Roger Stone, an eccentric, brash, devoted Donald Trump loyalist was recently named in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s 49 questions. A longtime lobbyist and political operative, Stone attached himself to Trump early in his real-estate career in the 1980s and has been a staunch supporter since. While Stone never assumed an official role in Trump’s campaign, he has made numerous suspicious comments and raised many red flags. Evidence suggests he may have even had contact with WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange regarding Russian interference in the 2016 election. While the series of events are convoluted due to Stone’s conflicting statements, Mueller’s apparent focus on him increases the likelihood that Stone knowingly aided Russian meddling and that there is evidence to prove it.
Read more: Did the Trump campaign reach out to Russia for help?
The timeline of events centers on the summer and fall of 2016 and two major email leaks. On June 14, 2016, the Washington Post reported that the DNC computers had been hacked. Just over a month later on July 22, days before the Democratic National Convention, the emails were published by WikiLeaks. Later that summer in a speech, Stone confessed,
I actually have communicated with Assange I believe the next tranche of his documents pertain to the Clinton Foundation, but there’s no telling what the October surprise may be.
In a follow up statement 10 days later, Stone backtracked on his prior statement. In a televised interview on Aug. 18, 2016, Stone asserted, “I have not spoken to Mr. Assange, I have not met with Mr. Assange and I never said I had.” However, just two months later in October 2016, Stone’s prediction about a “surprise” became a reality as the Podesta emails were released. From this point forward, WikiLeaks and Stone attempted to distance themselves from each other through a combination of tweets, direct messages, email exchanges, and Op-Eds; but the damage, in all senses of the word had been done.
Though Stone denies any involvement with WikiLeaks and Russian election meddling, his conflicting comments, intimate relationship with Trump, and shady career in politics (did we mention he started a lobbying firm with Paul Manafort?) suggest quite the opposite. Stone’s ongoing relationship with Assange and WikiLeaks strongly indicates that he played some role in communicating and helping to disseminate Russian-hacked information.
Russia Ties
At times Donald Trump puts the interests of Russia and Vladimir Putin above the U.S. What exactly are Trump’s ties to Russia? Why is he so keen on praising Putin, and so worried about not offending him? Who is our president really serving?