President Trump reportedly said to special counsel Robert Mueller in written responses that he was not told about a 2016 meeting at Trump Tower between members of his campaign and a Russian lawyer, nor was he told about WikiLeaks during the campaign.
CNN reported Wednesday that Trump told Mueller that Roger Stone, who previously served as an informal adviser to the president, did not speak with him about WikiLeaks, which published a trove of hacked emails from Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign leading up to the 2016 election.
CNN reported that Trump noted that his responses were to the best of his recollection, a common practice during legal proceedings.
The network did not receive a full account of Trump’s answers, nor did it have direct quotes.
{mosads}The president’s reported responses match his public statements about both the Trump Tower meeting and whether he was privy to WikiLeaks’s planned publication of Democratic emails.
Stone and his associate, Jerome Corsi, have come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks over their alleged contacts with WikiLeaks before the organization published the hacked emails.
Multiple reports published Tuesday indicated that Corsi, a right-wing conspiracy theorist, anticipated in emails to Stone that WikiLeaks was planning to release a batch of stolen documents containing damaging material about Clinton‘s campaign ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Stone has denied he knew in advance about the planned publication of the hacked emails, and has maintained he did not speak with Trump about WikiLeaks.
Mueller has also reportedly asked witnesses about the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Russian lawyer who promised damaging information on Clinton.
Attendees included Donald Trump Jr., then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
Trump and Trump Jr. initially insisted the meeting was focused on a Russian adoption policy, but later acknowledged it was meant to gather information on their then-political opponent.
Trump’s lawyers submitted written answers last week to questions from Mueller’s team, but the president has said he is unlikely to sit for an in-person interview.
Trump routinely criticizes the Mueller investigation, labeling it a “witch hunt” and a “disgrace.” He has repeatedly said he did not collude with Russia during the campaign.
Mueller has thus far obtained guilty pleas from former Trump associates Michael Flynn, George Papadopoulos and Richard Gates. He has obtained indictments against more than 20 Russian nationals as well.
Mueller’s team convicted Manafort on bank and tax fraud charges earlier this year.
Manafort reached a plea deal with Mueller to avoid a second, separate trial in Washington, D.C., but federal prosecutors said in a court filing this week that Manafort violated the terms of his plea deal by repeatedly lying to federal investigators.
— Update at 1:50 p.m.