In the spring of 2016, political operative and associate to then-candidate Donald Trump Roger Stone reportedly told an associate that he had learned that WikiLeaks had obtained emails that would make top Democrats like John Podesta sweat.
According to a Stone associate who spoke with The Washington Post Tuesday, Stone told the associate about the emails before it was public knowledge that the Democratic National Committee and Podesta’s emails had been hacked. WikiLeaks released the emails in July and October, several months after the reported conversation between Stone and his associate, according to the Post. The intelligence community has since determined the emails were likely taken by hackers working for Russia.
Another Stone associate, Sam Nunberg, told the Post Monday that Stone had told him about a meeting he had with Assange in 2016. Nunberg said special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators asked him to share the details of that meeting with them as part of their investigation into Russian election interference.
Stone and Assange have repeatedly denied that they have ever been in contact, especially before the DNC and Podesta’s emails were released to the public. Stone told the Washington Post that he never had any contact with Stone and claimed his comments to Nunberg were made as a joke.
“I wish him no ill will, but Sam can manically and persistently call you,” Stone said, referencing a conversation he had had with Nunberg, who asked about his plans for the weekend. “I said, ‘I think I will go to London for the weekend and meet with Julian Assange.’ It was a joke, a throwaway line to get him off the phone. The idea that I would meet with Assange undetected is ridiculous on its face.’’’
Read the Washington Post’s full report here.
