Tag: Wikileaks

Roger Stone wanted WikiLeaks dump to distract from ‘Access Hollywood’ tape, Mueller witness says

© picture-alliance/Zuma/D. Christian

The revelation in The Washington Post of a tape of Donald Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women landed just after 4 p.m. on Oct. 7, 2016.

Less than an hour later, WikiLeaks, an anti-secrecy organization founded by Julian Assange, began releasing hacked emails from the account of John Podesta, the chairman of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.

The striking simultaneity fulfilled the hope of Trump confidant Roger Stone, according to Jerome Corsi, a conservative author and former Stone associate who was subpoenaed over the summer for questioning by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.

View the complete January 29 article by Isaac Stanley-Becker on The Washington Post website here.

Ex-White House ethics lawyer: Stone indictment ‘direct evidence of collusion’

© picture-alliance/Zuma/D. Christian

The indictment of Trump adviser Roger Stone provides evidence of collusion between high-ranking Trump campaign officials and WikiLeaks and is dangerous for the US, President George W. Bush’s chief ethics lawyer told DW.

DW: Why is the indictment and arrest of longtime Donald Trump adviser Roger Stone so significant?

Richard Painter: This is direct evidence of collusion between high-ranking officials in the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks to obtain documents stolen by the Russians in the 2016 election. There is other evidence, of course, of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians. So this clearly closes the loop and makes clear that the Trump campaign was colluding with the Russians, with WikiLeaks to obtain damaging emails that have been stolen from Hillary Clinton and the DNC.

While President Trump is not directly implicated in this new indictment, do you think he could be in the future?

Absolutely yes, the president and high-ranking officials in the campaign, including perhaps even, or probably, Jared Kushner and Donald Trump Jr, who were in the Trump Tower meeting with the Russians to talk about incriminating dirt on Hillary that they wanted to get. So this is all starting to come together. This is a very bad situation for President Trump.

View the complete January 26 article on the Deutche Welle website here.

Trump and His Associates Had More Than 100 Contacts With Russians Before the Inauguration

During the 2016 presidential campaign and transition, Donald J. Trump and at least 17 campaign officials and advisers had contacts with Russian nationals and WikiLeaks, or their intermediaries, a New York Times analysis has found. At least 10 other associates were told about interactions but did not have any themselves.

Knowledge of these interactions is based on New York Times reporting, documents submitted to Congress, and court records and accusations related to the special counsel investigating foreign interference in the election.

Among these contacts are more than 100 in-person meetings, phone calls, text messages, emails and private messages on Twitter. Mr. Trump and his campaign repeatedly denied having such contacts with Russians during the 2016 election.

View the complete January 26 article with interactive graphic  by Karen Yourish and Larry Buchanan on The New York Times website here.

4 takeaways from the Roger Stone indictment

The Fix’s Aaron Blake analyzes Roger Stone’s indictment and what it means for special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s Russia probe. (JM Rieger/The Washington Post)

The big one: Repeated references to Trump campaign contacts about WikiLeaks — and a possible reference to Trump?

The indictment we — including the indicted party — have been expecting for months has finally come. Roger Stone, President Trump’s longest-serving political adviser, has been charged with lying to investigators.

The alleged lies pertain to his efforts to secure information from WikiLeaks about its release of Democrats’ emails during the 2016 campaign. Here are four key sections and takeaways.

[Document: Read the indictment against Roger Stone]

1. An abundance of contradiction

There’s really not a lot of ambiguity when it comes to Stone’s alleged lies. At one point, the indictment includes two exchanges in which Stone denies ever communicating with his WikiLeaks intermediary via text or email.

View the complete January 25 article by Aaron Blake on The Washington Post website here.

Democrats say Roger Stone indictment shows tightening noose around Trump

Roger Stone Credit: Andrew Harnik, AP

Trump campaign associate accused of seeking stolen DNC emails at direction of a ‘senior Trump Campaign official’

House Democrats cranked up the heat on President Donald Trump on Friday after the indictment of Trump campaign associate Roger Stone, alluding in tweets to possible future impeachment proceedings against Trump and referencing the Watergate scandal that led to the downfall of President Richard Nixon.

“Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen, Rick Gates, Michael Flynn… What did the President know and when did he know it?” House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler tweeted, quoting then-Sen. Howard Baker, the Republican ranking member of the Senate Watergate Committee who had previously promised Nixon he would be his “friend” but later turned on the president.

Stone was indicted Thursday and arrested early Friday on charges that he sought stolen emails at the direction of a “senior Trump Campaign official” to damage opponent Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

View the complete January 25 article by Griffin Connolly on The Roll Call website here.

Roger Stone indicted in Mueller probe

Roger Stone, the politically connected maverick who worked as an informal adviser to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, has been indicted as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe.

Stone has been indicted on seven counts in connection with Mueller’s investigation: one count of obstruction of an official proceeding, five counts of false statements, and one count of witness tampering.

Stone was arrested in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., the special counsel’s office said in a statement early Friday. The indictment was filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., on Thursday and unsealed upon arrest on Friday.

View the complete January 25 article by Morgan Chalfant, Jacqueline Thomsen and Olivia Beavers on The Hill website here.

DNC on Roger Stone Arrest and Indictment

DNC Chair Tom Perez released the following statement after longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone was arrested and charged with obstruction, witness tampering, and giving false statements:

“The Trump campaign was a willing and active participant in a conspiracy with Russia and WikiLeaks to influence the 2016 election. There are more conspirators yet to be held accountable – and at least one of them is named Donald Trump.”

Julian Assange has been charged, prosecutors reveal inadvertently in court filing

Prosecutors inadvertently revealed that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been charged under seal, according to a recently unsealed court filing. (Drea Cornejo /The Washington Post)

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been charged under seal, prosecutors inadvertently revealed in a recently unsealed court filing — a development that could significantly advance the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election and have major implications for those who publish government secrets.

The disclosure came in a filing in a case unrelated to Assange. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kellen S. Dwyer, urging a judge to keep the matter sealed, wrote that “due to the sophistication of the defendant and the publicity surrounding the case, no other procedure is likely to keep confidential the fact that Assange has been charged.” Later, Dwyer wrote the charges would “need to remain sealed until Assange is arrested.”

Dwyer is also assigned to the WikiLeaks case. People familiar with the matter said what Dwyer was disclosing was true, but unintentional.

View the complete November 15 article by Matt Zapotosky and Devlin Barret on The Washington Post website here.

Roger Stone Sold Himself to Trump’s Campaign as a WikiLeaks Pipeline. Was He?

Senior Trump campaign officials have told investigators that they viewed Roger J. Stone Jr. as a conduit to WikiLeaks during the 2016 campaign. Credit: Jenna Schoenefeld for The New York Times

WASHINGTON — When the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, appeared on a video link from Europe a month before the 2016 presidential election and vaguely promised to release a flood of purloined documents related to the race, the head of Donald J. Trump’s campaign, Stephen K. Bannon, was interested.

He emailed the political operative Roger J. Stone Jr., who had been trying to reach him for days about what Mr. Assange might have in store. “What was that this morning???” Mr. Bannon asked on Oct. 4.

“A load every week going forward,” Mr. Stone replied, echoing Mr. Assange’s public vow to publish documents on a weekly basis until the Nov. 8 election.

View the complete November 1 article by Sharon LaFraniere, Michale Schmidt, Maggie Haberman and Danny Hakim on the New York Times website here.

Text Messages Show That Roger Stone Sought Presidential Pardon for WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange

Roger Stone is busted.

Credit: Screenshot, Raw Story

Mother Jones is reporting that on January 6, Roger Stone—veteran Republican Party operative and an advisor to President Donald Trump—sent a series of text messages to comedian/activist Randy Credico stating that he was actively seeking a presidential pardon for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

“I am working with others to get JA a blanket pardon,” Stone wrote in a January 6 exchange of text messages obtained by Mother Jones. “It’s very real and very possible. Don’t fuck it up.” And in a separate text written 35 minutes later, Stone added, “Something very big about to go down!”

The 66-year-old Stone is among the many Trump associates who has become a focus of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia-related investigation. And although Assange hasn’t been charged with any crimes in the U.S., Mueller’s office has been examining Stone’s efforts to secure a blanket presidential pardon for the Wikileaks founder. Prosecutors for the U.S. Justice Department have been keeping an eye on Assange since 2010, when more than 250,000 diplomatic cables were released by WikiLeaks.

View the complete October 25 article by Alex Henderson on the AlterNet.org website here.