The special counsel requested last week the testimony of the President’s former adviser Roger Stone from the House Intelligence Committee, which is to vote Thursday whether to release a transcript of his 2017 panel interview, a source said.
The request comes amid Democrats’ increasing concerns that Stone may have misled Congress about his contacts with WikiLeaks.
“This has devolved into gotcha word games, perjury traps and trumped process crimes,” Stone said on Wednesday. “I think people can see through the political motivations behind this.”
“Where is the Russian Collusion? Where is the Wikileaks collaboration? Where is the proof or evidence that I received allegedly hacked or allegedly stolen emails from Wikileaks or Julian Assange or anyone else and passed them on to Donald Trump or the Trump campaign or anyone else?” Stone continued, according to The Hill.
Although special counsel Robert Mueller has allegedly obtained an unofficial copy of the transcript, he is now asking for an official one in a move which some have said suggests he is moving to finalize his months-long investigation of Stone and charge him with making a false statement.
The President’s longtime confidant has denied committing a crime, although Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee maintain his statements during the interview aren’t in line with publicly released emails between him and fellow Mueller witness Jerome Corsi.
The special counsel needs the official transcript to pursue an indictment and he could also use the threat of charges to make Stone cooperate, as has been the case with other of the President’s associates, including former national security adviser Michael Flynn and longtime Trump lawyer Michael Cohen.
Stone first became of interest to Mueller when he claimed to have had prior knowledge that WikiLeaks had hacked emails from prominent Democrats, including John Podesta, the campaign chairman of the 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
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