- The Washington Times - Thursday, May 17, 2018

Jason Sullivan, a social media consultant hired by President Trump’s longtime adviser Roger Stone during the 2016 White House race, has been subpoenaed by Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller, his attorney said Wednesday.

Mr. Sullivan received a pair of subpoenas last week issued by Mr. Mueller requesting documents and his testimony before a federal grand jury, said Knut Johnson, Mr. Sullivan’s lawyer, Reuters first reported.

The Committee to Restore America’s Greatness, a pro-Trump political action committee created by Mr. Stone after he parted ways with the Trump campaign in 2015, paid Mr. Sullivan a total of $3,000 between July and August 2016, according to federal election records.

Mr. Sullivan “is a very bright guy who worked for me for two months as a social media consultant,” Mr. Stone said Wednesday. “As far as I know all of his social media activities work was perfectly legal.”

“While he did have access to my Twitter feed, all relevant material has already been turned over to the House Intelligence Committee and I would assume is fully available to the special counsel anyway,” Mr. Stone said, Bloomberg reported.

The Justice Department appointed Mr. Mueller last May to investigate matters related to the 2016 presidential election, and two former Trump campaign aides, Michael Caputo and Sam Nunberg, previously said that they were asked about Mr. Stone during their own appearances before the special counsel’s team.

“He’s certainly at least the subject of this investigation, in the very least he’s a subject,” Mr. Nunberg said following his appearance before Mr. Mueller’s office earlier this year.

Mr. Mueller’s office is particularly interested in any ties between Mr. Stone, a former Trump campaign adviser, and WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy website that published documents during the 2016 election damaging to Mr. Trump’s opponent, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, The Wall Street Journal reported last month.

The documents published by WikiLeaks during the race were sourced by Russian state-sponsored hackers, according to the U.S. intelligence community, and any potential ties discovered between their release and the Trump campaign could support allegations of collusion.

Mr. Stone previously claimed to be in contact with WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange during the race, and he told The Washington Times last year that he exchanged private Twitter messages in August and September of 2016 with Guccifer 2.0, an internet persona that U.S. officials has connected to Russian military intelligence.

“I categorically deny any involvement or knowledge of any collusion, coordination or conspiracy to affect the 2016 election with the Russians or anyone else,” Mr. Stone told The Times previously.

The subpoenas issued to Mr. Sullivan requested he appear before a grand jury Friday and bring documents, objects and electronically stored information, Reuters reported. A final date for his appearance is being arranged, his attorney told Politico.

“All I can say is no collusion,” Mr. Sullivan said Wednesday, Politico reported.

• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.

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