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(Reuters) – Two partners of Roger Stone, a long-time political advisor to US President Donald Trump, have been questioned over the past two days over Russia's intervention in the 2016 election campaign, a lawyer said on Friday.
PHOTO: US political advisor Roger Stone, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, addresses reporters after appearing at a September 26 hearing on Russia's interference in the US presidential election in Washington. 2017. REUTERS / Kevin Lamarque / Photo File
Jerome Corsi, a right-wing commentator who contributes to conspiracy theorists' websites, was questioned Thursday by the prosecutors of Special Adviser Robert Mueller, but his warning was scheduled for Friday. Reuters reported Wednesday that Corsi had been summoned.
Lawyer David Gray declined to comment on the content of Thursday's questions, although he said earlier this week that he and Corsi thought it would be his communications with Stone, who was the subject of last months of a close examination by Mueller's office. Gray said that Corsi and Stone communicated by phone and email between 2016 and 2018.
The investigators seem to be focusing on Stone's contacts with WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange, sources close to interviews with a series of Stone associates contacted by Mueller's team said. Prior to the elections, Wikileaks released hacked emails from the Democratic Party and John Podesta's personal email account, candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman.
Another Stone associate, comedian and talk show host Randy Credico, appeared as scheduled during his federal court appearance in Washington on Friday. He brought his therapy dog with him, an accommodation approved by the Mueller team.
Like Corsi, Credico was assigned by the office of the special council. Credico told Reuters before Friday's appearance that he had met with representatives of Mueller's team in New York. He said he was interviewed at length but refused to give details.
Stone, for decades a Republican political officer, was at one point in contact with Credico as a possible intermediary of Assange. Credico interviewed Assange for a radio show and visited him in 2017 at the Embassy of Ecuador in London, where he took refuge six years ago to avoid extradition in Sweden in a sexual assault investigation.
Mueller's office is investigating whether Stone had prior knowledge of Clinton's damaging material that US intelligence agencies have found to have been hacked, the sources said.
Russia denies US allegations of interference in the election. Stone denied having prior knowledge. He said he was not interviewed by Mueller's team or summoned before a grand jury.
Report by Chris Wattie in Washington, Mark Hosenball in London and Nathan Layne in New York; Edited by Grant McCool
