Two associates of Roger Stone testify before grand jury

Two individuals associated with Roger Stone reportedly testified recently before a grand jury hearing about their ties to the longtime GOP strategist, part of the federal investigation examining Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Filmmaker David Lugo and attorney Tyler Nixon confirmed to The Washington Post that they testified before the grand jury about their ties to Stone, a longtime adviser to President Trump.

Lugo told the Post he has provided the grand jury with hundreds of text messages and electronic communication — contacts that are reportedly being scrutinized by special counsel Robert Mueller’s team.

{mosads}The filmmaker, who helped produce the 2015 Oliver Stone movie “A Good American,” told the Post that he testified in mid-October about WikiLeaks-related conversations he had with Stone’s “onetime friend,” New York comedian Randy Credico.

Nixon separately confirmed to The Post that he testified before the grand jury on Friday about his relationship to Stone, but declined to tell the newspaper further details about his testimony.

The appearances of Lugo and Nixon suggest Mueller is homing in on Stone’s associates who have knowledge about his communications with WikiLeaks — particularly whether Stone knew in advance whether the site planned to release the hacked Democratic emails.

The sudden public release of the Democratic emails — including Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta — became an embarrassment for the Clinton campaign amid the heated presidential race.

Earlier this year, prosecutors from the special counsel’s office indicted 12 Russian military officers for their alleged involvement in hacking the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and then turning those emails over to WikiLeaks.

Prosecutors have contacted at least nine associates tied to Stone, according to the Post.

A spokesman for Mueller declined to comment to The Hill. 

“I had no advance notice of the source or the content of allegedly hacked emails nor of John Podesta’s stolen emails published by WikiLeaks,” Stone said in a statement to The Hill. “If the decision to file charges is made on the basis of facts and evidence then I believe no charges will be filed.”

He has previously denied any advance knowledge that WikiLeaks planned to publish the Democratic emails.

Credico has emerged as a key figure in the Stone-WikiLeaks story. Stone says Credico was his main source of information about WikiLeaks, something Credico denies.

Lugo and Nixon, however, told the Post recently that Credico suggested in conversations that he was the source for the GOP operative regarding WikiLeaks.

Credico described Lugo as a Stone loyalist in texts to the Post, stating that he is willing to “die” for Stone, who he claims “put them up to this.”

— Updated 7:41 p.m.