Stone told friend WikiLeaks had emails regarding Dems before it was publicly known: report
Roger Stone reportedly said in 2016 that he had contact with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Stone, a confidant of President Trump, said during a phone conversation that WikiLeaks had emails regarding Hillary Clinton and her former campaign chairman, John Podesta, according to The Washington Post, which cited the person at the other end of the line.
Stone said he heard the information from Assange in comments that came before it was publicly known that WikiLeaks had gained access to the emails of Podesta and the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the Post’s source added.
Former Trump campaign aide Sam Nunberg, meanwhile, also told the newspaper that Stone had informed him that he met with Assange.
Stone, who also advised Trump’s campaign, in an interview on Monday said he did not have contact with Assange. He said he had a conversation with Nunberg and made a joke regarding a meeting with Assange.
“I wish him no ill will, but Sam can manically and persistently call you,” Stone said, according to the Post, referring to Nunberg.
“I said, ‘I think I will go to London for the weekend and meet with Julian Assange.’ It was a joke, a throwaway line to get him off the phone. The idea that I would meet with Assange undetected is ridiculous on its face.’’
He also said the allegation that he met with Assange or “asked for a meeting or communicated with Assange is provably false.”
Assange told the Post earlier this year through his attorney he did not meet with Stone in spring 2016.
“WikiLeaks & Assange have repeatedly confirmed that they have never communicated with Stone,” WikiLeaks tweeted in March 2017.
Stone has in the past faced questions about his communications with WikiLeaks from the House Intelligence Committee.
He has also denied he ever discussed WikiLeaks or the hacked emails from Clinton’s campaign with Trump.
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