WikiLeaks disputes Cohen, says Assange never talked to Stone

WikiLeaks contradicted Michael Cohen’s congressional testimony in a tweet Wednesday, saying that founder Julian Assange never spoke on the phone with Trump adviser Roger Stone. 

“WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange has never had a telephone call with Roger Stone,” WikiLeaks tweeted. “WikiLeaks publicly teased its pending publications on Hillary Clinton and published > 30k of her emails on 16 March 2016.”

STATEMENT on Michael Cohen testimony to Congress: WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange has never had a telephone call with Roger Stone. WikiLeaks publicly teased its pending publications on Hillary Clinton and published > 30k of her emails on 16 March 2016. https://t.co/XcH75u3kbu

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) February 27, 2019

{mosads}Cohen said before Congress that Trump knew in advance about damaging Democratic emails that WikiLeaks released leading up to the 2016 election. 

“Mr. Trump knew from Roger Stone in advance about the WikiLeaks drop of emails,” Cohen said before the House Oversight and reform Committee on Wednesday. 

Cohen said he was in Trump’s office when Trump put Stone on speakerphone and Stone said WikiLeaks was going to release the emails. 

“Mr. Stone told Mr. Trump that he had just gotten off the phone with Julian Assange and that Mr. Assange told Mr. Stone that, within a couple of days, there would be a massive dump of emails that would damage Hillary Clinton’s campaign,” Cohen said. 

“Mr. Trump responded by stating to the effect of ‘wouldn’t that be great,’” Cohen added. 

Stone also denied Cohen’s allegation in a text message to The Hill. 

“Mr. Cohen’s statement is not true,” Stone said.

Cohen testified for several hours before the House committee on Wednesday. In November, he pleaded guilty to lying to Congress. As part of his plea agreement, he agreed to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia interference in the 2016 presidential election. 

Stone was arrested in January as part of Mueller’s probe. He was accused of making false statements to Congress, impeding a congressional investigation and witness tampering. 

He has denied the allegations and said he has never had direct contact with WikiLeaks, but said he did have a back channel to the group.