Robert Mueller continues to zero in on Roger Stone as speculation builds that the special counsel could take a major overt step in his Russia investigation following the midterm elections next week.
Stone, a longtime adviser to President Trump who briefly worked on his campaign, is viewed as central to the question of what, if anything, members of the Trump campaign knew in advance about Democratic emails hacked by Russian operatives and then released by WikiLeaks.
Legal analysts say Mueller is likely interested in determining whether the campaign helped coordinate the document dump, and views Stone as key to making that judgment.
Stone, who both publicly and privately referenced contacts with WikiLeaks during the campaign, has drawn the interest of Mueller in recent weeks and months.
The special counsel’s team has been interviewing and subpoenaing several Stone associates and former Trump campaign officials in an apparent effort to drill down on Stone’s links to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and any knowledge he had about the hacked emails.
Stone vehemently denies having inside information about the content or source of the emails, noting in an interview Friday he simply was tipped off by a source that WikiLeaks had “bombshell” information that would “roil” the presidential race in October 2016.
Emails released Thursday by The New York Times showed that Stone was in communication with at least one senior campaign official — namely Stephen Bannon — about the forthcoming disclosures, anticipating “a load every week going forward” when asked about Assange’s plans. Mueller’s team interviewed Bannon last week, a source familiar with the interaction confirmed to The Hill.
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NEW: Drama builds around Roger Stone in Mueller probe https://t.co/xv45jkAItL pic.twitter.com/2FlSs07znK
— The Hill (@thehill) November 3, 2018
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