Amid suggestions from Roger Stone and his allies that special counsel Robert Mueller inappropriately leaked the charges he brought against the operative, Mueller filed documents confirming that the grand jury indictment was publicly posted only after Stone had been arrested last month.
The documents were filed at U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson’s request in a dispute raised by Stone, who has alleged Mueller violated a court order sealing the indictment by releasing it before the court had unsealed it on the docket in Stone’s case. Mueller has pointed out that the sealing order allowed for the indictment to be unsealed after Stone was in custody.
Mueller’s investigative team received an email at 6:10 a.m. ET from FBI agents that Stone was in custody, according to Tuesday’s filing.
Here is the email the FBI sent Mueller’s team at 6:10 am after arresting Stone, per Mueller’s latest filing in the dispute over whether Stone’s indictment was improperly published that morning pic.twitter.com/Y39SXhU9Uq
— Tierney Sneed (@Tierney_Megan) February 26, 2019
The special counsel’s office updated its Justice Department website to add a copy of the indictment at 6:11:45 a.m., according to the filing, which included a log of the website edits. A spokesperson emailed the press with a link to the website and an announcement of Stone’s arrest at 6:16 a.m., according to the filing. The email went out to 500 journalists from 127 news organizations — outlets that are listed in an exhibit of the filing.
Stone was charged with making false statements, obstruction and witness tampering. He has pleaded not guilty.
He has pushed a conspiracy theory that the media had been tipped off to his predawn Jan. 25 arrest, after CNN was present at his Florida home to document it. Former acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker fanned the flames at a congressional hearing this month where he said he shared a GOP lawmaker’s “concern with the possibility that a media outlet was tipped off.”
CNN has denied receiving any heads-up — the outlet has laid out all the subtle clues and observations that led it to believe Stone’s arrest might be imminent — and Mueller’s office has also said it was not aware of “any advance knowledge” being given to the media.
Stone alluded to the conspiracy theory in his request that Berman Jackson order a hearing on whether Mueller violated the sealing order. Berman Jackson has not ordered such a hearing, and instead had requested Mueller clarify “the precise timing and content” of its notice to the media that Stone had been indicted.
Read the documents filed by Mueller below:
