A drama is built around Stone in the Mueller probe

Robert MuellerRobert Swan MuellerSasse: The United States should applaud Mueller's choice to lead the investigation into Russia continues to focus on Roger StoneRoger Jason StoneHillicon Valley: The DOJ Attacks Chinese Technology Flight | Google employees end sexual harassment | CEO of the company pledges to do 'better' | Feds fight to help campaigns against cyberattacks Bannon, Roger Stone, WikiLeaks with Mueller interviewed by former Trump officials: report Senate panel calls for interview with Steve Bannon, said lawyer PLUS as speculation emerges, the special council could take a big step forward in its investigation of Russia after mid-term elections next week.

Stone, a longtime advisor for President TrumpDonald John TrumpCurbelo explains why he forgave a man who had tweeted a death threat Obama accuses Trump of being a "political coup" in border policy The voter registration in California reaches a peak without previous until mid-term who briefly worked on his campaign, is seen as a central part of the question as to what the Trump campaigners knew ahead of the Democratic emails hacked by Russian agents and then published by WikiLeaks.

Legal analysts say Mueller is probably interested in determining if the campaign helped coordinate the flushing of documents, and considers Stone as a key element in making this judgment.

Stone, who mentioned public and private contacts with WikiLeaks during the campaign, has attracted Mueller's interest in recent weeks and months.

The special council team has interrogated and summoned several Stone associates and former Trump campaigners, ostensibly to explore Stone's links with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and his information about hacked emails.

Stone vehemently denies having any inside information about the content or source of the emails, noting in an interview Friday that he had just been informed by a source that WikiLeaks had "a bomb" of information that " would upset "the race for the presidency in October 2016.

E-mails released Thursday by the New York Times showed Stone was in communication with at least one senior campaigner – namely Stephen Bannon – about upcoming revelations, anticipating "a charge every week" when asked. questions about Assange's projects. Mueller's team interviewed Bannon last week, a source close to the interaction confirmed at The Hill.

Publicly, Stone seemed to predict the spread of material that would damage Hillary ClintonHillary Diane Rodham ClintonFBI intercepts another suspicious package sent to donor Steyer, countdown to elections: four days | Advance polls exceed 2014 figures in many states | Vulnerable dems throw their party under the bus | Fights to determine control of the Senate | 10 GOP House seats most likely to tip | Obama is campaigning to preserve his legacy The Hill's 12:30 Report – Trump is touting Iran's sanctions with the same "Game of Thrones". | 4 days mid-term | Distance races are the key to the battle of the Senate | Good Jobs in October Report MOREIn the weeks and days leading up to the leak of hacked messages from John Podesta's personal account.

"Wednesday @ HillaryClinton is over. #Wikileaks, "Stone wrote on his Twitter account, which has since been suspended on October 2, 2016. WikiLeaks released the hacked emails five days later on a Friday shortly after the release of the" Access Hollywood "tape in which Trump Billy Bush is bragging about groping and kissing women without their consent.

Yet none of his communications – private or public – appeared in the press to show him discussing the content or source of the documents before they were published, a detail that Stone pointed out by stating that he had nothing hurt.

In an editorial written for the conservative news website The Daily Caller, Stone denied Thursday urging WikiLeaks to release Podesta emails as a result of the "Access Hollywood" revelations. He also announced that he had predicted WikiLeaks' publications based on publicly available information, including CNN's interview with Assange in July 2016, as well as information that would be provided by the radio broadcaster and the radio. political satirist Randy Credico.

Stone had previously identified Credico as his connection to Assange during an in camera interview with the House Intelligence Committee. Credico categorically denied Stone's story, claiming that his first interaction with Assange had taken place on his radio show at the end of August 2016, after Stone had already hinted that he had a string back on WikiLeaks. Stone, meanwhile, confirmed his testimony Friday, accusing Credico of not telling the truth.

Credico testified before the grand jury in September and was interrogated several times by Mueller investigators.

"The Mueller team knows that the first conversation I had was held in my radio show," Credico said during a telephone interview on Friday. "The emails will confirm it."

Stone's former campaigners and associates said that he had described himself as having a relationship with Assange during the campaign, a detail highlighted by the emails published by the Times. Some also suggest that he may have exaggerated his relationship in order to gain favor with the campaign after his ouster. Stone has been widely described as having a penchant for stretching the truth.

Sam Nunberg, a former Trump campaign counselor, who testified voluntarily before Mueller's grand jury in March, was informed by Stone in an email from August 2016 that he had dined with Assange, a note that Stone said later was made to joke. Assange has been hiding at the Ecuadorian embassy in London since 2012, making such an unlikely encounter.

"Roger wrote me in an email and said that he had met Julian Assange," said Nunberg, who no longer believes Stone's claims in an interview. "When he told me that he had done it, Roger told me that they were going to leak information about the Clinton Foundation."

"I think it was just pockets, Roger's bravado," Nunberg said.

Assange, meanwhile, has publicly denied having had contact with Stone.

In the two years that have passed since the 2016 presidential race, Stone has not missed out on media attention for his claims about WikiLeaks – an organization that some members of the The Trump administration has described it as a "hostile non-governmental intelligence service".

The focus on him intensified last year, after the US intelligence community involved the Russian government in the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Podesta, and declared that Moscow's goal was, in part, helping Trump win.

Stone also admitted to having had contact with Guccifer 2.0, the computer hacking character identified by Mueller as a front for the Russian intelligence services, but called the exchange anodyne.

Mueller's investigation on Stone is not clear, largely because his investigation continued in camera, although a handful of interviews and quotes at appearing proves his interest in Trump's long-time ally.

Kristin Davis, better known as "Mrs. Manhattan," is a longtime associate of Stone who testified before the grand jury in August. Jerome Corsi, a theoretician of the far-right plot linked to Stone, was also reportedly summoned. Stone's former aide, Andrew Miller, is currently fighting for a grand jury summons and is scheduled to appear before the Federal Court of Appeal next Thursday.

"I think that they wanted to get to the bottom of things in 2016 about all this channel," said Credico – who called Mueller's team "methodical" in his interrogation – of the "looted" thing. ;investigation.

Legal experts who follow the investigation into the alleged suspect, Mueller, are looking for evidence that the Trump campaign played a role in publishing hacked emails. Trump vehemently denied that the election campaign was conspiring with Moscow, criticizing Mueller's investigation as a "witch hunt".

"[Stone] It is part of this counterpart idea that the Russians offered credit to Clinton on the future promise to reduce or eliminate sanctions against Russia, "said Seth Waxman, former federal prosecutor in Washington.

"The role of Roger Stone would be in the way the dirt came out," added Waxman. "Was it a unilateral decision made by WikiLeaks and Julian Assange, or was it directed in whole or in part by the president or his team?"

Evidence of such a ploy could lead to charges of conspiracy against Stone or other people. It is also possible for Mueller to review the truthfulness of Stone's statements before the House Intelligence Committee, given Credico's contention that Stone was not truthful when he named him as a WikiLeaks source.

As of Friday, Mueller had not yet contacted Stone, according to one of his lawyers, Bruce Rogow. Generally, prosecutors do not question or summon a person if the person is or is being investigated at the time.

Stone said he was "ready" to be indicted by Mueller "if that were to be the case". But on Friday, he predicted that nothing would happen if the special advocate made decisions based on "facts or evidence".

"If their decision is made on the basis of facts or evidence, nothing will happen," Stone said. "There is no evidence or anyone who can honestly testify that I have received anything, including allegedly hacked emails originating from Russians, Guccifer 2.0, Julian Assange, WikiLeaks, Jerry Corsi or any other person, and forwarding them to Donald Trump, the Trump campaign, or someone else. "

When asked why he thought he had attracted Mueller's eye, Stone replied, "Some people refuse to believe that I was able to bluff, apply for and do hype, using Twitter effectively to do so, drawing a lot of attention to disclosures when they finally arrive without any inside information. "

"I did not have any insider information," he said.

A spokesman for the special council office declined to comment on Friday.