Messages sent by Roger Stone suggest he is the unnamed individual in the new Russia probe indictment made public Friday.
The indictment describes an unnamed American who fits Stone’s particulars as having communicated with Guccifer 2.0 in 2016.
Mueller’s indictment also identifies Guccifer 2.0 and DCLeaks as being controlled directly by Vladimir Putin’s military, with the intent of harming Hillary Clinton and helping Donald Trump in the 2016 elections.
It is already known through media reports that Roger Stone communicated in August 2016 with the online persona Guccifer 2.0, and that Stone tweeted screenshots of Twitter DMS between the two of them.
CNN caught up with Roger Stone today:
Stone acknowledged to CNN that an exchange in the indictment matches messages he previously released, but maintained that he does not believe that he is the unnamed person in the indictment. Stone said the messages “don’t provide any evidence of collaboration or collusion.”
The indictment states that on August 15, 2016, and again on September 9, Russian officers posing as Guccifer 2.0 “wrote a person who was in regular contact with senior members” of the Trump campaign, with language that matches Twitter messages previously released by Stone, who is not named in the indictment.
Stone told CNN by phone, “I don’t think it is me because I wasn’t in regular contact with members of the Trump campaign,” although he was in contact with Donald Trump himself.
Referring to remarks from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on Friday, Stone said, “Look, Rosenstein said in his comments that they knew of no crime by US citizens. They included my exchange with Guccifer, which is now public, in the indictment. And it’s benign. So I don’t know that it refers to me.”
He added, “Based on timing, content and context, they’re benign. They certainly don’t provide any evidence of collaboration or collusion.”
Stone went on to closely parse the language of the indictment, arguing, “My contact with the campaign in 2016 was Donald Trump. I was not in regular contact with campaign officials.”
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Special counsel Robert Muller’s office didn’t comment.
Again from CNN:
The US congressional candidate who asked for stolen documents and the person who communicated with the conspirators and with the Trump campaign were not charged in the indictment.
And that, friends, will be the next shoe to drop.
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