Paul Manafort has reportedly joined the cast of characters quizzed by special counsel Robert Mueller about Roger Stone, a former Manafort business partner and fellow member of President Trump’s 2016 election campaign, in light of agreeing to cooperate with investigators as part of a plea agreement recently entered with federal prosecutors.
Members of Mr. Mueller’s office investigating the 2016 election have raised questions concerning Mr. Stone with Manafort, the former chairman of Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign, on the heels of the latter becoming a cooperating witness in the special counsel’s probe last month, ABC News reported Wednesday, citing multiple anonymous sources familiar with the matter.
Mr. Stone made numerous claims during the 2016 race related to the alleged Russian interference campaign at the center of the special counsel’s investigation, and Manafort could potentially provide information of interest to prosecutors examining those statements on account of ties existing between the two dating back several decades.
Both men worked together for years at Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly, a lobbying and consultancy firm launched in 1980, and Mr. Stone, 66, told ABC News that the pair “have been friends since childhood,” the network reported.
“I am highly confident Mr. Manafort is aware of no wrong doing on my part during the 2016 campaign, or at any other time, and therefore there is no wrongdoing to know about,” said Mr. Stone. “Narratives to the contrary by some in the media are false and defamatory.”
Representatives for Manafort, 69, and the special counsel’s office declined and did not respond to requests for comment, respectively, ABC News reported.
Mr. Mueller was appointed in May 2017 to lead the Justice Department’s investigation into alleged Russian election interference and related matters, and Manafort was subsequently charged over conduct related to his lobbying work predating the Trump campaign.
Manafort was found guilty in August on eight of 18 counts of tax and bank fraud at the culmination of a jury trial held in Alexandria, Virginia. Last month he agreed to become a cooperating witness in the special counsel’s probe as part of an agreement entered with prosecutors in lieu of being tried on related counts in Washington, D.C. Manafort has since met with Mr. Mueller’s team at least nine times to speak with investigators, CNN separately reported Thursday.
Mr. Stone is not among the group of more than 30 people charged as a result of Mr. Mueller’s prove, but several witnesses contacted by the special counsel’s office previously said that he was discussed during questioning, including radio host Randy Credico, author Ted Malloch and fellow former Trump adviser Sam Nunberg, among others.
Mr. Stone told The Washington Times in 2017 that he exchanged private Twitter messages during the presidential race with an internet persona known as Guccifer 2.0, and he previously claimed to be in contact with WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange.
Federal authorities, including Mr. Mueller’s office, have since determined that the Russian government used both Guccifer 2.0 and WikiLeaks as conduits for releasing stolen documents sourced by state-sponsored hackers during the course of a multi-pronged interference campaign targeting the race and particularly Mr. Trump’s former Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.