort EDVA court record shows that Gates and Manafort were using a range of financial and political means of doing that at precisely that time.

It’s clear, given what we’ve learned as part of the Manafort prosecutions, that the effort to impugn Tony Podesta had everything (as Stone partly tells truthfully) with the plight of Manafort at the time.

Which is to say, it didn’t have anything to do with John.

On top of everything else. Mueller appears to be finishing up false statements charges against Stone.

https://www.emptywheel.net/2018/09/05/r ... osecution/


In Roger Stone's statement to House Intelligence Committee Sept 2017 - he claimed his Aug 21, 2016 tweet about Podesta's 'time in the barrel' was based in part on oppo info on Podesta Jerome Corsi shared with him in Aug & later put in an 8/31/16 memo
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Re: Roger Stone

Postby seemslikeadream » Fri Sep 07, 2018 9:12 am

Jerome Corsi, the conservative author with ties to Roger Stone who was subpoenaed by Mueller's office to testify before the grand jury today, will *not* be making an appearance, his lawyer says. No further comment.

CNN’s Shimon Pro reporting Jerom Corsi was interviewed yesterday by Mueller’s team.



The grand jury will still have something to do this morning -- Randy Credico, another witness in Roger Stone's orbit, just arrived at the courthouse with his dog Bianca
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Re: Roger Stone

Postby seemslikeadream » Sun Sep 09, 2018 9:50 am

Roger Stone asks for donations to his legal defense fund and seeks to expand legal team as Mueller closes in on him

Longtime Donald Trump associate Roger Stone arrives to testify before the House Intelligence Committee, on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2017, in Washington.

The longtime GOP strategist Roger Stone is seeking donations to his legal defense fund as the special counsel Robert Mueller zeroes in on him.
Stone sent a photo to Business Insider early Saturday that appeared to be a play on Nike's recent ad campaign featuring NFL player Colin Kaepernick. The photo featured a link to Stone's new legal defense fund.
Stone, who is an informal adviser to President Donald Trump, also recently told Business Insider that he is looking to expand his legal team as the Russia probe heats up and will announce the new additions shortly.
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The longtime GOP strategist Roger Stone is asking for donations to his legal defense fund as the special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation heats up.

Early Saturday, he sent a photo to Business Insider that appears to be a play on Nike's recent ad campaign featuring NFL player Colin Kaepernick.

"Believe in something. Even if it means Mueller will frame you," said a caption overlaying a black and white photo of Stone. Another caption at the bottom of the photo read, "Just do it," and featured a link to Stone's new legal defense fund.

Stone sent this meme to Business Insider in a text message.
Roger Stone
Stone has been in Mueller's crosshairs since the early stages of the Russia investigation, which is probing Russia's interference in the 2016 election and whether members of President Donald Trump's campaign colluded with Moscow to tilt the race in his favor.

Stone is currently represented by two lawyers in Florida, but he recently told Business Insider that he is looking to expand his legal team as Mueller closes in on him. He added that he will announce the new additions shortly.

The special counsel has called over half a dozen of Stone's associates to testify in the Russia probe so far.

Most recently, the radio host Randy Credico testified before a grand jury in Washington, DC, on Friday. The far-right political commentator Jerome Corsi, one of Stone's close friends, was also subpoenaed to testify in connection to the investigation, but his lawyer said Friday that Corsi would not appear before the grand jury.

Mueller's focus on the two men, as well as other Stone associates, indicates that he is homing in on links between Stone and the radical pro-transparency group WikiLeaks.

WikiLeaks published thousands of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign at the height of the 2016 election. The US intelligence community believes the breaches and subsequent dissemination of emails were carried out on the Kremlin's orders.

When prosecutors indicted 12 Russian intelligence officers in July on conspiracy and hacking charges, they referenced WikiLeaks — though not by name — as the Russians' conduit to release stolen documents via the hacker Guccifer 2.0, who is believed to be a front for Russian military intelligence.

Stone is known to have been in direct communication with WikiLeaks and Guccifer 2.0 during the election.

He also said he has communicated indirectly with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in the past through Credico. Credico denies the claim, and he said following his grand jury appearance Friday that prosecutors had demonstrated interest in Stone's statement.

When he was an informal adviser to Trump during the campaign, Stone sent out several tweets in the summer of 2016 that raised questions about whether he had prior knowledge of WikiLeaks' plans to publish the hacked emails.

In one tweet that drew increased scrutiny, Stone wrote on August 21, 2016, "Trust me, it will soon [be] Podesta's time in the barrel," an apparent reference to Clinton campaign manager John Podesta.

WikiLeaks published a batch of hacked emails from Podesta's account days later.

Stone denies knowing about the document dump in advance.
https://www.thisisinsider.com/roger-sto ... sia-2018-9
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Re: Roger Stone

Postby seemslikeadream » Mon Sep 10, 2018 11:09 am

Roger Stone Calls On Trump To Fire ‘Insubordinate Hillbilly’ Jeff Sessions

Southern shade from Trump’s circle.

Mary Papenfuss
President Donald Trump’s unfiltered friend and informal adviser Roger Stone called on him Saturday to fire “insubordinate hillbilly” Attorney General Jeff Sessions and send the former Republican senator “back to Alabama.”

Stone, speaking at the right-wing “Mother of All Rallies” in Washington, also said Trump should axe Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and special counsel Robert Mueller.

The “hillbilly” reference could exacerbate potential political problems for Trump in the South. Bob Woodward’s new book, “Fear: Trump In The White House,” claims the president has mocked Sessions’ southern accent, called him a “dumb southerner,” and derided him as “mentally retarded.”

The White House has denied Woodward’s claims.

Still, evidence is mounting that Southerners are a target of Trump’s barbs. An editor for the New York Post’s Page Six told The New York Times last week that several years ago Trump referred to the Georgia family of his ex-wife Marla Maples as “dumb southerners.”

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Trump even spoke in a fake southern accent to mock Maples’ mother, editor Jeane MacIntosh said. And, she said, Trump compared Maples’ relatives to the family of rubes featured in the 1960s TV sitcom “The Beverly Hillbillies.”

Without expressly criticizing Trump, a few southern Republican senators rose to the defense of their region in the wake of the Woodward revelations.

“We’re a pretty smart bunch. ... I’m not gonna get into name calling because I don’t think you should be allowed to call names — including the president,” Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia told The Washington Post.

Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama took note of the political importance of the South in his comments to the Post.

“I guess the president... says what he thinks,” Shelby said, adding that he would “hope” the president has “a lot of respect for the South.”

“Without the South, he wouldn’t be the president of the United States,” Shelby said.

Trump carried every southern state except Virginia in winning the White House in 2016.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ro ... 7b0040802e
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Re: Roger Stone

Postby seemslikeadream » Tue Sep 25, 2018 9:34 am

Daniel Schulman

Verified account

@DanielSchulman
11m11 minutes ago

SCOOP: Randy Credico, who Roger Stone claims was his backchannel to WikiLeaks, says Stone offered to assist him with his legal expenses. “He wanted me to be quiet. He wanted me to go along with his narrative.” https://bit.ly/2DsJFkh

Image


Roger Stone Offered to Assist His Alleged WikiLeaks Source With Legal Expenses

“He wanted me to be quiet,” says Randy Credico.

Dan FriedmanSeptember 25, 2018 9:11 AM

Roger Stone arrives to speak with the House Intelligence Committee on September 26, 2017.Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via Zuma

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Last year, as investigators examined claims by longtime Donald Trump adviser Roger Stone that he was in contact during the 2016 election with WikiLeaks, Stone asserted that he had only learned about the group’s plans through an intermediary: Randy Credico, a comedian and political activist. Credico has denied being Stone’s go-between. And now he tells Mother Jones that Stone offered to help him pay his legal fees in what Credico believed was an effort to stop him from contradicting Stone’s account of their interactions during the 2016 campaign.

“He knew that I was upset,” Credico says. “He wanted me to be quiet. He wanted me to go along with his narrative. He didn’t want me talking to the press and saying what I was saying.”

Stone, a Republican operative who cut his teeth working for Richard Nixon’s presidential campaign, and Credico, a standup comic long involved in left-wing causes, met in 2002 through their mutual work on drug legalization efforts and formed an unlikely friendship. They are now embroiled in a bitter conflict ignited by the Russia investigations undertaken by Congress and by special counsel Robert Mueller.

“He knew that I was upset,” Credico says. “He wanted me to be quiet. He wanted me to go along with his narrative. He didn’t want me talking to the press and saying what I was saying.”
Stone does not dispute that he offered to assist Credico, including by helping him to find work. But he says he did so only because he believed that, by identifying Credico, he had cost him his job as a radio host at New York’s WBAI.

“Any effort on my part to find work for Randy (something I have done over the years) was based on the fact that my decision to ultimately reveal his name to the House Intelligence Committee…would result in his termination at WBAI,” Stone writes in an email. “It did.” (Credico left WBAI in 2017, but he says that had nothing to do with Stone.) Stone says he always urged Credico to tell the truth, and he alleges that his erstwhile pal is lying about their interactions.

Stone has been a key figure in the Russia scandal from the outset. During the 2016 campaign, he appeared on multiple occasions to accurately predict WikiLeaks’ plans to release hacked emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta. In August 2016, Stone claimed he had communicated with WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange. But in 2017, as investigators probed whether Trump associates had played a role in Russia’s plot to subvert the election, Stone changed his story. Last October, Stone told the House Intelligence Committee that Credico had served as his contact with WikiLeaks. That is: Stone claimed all he knew about the group’s plans, beyond what it said publicly, came from Credico.

Credico does have connections to WikiLeaks. He is a friend of lawyer Margaret Kunstler, who represents the group, and during the election he interviewed Assange on his WBAI radio show. But Credico disputes that he acted as Stone’s WikiLeaks interlocutor. He claims that Stone misled the House panel when he named him as his source for inside info on when WikiLeaks’ would unleash its trove of hacked documents.

In late November 2017, after Stone disclosed Credico’s identity, the House Intelligence Committee subpoenaed Credico to testify before the panel. Credico says he subsequently complained to Stone about the legal expenses he would incur from getting dragged into the Russia investigation; Stone, he claims, offered to help him defray those costs—and urged him not to challenge his claim that Credico was a back channel.

“He said, ‘Hey, look. I can’t put it together myself, but I have friends that will contribute to a defense fund,’” Credico says. He notes the timing of Stone’s offer left him with the impression that it was contingent on Credico not disputing his version of events. “He certainly did not want me to contradict him,” Credico adds.

Credico says he ignored Stone’s overtures: “I did not take him up on the offer. I never set up a defense fund.”

Credico ultimately asserted his Fifth Amendment rights, and the panel excused him from testifying. But he still faced potential scrutiny from Mueller and other investigators. In March, he complained to Stone of financial troubles, saying that his reputed role as Stone’s WikiLeaks source had caused him to lose a possible job working for Bill Samuels, a businessman who last year mulled a liberal challenge to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. “You cost me whatever relationship I had with Bill Samuels[.] I have not heard from him in a month,” Credico wrote in a March 10, 2018, email to Stone.

A few hours later, Stone responded with a message that said in part, “didn’t know Samuels let u go….u should have said something if u needed work.”

The next day Stone followed up: “I have woman friend running for Gov of Fla as a PRO-POT legalization Democrat– looking for campaign help”

“Has money and a good shot at DEM nomination– a better shot than Bill Samuels”

“I also need some new liners for my show the war room,” Stone added. That is an apparent reference to Stone’s history of paying Credico occasionally for jokes and other work.


Nothing came of the Florida offer. But Credico in subsequent weeks made media appearances and public statements in which he attacked Stone’s honesty. Stone responded in his own appearance on a CBS affiliate in Miami. He said Credico was “not telling truth.” Stone suggested that Credico was hiding the fact that he had given Stone information he obtained from a female WikiLeaks lawyer—an apparent reference to Kunstler—who was “talking out of school” about Assange’s plans. In an email to Stone the same day, Credico said Stone’s comments “crossed a line,” adding that he believed Stone had lied to the House Intelligence Committee.

“You got nothing,” Stone responded. “You did everything I said you did.” And he asked: “Did you really think you could shit all over me on MSNBC and I would do nothing[?]”

The following day, Stone sent Credico a message that included the line “Prepare to die cock sucker.” Credico regarded that statement as a threat. Stone claims it was a reference to Credico having told him he had terminal prostate cancer. Credico says he doesn’t have prostate cancer.

Earlier this month, Credico appeared before a grand jury convened by Mueller. He says he wasn’t questioned about financial offers from Stone. During a CNN appearance following his grand jury appearance, Credico said he had testified that he was “not a back channel” to Assange. Credico is one of at least eight Stone associates who have been questioned by Mueller’s office, an indication that the special counsel is zeroing in on Stone.

Citing the CNN interview, Stone says via email, “The preponderance of evidence indicates that Credico perjured himself before the grand jury.”

Stone’s lawyer, Grant Smith, says his client’s offers to help Credico were made out of sympathy and had nothing to do with influencing Credico’s testimony or public remarks. “When Roger appeared before the House Intelligence Committee, he was very concerned that the disclosure of his friend Randy Credico as his connection to Julian Assange would have negative impacts on Randy’s livelihood simply by just being publicly associated with Roger,” Smith says in an email. “Roger’s concerns became reality when after Randy was named, Randy’s income waned. Roger felt sympathy for Credico after Roger had to disclose his name to Congress in response to a demand by the Committee. In the period of time after that, Roger looked for ways to help his friend. Roger has done nothing but consistently reminded Randy to tell the truth.”
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/20 ... -expenses/
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Re: Roger Stone

Postby seemslikeadream » Tue Oct 02, 2018 7:40 pm

Roger Stone built a 'dirty trickster' image. Now Robert Mueller might build a case on it.
By Sara Murray, CNN
Updated 6:43 PM EDT, Tue October 02, 2018

Roger Stone and Robert Mueller
Washington (CNN) Special counsel Robert Mueller's team is combing through Roger Stone's track record as a self-proclaimed "dirty trickster" amid its investigation into whether Stone was involved in Russian efforts to steal and disseminate damaging information about Democrats ahead of the 2016 election.

The questions about Stone's past reveal how prosecutors are trying to establish a pattern of whether Stone has toed -- or even crossed -- the line in his prior political work. The lines of inquiry also raise the possibility that investigators could be readying charges against Stone for crimes unrelated to the Russian hacking.

"Roger has carefully crafted his public image and sometimes that, I think, doesn't work in his favor," said Kristin Davis, a Stone friend who has worked on and off with him for 10 years and recently testified before the grand jury. "He's a victim of his own reputation."


Stone, who says he hasn't been contacted by Mueller's team, has been blunt about the prospect of facing charges.

Senate Intelligence Committee subpoenas Randy Credico, who Roger Stone claims was Wikileaks' back channel
Senate Intelligence Committee subpoenas Randy Credico, who Roger Stone claims was Wikileaks' back channel
"It is entirely likely that Mueller is squeezing some of my current or former associates to tell lies about me," Stone said in an interview with The Influential newsletter. "By the same token, Mueller may seek to bring some bogus charge against me to induce me to testify against the President. I am not saying I have any negative information against the President - I'm saying I won't be pressured into making s--- up. This I will not do."

Investigators have been circling Stone, one of President Donald Trump's longtime political advisers, interviewing a number of his associates and compiling voluminous evidence for a case related to him.

Witnesses have been presented with records of Stone's emails and text messages during their interviews with investigators, according to sources familiar with the investigation, even though Stone himself has not provided those materials to Mueller's team or congressional committees.

People familiar with the situation said investigators have primarily focused on Stone's activities in 2016, when he traded messages with the hacker Guccifer 2.0 and publicly boasted about his communications with WikiLeaks.

Roger Stone associate's grand jury appearance postponed
Roger Stone associate's grand jury appearance postponed
But witnesses have also been pressed about whether Stone has lived up to the dirty trickster public persona he has enthusiastically embraced for decades over the course of his political career.

In a statement to CNN, Stone said, "I have always acknowledged playing hard ball politics but have also said in my books and in the Netflix documentary that my campaign tactics do not include breaking the law. This would not be the first time the Special Counsel has willfully misled the grand jury."

A spokesperson for the special counsel declined to comment.

Davis, famously known as the "Manhattan Madam" for her former role as the head of a prostitution ring, said she was questioned about the win-at-all-costs image Stone conveys in his book, "Stone's Rules: How to Win at Politics, Business, and Style," and the 2017 documentary about him, "Get Me Roger Stone."

"I think they were framing things in a way to present Roger Stone as a villain to the jury," Davis said in a recent interview around the opening of "Bombshell Beauty Lab," her East Harlem nail salon. "He is known as a dirty trickster, and these things can be used against you in terms of your character."

Despite Stone's public image, Davis said she doesn't believe he would engage in illegal activity like colluding with Russians.

"Win at all costs does not mean win with the intent of harming our democracy and hurting an entire nation," Davis said.

The pot-farming, house-painting Roger Stone aide who's resisting Robert Mueller
The pot-farming, house-painting Roger Stone aide who's resisting Robert Mueller

Davis is just one of nearly a dozen of Stone's associates who have been contacted by Mueller's team. The roster includes a number of aides who worked with Stone on previous political campaigns, including Davis; Andrew Miller, who is currently fighting a subpoena for his testimony; New York political activist and comedian Randy Credico and Michael Caputo, a longtime associate of Stone's.

Stone -- who has a likeness of President Richard Nixon immortalized in a tattoo on his back -- has a decades-long history of embracing his image as a political guru who relishes the dark underbelly of politics.

He got his start as a low-level aide on Nixon's 1972 presidential campaign doing surrogate scheduling and other assorted tasks.

"By night, I'm trafficking in the black arts. Nixon's people were obsessed with intelligence," Stone said, describing his Nixon campaign experience in a 2007 interview with The Weekly Standard.

In profiles, he's fond of recounting the mock election he claims to have helped rig when he was in the first grade. At the time, Stone preferred John F. Kennedy over Nixon, in part because "Kennedy's hair was so much better," Stone recalled in the 2017 documentary about him. So, as Stone's tale goes, he told his classmates that Nixon would force the children to attend school on Saturdays. Kennedy won the mock election.

"For the first time ever, I understood the value of disinformation. Of course, I've never practiced it since then," Stone quipped in the documentary

Roger Stone ally: Mueller has 'concern' about Stone's 2016 predictions

In the 1980s, Stone turned his political savvy into a lucrative career by launching a Washington lobbying shop with fellow political strategists Charlie Black and Paul Manafort. After Stone sold his business in the 1990s, he pitched in on a wide variety of political efforts.

He doled out advice to the Rev. Al Sharpton on his 2004 Democratic presidential bid, which, in Stone's own retelling, was viewed as an effort to divide Democrats.

In 2007, he served as a political consultant to then-New York Senate Republican Majority Leader Joseph Bruno. But Stone was forced to resign amid allegations that Stone threatened Democratic Gov. Eliot Spitzer's father in a phone message. Stone denied leaving the message.

In 2010, Stone worked as Davis' campaign manager as she ran for New York governor as a libertarian candidate on a platform of legalizing prostitution and marijuana.


The Trump lawyers you don't see are the ones driving dealings with Robert Mueller

Another gubernatorial candidate, Warren Redlich, sued Stone for defamation as a result of that race. Redlich claimed Stone was behind a campaign mailer labeling Redlich a "sick twisted pervert" and a "predator." Stone won the case in court after the jury determined there wasn't sufficient evidence to prove Stone's involvement.

When Trump launched his presidential bid in 2015, Stone served briefly as a political adviser before being fired or quitting, depending on whether you believe Stone's account or Trump's.

Still, he and Trump stayed in touch and Stone was one of the people who recommended that Trump hire Manafort to help out on his presidential campaign.

Manafort, who eventually became Trump's campaign chairman, pleaded guilty in September to conspiracy against the US and conspiracy to obstruct justice. His crimes were related to his business dealings not his campaign work, but Manafort has agreed to cooperate with Mueller's probe. Manafort was separately convicted of eight crimes by a Virginia federal jury in August.

As for Stone, he has repeatedly insisted he is innocent of any claims of collusion.

"Where, by the way, is their proof of Russian collusion, WikiLeaks collaboration or advance knowledge of the acquisition and publication of (Hillary Clinton Campaign Chairman John) Podesta's email? That would be none," Stone said.

"Perhaps they are confusing me with the character I sometimes play, Roger Stone," he added.

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/10/02/poli ... ssion=true



Key witness against Roger Stone pleads the Fifth – and it may not be what it seems
Bill Palmer | 9:09 am EDT October 3, 2018

Roger Stone’s former friend and current nemesis Randy Credico has announced that he’s invoking the Fifth Amendment in order to avoid having to immediately cooperate with the Senate Intelligence Committee’s investigation into the Trump-Russia scandal. This is a rather curious development, considering that Credico recently showed up and provided hours of testimony to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Trump-Russia grand jury. So what’s going on here?

First, it’s important to point out that invoking the Fifth Amendment is not legally considered an indicator of guilt. For instance, if you’re innocent but you fear you’re going to be framed, you might plead the Fifth in order to avoid having to facilitate what you consider to be a frame job against you. But Randy Credico isn’t even known to be facing any criminal liability in the scandal. And considering Randy Credico just finished testifying about Roger Stone and Trump-Russia to a grand jury, his refusal to testify before the Senate would seem to be about something else.

So let’s stop and ask why Credico would be willing to testify for Robert Mueller but not for the Senate Intel Committee. If we were talking about the Trump-controlled House Intel Committee, which has been actively trying to protect Trump’s allies and destroy everyone else, Credico’s reasons for avoiding it would be obvious. But by all accounts, the Senate Intel Committee is closely aligned with Mueller and has been working with him all along. So what gives?

The last time we saw a Trump-Russia witness plead the Fifth in order to avoid testifying before the Senate Intel Committee, he ended up cutting a plea deal with Robert Mueller a few months later. But unlike Flynn, Randy Credico is already cooperating with Mueller with his grand jury testimony. And again, unlike Flynn, there is no reason to expect that Credico is in danger of facing criminal charges.

That said, Robert Mueller is on the verge of indicting and arresting Roger Stone, and the last thing Mueller would want is one of his key grand jury witnesses blabbing about the case to the Senate right now. Considering the timing, you have to wonder if Randy Credico has decided – perhaps even at the urging of Mueller – to simply stall the Senate for the sake of protecting the impending indictment. The bottom line is that there is something unusual going on here, but only Credico knows why he’s chosen to cooperate with Mueller while blowing off the Senate.
https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/p ... ess/13197/
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They could still get him out of office.
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Re: Roger Stone

Postby seemslikeadream » Fri Oct 05, 2018 12:06 pm

Special counsel's office has radio interviews between Roger Stone and alleged WikiLeaks 'back channel'

Stone associate testifies before grand jury
(CNN)Audio of radio interviews between longtime Trump ally Roger Stone and the radio host he claimed was his back channel to WikiLeaks recently came into possession of special counsel Robert Mueller's office, two sources with knowledge of the matter tell CNN.

The interviews between Stone and comedian Randy Credico took place between August 2016 and April 2017 on Credico's radio show, which aired on local New York station WBAI. Stone has claimed that Credico served as his intermediary to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange during the 2016 presidential election. Credico has denied the claim.

The special counsel's office is currently investigating Stone's possible involvement in Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 election and questions about the nature of his supposed back channel to WikiLeaks.

CNN's KFile has obtained audio of the interviews, in which Stone and Credico repeatedly discuss WikiLeaks. In the interviews, you hear Credico ask Stone about the back channel and also cast doubt that the back channel exists.

While the interviews do not rule out the possibility Credico served as the back channel, the former radio host told CNN he believes the content of the interviews back up his denials.

"What you heard is what you heard because the radio doesn't lie," Credico told CNN.

Credico is a progressive activist in New York and outspoken supporter of Assange and WikiLeaks.

Roger Stone built a 'dirty trickster' image. Now Robert Mueller might build a case on it.
The news that the radio interviews are in the hands of the special counsel's office shows that Mueller's team still appears to be examining Stone's potential involvement with WikiLeaks, which released hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman during the 2016 presidential election.

The special counsel's office declined to comment.

Stone claimed during the election that he had communicated with Assange through a "back channel," "intermediary" or "mutual acquaintance." Stone has issued conflicting and often inaccurate statements on his knowledge about the timing and content of WikiLeaks disclosures. He's also offered conflicting information in public comments about his source's relationship to Assange, repeatedly commenting in 2016 his source spoke with Assange. In his November 2017 Facebook post outing Credico, Stone said that Credico never confirmed WikiLeaks information with Assange himself and instead had different WikiLeaks sources.
Credico testified before the Mueller grand jury in September. He was subpoenaed to appear before the Senate's Russia investigation, but he has said he will assert his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and would only testify it the panel offered immunity.
Stone did not respond to repeated emails seeking comments and hung up when called by CNN's KFile team prior to publication. In an email sent two days after the story published, Stone said, "Your story is a false, misleading and inaccurate smear. A hatchet job."

Stone and Credico first discussed WikiLeaks publicly on August 23, 2016, where Credico asked Stone about his claims to be in touch with Assange.

"What about the October surprise? I mean, you've been in touch and indirectly with Julian Assange. Can you give us any kind of insight? Is there an October surprise happening?" Credico asked Stone.

"Well, first of all, I don't want to intimate in anyway that I control or have influence with the Assange because I do not," Stone said, adding he expects information to be released on the Clinton Foundation. "We have a mutual friend, somebody we both trust and therefore I am a recipient of pretty good information."

Assange appeared on Credico's program two days later on August 25. The host asked him about Stone's claim, and Assange denied he ever spoke with him.

"Roger Stone is a rather canny spinmaster and we have not had any communications with him whatsoever," Assange told Credico.

Credico at the time told local New York radio he did not believe Stone had a back channel
"I can tell you, Roger has no connection at all with them, other than the fact that he may say it off the top of his head," Credico said on September 30, 2016. "But you know him, he's a lot of braggadocio and this is an outrage that this guy would you -- because he could use it against me. I'm in London. I've had him on my radio show, am I an agent now?"

In March 2017, Stone again appeared on Credico's program. Stone had started to come under increased scrutiny for his comments suggesting a knowledge about the dates of WikiLeaks disclosure. In that interview, Credico again raises the topic of the "back channel." At no point is Credico mentioned as this conduit.

"You say you had a back channel to WikiLeaks," Credico asks Stone.

"I've been completely honest about this. I described it various ways on the record in a speech to a large number of Trump supporters," Stone says. "I described it as a back channel. I think in another interview I may have said intermediary. In the third interview I said a mutual friend. They are all true. They're all consistent and what I learned from this person, and don't blame me if I had better sources than the mainstream media was very simply this, that Assange had a substantial of information on Hillary Clinton and he would drop it in October."

Earlier in the same show, before speaking with Stone, Credico again said he did not know who the Stone back channel was. He questioned if Stone had a back channel at all.

"I don't know who the back channel is," Credico said. "I don't think there is a back channel."

In April, a month later, Stone again appeared on Credico's program. Stone was asked about the House Intelligence Committee's investigation. Stone denied knowing the details of the WikiLeaks content to be released, taking aim at Democratic House Intelligence Committee ranking member Adam Schiff, who had zeroed in on Stone's statements on WikiLeaks.
"He claimed that I knew in advance about the scope and timing and content of Wikileaks disclosures in October of last year," Stone said. "You know, WikiLeaks themselves, Randy, tweeted on July 31 of last year that they had enormous amount of material and Hillary Clinton and they would release it in October. So I'm not sure what the big state secret was here."

Update: This story has been updated with Stone's post-publication comment.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/03/politics ... %3A33%3A38
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They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
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