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Conservative author Jerome Corsi said Monday he rejected the agreement proposed by special advocate Robert S. Mueller III to plead guilty to a perjury leader. saying that he would have been forced to say untruthfully that he had intentionally lied about his interactions with WikiLeaks.
In interviews with CNN, NBC and other news agencies, Corsi said that he was simply forgetful when investigators spent hours pressuring him about his contacts with WikiLeaks, which published Democrat emails hacked during the 2016 campaign. He said that he did not want to plead guilty to having intentionally lied.
Corsi's apparent refusal to make an offer of plea is Mueller's last attempt for several months to obtain the cooperation of the author and conspiracy theorist.
During the 2016 White House race, Corsi researched Roger Stone, Donald Trump's longtime advisor. For months, the special council reviewed Stone's activities to determine whether he had coordinated with WikiLeaks the publication of Democratic e-mails. Stone and WikiLeaks have repeatedly denied any such coordination.
Stone said Corsi also had a relationship with President Trump, based on their common interest in the lie that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States.
"They want me to say that I lied voluntarily. I will not accept that I lied. I do not have it. I will not lie to save my life. I prefer to stay in prison and rot for as long as these thugs ask me, "Corsi told NBC News.
A spokesman for the special council declined to comment, as did David Gray, Corsi's lawyer.
[Stone associate Jerome Corsi is in plea negotiations with special counsel]
Prosecutors have spent the last two months examining Corsi's communications, seizing two of Corsi's computers and interviewing him for more than 40 hours in six sessions, Corsi said.
On November 12, Corsi said that his initial cooperation with the special attorney had collapsed and that he was waiting to be charged.
"I plan to be charged for some form of lie," he said as part of his daily streaming web program. "Trying to explain to these people is impossible. . . . I guess I could not tell the special prosecutor what he wanted to hear. "
A few days later, Corsi reopened negotiations with Mueller's office, as the Washington Post reported for the first time.
After Corsi predicted that he would be charged, Stone hinted that the special council had "forced poor Dr. Corsi to target me".
Appearing in his show on the Infowars website, Stone also seemed to lay the groundwork for an effort to undermine Corsi's credibility as a witness. "He has his own demons," Stone of Corsi said.
[Mueller probes Roger Stone’s interactions with Trump campaign and timing of WikiLeaks release of Podesta emails]
During the 2016 race, Stone made public comments suggesting that he had inside information on information kept by WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange.
Since the election, Stone has repeatedly stated that his remarks were exaggerations or came from employee advice and that he had no prior knowledge of WikiLeaks' plans.
Stone said that one of his most intriguing pre-election comments had been inspired by information provided by Corsi.
On August 21, 2016, Stone tweeted that "it will soon be Podesta's turn in the barrel". Six weeks later, WikiLeaks began posting e-mails from John Podesta, chairman of Hillary Clinton's Democratic Democracy campaign.
Stone said that his tweet had nothing to do with WikiLeaks.
Instead, he said that he was referring to research papers he had discussed with Corsi about the links between Russia, Podesta and his brother, the lobbyist Tony Podesta.
In 2017, Corsi wrote a column in which he also claimed to believe that Stone's tweet was motivated by his research.
However, he told The Daily Caller this month that he told Stone in early August 2016 that he believed WikiLeaks had John Podesta's emails and planned to release them before the election. He said that he had assumed that Wikileaks had correspondence and that he had no contact with WikiLeaks, but he added that Mueller's team did not believe him.
Corsi said during his live broadcast this month that he had never met Assange and that he had no connection with him – "to my knowledge," a- he added.
Stone challenged Corsi's story and insisted that the author never suggested to him that WikiLeaks could have emails from Podesta.
Corsi, 72, has published numerous books and was a strong supporter of the false theory that Obama was not born in the United States and therefore was not qualified to serve as president.
Stone had previously told The Post that Corsi had developed a relationship with Trump, who shared their interest in this theory.
Corsi and Trump met during the 2016 campaign, according to Stone.
Stone remembered that Trump had asked him at that time, "Who is this guy, Jerome Corsi?" "Trump informed him while he had discussed Obama's birth certificate with Corsi.
Carol D. Leonnig and Manuel Roig-Franzia contributed to this report.
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