Mueller examines Roger Stone's interactions with the Trump campaign and the timing of WikiLeaks' Podesta emails

The special advocate's investigation into Trump's long-time ally, Roger Stone, aims to convince witnesses of his private conversations with senior campaigners and whether he knows if Democratic e-mails politically Explosives were released in October 2016, according to many people close to the investigation.

As part of its investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 campaign, special advocate Robert S. Mueller III appears to be very focused on whether WikiLeaks has coordinated its activities with Stone and the campaign, including the timing of the group. Stone and WikiLeaks categorically denied having been in contact.

On Friday, Mueller's team questioned Stephen K. Bannon, Trump's former chief strategist on Stone's alleged allegations on WikiLeaks before the group broadcasts emails allegedly hacked by Russian agents, according to news reports. people close to the session.

In recent weeks, Mueller's team has also interviewed several Stone associates, including New York comedian Randy Credico and conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi. Both testified before the grand jury.

Investigators questioned witnesses about the events of October 7, 2016, the day the Washington Post issued a recording of Mr. Trump boasting about his ability to seize women by their genitals, people said.

Less than an hour after The Post published its story on Trump's Raw Commentary on Access Hollywood, WikiLeaks dealt a blow to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton by posting a multitude of emails from the account. from his campaign president, John Podesta.

In the last weeks of the campaign, the group broadcast Podesta's new private messages almost daily, ensuring that the stolen documents would thwart the Clinton campaign until polling day.

The investigators examined the phone and electronic records of the fall of 2016, looking for evidence of what prompted WikiLeaks to drop the Podesta emails just after the start of the "Access Hollywood" band's history. according to people who know the probe.

In an interview this week, Stone vehemently denied any prior knowledge of Podesta emails. He added that he had not played any role in determining the timing of their publication by WikiLeaks, nor suggested that they be used to mitigate the impact of the "Access Hollywood" tape .

It is unclear whether the special prosecutor has evidence linking Stone to WikiLeaks' activities. Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, could have concluded by himself that the publication of e-mails of this day would be beneficial for Trump.

The results of Mueller's investigation could answer the central question of his investigation: whether there is a coordination between the Trump campaign and Russian activities. Trump repeatedly said that there was "no collusion."

[Special counsel examines conflicting accounts as scrutiny of Roger Stone and WikiLeaks deepens]

In his interview with the team of special advisors, Bannon was asked about Stone's interactions with the campaign and about the cases in which Stone made private comments that corresponded to his public statements of knowledge of WikiLeaks' plans. after the people aware of the interview.

In a statement to The Post, Bannon said, "Mueller's team has been very professional and courteous. Out of respect for the process, I will not discuss my conversations with them, but people should not believe everything they read. William Burck, a Bannon lawyer, declined to comment.

Stone denied discussing WikiLeaks with the Trump campaigners.

"There is no such communication and if Bannon says, it would be hidden," he said.

Stone said that he had perhaps briefly discussed WikiLeaks' email releases with former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, his longtime business partner, but only after Manafort's resignation from his position in August.

Last month, Manafort agreed to cooperate with the special council under a plea agreement in which he admitted two counts of conspiracy and obstruction.

Bannon – who had previously been interrogated by Mueller investigators for more than 20 hours in February – was also briefly questioned on Friday about the potential obstruction of Trump's investigation of Russia, including the dismissal of FBI director James B. Comey, according to people informed of the discussions. .

Trump's special advocate and legal team are currently at a standstill following Mueller's request to question the president, a move sought by Mueller before closing a report to Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein .

A spokesman for the special council declined to comment.

Stone stated that he had never coordinated with WikiLeaks and that his tweets and public comments predicting an upcoming release of WikiLeaks were intended solely to generate advertising that could help Trump.

"I deserve credit for attracting public attention, but not for coordinating," Stone said this week.

The focus put by the special advocate on Stone seems to have intensified in recent weeks.

Recent interviewees included Corsi, who wrote about providing Stone with opposition research on the Clintons. He appeared last month before the grand jury investigating the evidence in the Mueller investigation, according to people close to the investigation.

Corsi's lawyer, David Gray, confirmed last month that the Mueller team had given Corsi a subpoena asking for information about Corsi's communications with Stone in 2016 and 2017, and planned to cooperate with the investigation.

In an SMS, Mr. Stone said Tuesday that he had added defense lawyer Bruce Rogow to his team of lawyers and that he had "succeeded" in passing two polygraphs related to issues that the special advocate was investigating. The results of such tests are often declared inadmissible in court. ABC News first talked about the tests and Stone's new lawyer.

For months, Mueller's team investigated public comments – and alleged private statements – that Stone made in 2016, suggesting that he had access to WikiLeaks.

Stone said he was simply referring to public information about Assange's plans and information he got from Credico, a New York liberal radio host who interviewed Assange on his show. Credico has repeatedly denied having passed information from WikiLeaks to Stone.

Stone recently added to his account, saying that he had also been warned of a possible disclosure of WikiLeaks by consulting an email from James Rosen, then Fox News reporter, who had been sent to blogger Charles Ortel. Ortel confirmed to The Post that he sent the email to Stone, where Rosen said he was hearing a major disclosure about Clinton. Rosen declined to comment.

During the presidential campaign, Stone sometimes seemed cautious about WikiLeaks strategy.

In the spring of 2016, even before everyone was made public, WikiLeaks had received hacked Democratic emails. Stone privately told a partner that he knew the group had a treasure trove of emails that would embarrass Clinton and torment senior Democrats like Podesta, The Post reported in March.

WikiLeaks released for the first time a series of e-mails from the Democratic Party on July 22, 2016.

Later, in a speech widely reported to a Republican group in South Florida in early August 2016, Stone boasted: "In fact, I contacted Assange." Then, on August 21, he tweeted: "Trust me, the Podesta will soon be in the barrel."

Stone said his tweet was a reference to an opposition study obtained from Corsi on Podesta's trading relationship with his brother, Democratic lobbyist Tony Podesta.

Six weeks later, WikiLeaks started posting stolen e-mails to Podesta's account.

Shortly before 4 pm That day, The Post had published its story about a 2005 recording of Trump vulgarly talking about women with Billy Bush, a series of NBC's "Access Hollywood" series.

"And when you're a star, they let you do it," he says. "Take them by the p — y. You can do anything. "

The revelation sparked panic in the campaign, and some councilors feared it would end Trump's candidacy for the White House.

But at 16:32, WikiLeaks announced its own news: the group had 50,000 emails from Podesta and released a first 2,500.

The first published documents did not seem to have been randomly selected. They included an internal campaign document containing quotes from Clinton's speeches to Goldman Sachs and the big corporations the Democratic candidate had resisted.

"On October 7th, the Access Hollywood band comes out. An hour later, WikiLeaks starts throwing my emails, "Podesta said later in an interview with NBC's Chuck Todd. "One could say that these things might not have been a coincidence."

Last July, Mueller indicted a dozen Russian military intelligence agents for conspiring to hack Democrats, including Podesta, and for leaking their stolen emails to WikiLeaks.

[How the Russians hacked the DNC and passed its emails to WikiLeaks]

Stone told The Post that he had no idea of ​​the "Access Hollywood" band's existence until The Post published its story.

"I was on the street in New York," Stone said. "I was shocked when I heard that."

Stone was a prolific memoir writer during the campaign, sending Trump 1 or 1 and a half page strategy missives via long-time New York developer Rhona Graff's assistant.

"She printed them and put them on the pile," said Stone.

But by the time the "Access Hollywood" band went public, Stone said he was sending fewer memos than at the beginning of the campaign, feeling that Trump's approach to the campaign was firmly established and that it was less necessary to provide advice.

In fact, Stone said, he never discussed the "Access Hollywood" tape with Trump or the emailing of Podesta emails.

"I have never discussed WikiLeaks with him," Stone said. "I have never discussed Assange with him. I have never discussed Billy Bush.

However, Stone stated that, as a result of the Access Hollywood story, he aggressively pushed Bannon to mount a counteroffensive. He said he urged the strategist to make the campaign a central issue in Clinton's efforts to protect her husband, former President Bill Clinton, from allegations of extramarital affairs and sexual assault.

A relative of Bannon said he did not remember such a discussion with Stone and denied that it had nothing to do with the campaign's decision to reproach Clinton for treating her husband's wife as a response to explosive tape.

Stone said he was urging Trump and the campaigners to use this strategy for months, dating back to the time when Manafort was president of the campaign. But, he said, the candidate and the main advisers resisted.

Trump "knew my position," said Stone. "But I had stopped arguing with him."