Former Trump presidential election campaign adviser Roger Stone predicted the release of “devastating” information damaging to former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on the same day he sent an email claiming to have met with WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange, CNN reported Wednesday.
“The Clinton campaign narrative that the Russians favor Donald Trump and the Russians are leaking this information, this is inoculation because as you said earlier, they know what is coming and it is devastating,” Mr. Stone told far-right InfoWars publisher Alex Jones on an episode of the latter’s popular internet and radio program broadcast Aug. 4, 2016.
“I think Julian Assange has that proof and I think he is going to furnish it for the American people,” Mr. Stone added.
Mr. Stone made the remark to Mr. Jones about the WikiLeaks publisher the same day he wrote a recently publicized email to fellow former Trump campaign adviser Sam Nunberg in which he claimed to have dined with Mr. Assange — an allegation being scrutinized by special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the 2016 presidential race, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
Mr. Stone alleged he was in contact with Mr. Assange during the 2016 presidential race but subsequently walked back those claims, citing travel records that suggest he was in the U.S. during the dates in question and therefore unable to visit Mr. Assange at his residence within Ecuador’s British embassy.
“My passport shows I never left the country in 2016 — never mind traveling to London. Even I have not perfected the ability to be two places at once,” Mr. Stone said Wednesday.
WikiLeaks referred The Washington Times to the anti-secrecy group’s earlier remarks about Mr. Stone when reached for comment this week. Both Wikileaks and Mr. Assange have previously denied being in contact with Mr. Stone.
U.S. officials have assessed that Russian hackers breached targets including the Democratic National Committee and the personal email account of John Podesta, the chairman of the 2016 Clinton campaign, and then stole internal data subsequently provided to WikiLeaks for publication as part of a state-sponsored interference campaign.
WikiLeaks started releasing internal DNC and Clinton campaign emails in July and Oct. 2016, respectively, placing Mr. Stone’s early August remarks between both rounds of publications.
Mr. Mueller was appointed by the Department of Justice last May to investigate Russia’s role in the 2016 race and related matters, including any possible links between Russia and the Trump campaign, and at least two former Trump campaign advisers – Mr. Nunberg and Ted Malloch, an adviser and consultant – recently said they’ve been asked by investigators for information about any contacts they’ve had with Mr. Stone and WikiLeaks, among others.
“I’m very worried about him,” Mr. Nunberg said of Mr. Stone last month after appearing before the special counsel. “He’s certainly at least the subject of this investigation, in the very least he’s a subject.”
Mr. Stone has acknowledged telling Mr. Nunberg that he planned to met Mr. Assange, but he said that the claims were meant in jest. Mr. Mueller’s team of investigators have set their sights on Mr. Stone’s repeated claims, however, including specifically an Aug. 4, 2016 email in which he told Mr. Nunberg: “I dined with my new pal Julian Assange last nite.”
“I never dined with Assange,” Mr. Stone told the Journal when the email was published Monday. “It’s not what you say, it’s what you do. This was said in jest.”
Mr. Assange entered Ecuador’s London embassy in 2012 and received political asylum from the South American nation that summer. British authorities have a warrant for his arrest, however, and he’s remained inside ever since in lieu of risking capture.
Mr. Assange previously said he fears he’ll be extradited to the U.S. if arrested and charged in connection with disclosing documents through WikiLeaks predating its publication of the DNC and Podesta emails, including its 2010 release of classified State and Defense Department documents.
Mr. Stone and Mr. Nunberg both left the Trump campaign in 2015.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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