Former Trump campaign official Rick Gates testified Tuesday that President Trump’s associate Roger Stone repeatedly told the campaign and, in one case, likely Trump directly, about anticipated information from WikiLeaks.
Testifying in the D.C. district court case against Stone, Gates testified that then-candidate Trump told him that more information would be coming from WikiLeaks after Trump had a late July 2016 call with Republican operative Stone.
Gates described a car ride
with two Secret Service members from Trump Tower to a waiting airplane at LaGuardia Airport with the future president a few days after the bombshell release of thousands of Democratic emails by WikiLeaks. He told the jury that he could tell from the incoming number that Stone had called Trump and that he could hear Stone’s voice, but that he wasn’t able to make out what was being said by Stone.
Gates testified Trump then “indicated that more information would be coming” from WikiLeaks.
Mueller’s team asked Trump in 2018 if he could recall Stone or any other campaign associates “having any discussions, directly or indirectly, with WikiLeaks
… regarding the content or timing of release of hacked emails.”
“I do not recall being told during the campaign that Roger Stone or anyone associated with my campaign had discussions with any of the entities named in the question regarding the content or timing of release of hacked emails,” Trump replied in writing.
The special counsel also asked Trump whether Stone ever discussed WikiLeaks with him or with anyone else associated with the campaign and whether Stone informed Trump “about contacts he had with WikiLeaks or any intermediary of WikiLeaks or about forthcoming releases of information.”
But Trump again dodged the question, repeatedly saying he didn’t remember.
“I spoke by telephone with Roger Stone from time to time during the campaign,” Trump told Mueller. “I have no recollection of the specifics of any conversations I had with Mr. Stone between June 1, 2016 and November 8, 2016. I do not recall discussing WikiLeaks with him, nor do I recall being aware of Mr. Stone having discussed WikiLeaks with individuals associated with my campaign.”
Stone, the longtime Trump ally and flamboyant GOP hatchet man, is charged with misrepresenting to congressional investigators his 2016 attempt at collaborating with WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange to obtain dirt on Clinton in the form of stolen emails.
In 2016, Stone “indicated that he was going to be updating other people on the campaign, including the candidate,” said Gates.
Gates, who at the time was deputy campaign manager, said he was in communication in May of 2016 about Stone about WikiLeaks. Gates said Stone was primarily contacting the campaign through its chairman Paul Manafort and Trump, and then later through Steve Bannon.
“Mr. Stone indicated that he had information that WikiLeaks would be submitting or dropping information but no specific information about dates or anything of that nature,” Gates said. He didn’t believe Stone was relying on public information.
Gates previously told the FBI about the Trump campaign’s efforts to seek damaging information on presidential rival Hillary Clinton with a special focus on finding her 33,000 “missing” emails.
When WikiLeaks announced in June it had info on Clinton, Stone was happy because it meant his prediction was coming true, Gates said.
Gates said he and Stone discussed WikiLeaks, among other things, following an email Stone sent him the next day that said, “Need guidance on many things. Call me.”
The Democratic National Committee formally announced it had been hacked by the Russian government the following day.
The campaign was “in disbelief” at the DNC’s announcement, but “based on what that information might be about, it might give our campaign a leg up,” Gates said.
Stone texted Gates on June 15, telling him, “Call me. Important.”
“We discussed that the information would be potentially forthcoming,” Gates said. “At that point, he said more information would be coming out of the DNC hack.”
Stone also wanted contact information for campaign adviser and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner and Jim Murphy, Donald Trump’s national political director, to “debrief them in the developments on the hack of the DNC,” Gates said.
Gates continued to speak with Stone during June at Manafort’s insistence because both were skeptical about this information actually coming out. The campaign, including Manafort, Gates, Trump communications strategist Jason Miller, and Trump adviser Stephen Miller, brainstormed about how to handle the information if it was released.
When WikiLeaks finally released the first batch of emails on July 22, Gates said: “the campaign was in a state of happiness.”
“This was information that had come out on our competitor, and it had come out through channels that were not us,” he said, comparing it to how the Democrats must have felt when the Access Hollywood tape came out on Trump.
And when WikiLeaks released thousands of emails on Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta in October, Gates said that Stone indicated he’d predicted that release.
“Mr. Stone never indicated where he got the information,” Gates testified. “But I believed he had other sources he was getting the information from.”
Gates was the government’s final witness in its case against Stone. He has already pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and to making false statements to Mueller’s team, is likely set to be sentenced in December.
Stone’s defense attorney Bruce Rogow spent most of the cross-examination pointing out that Gates had admitted to a host of crimes, including lying to investigators.
Stone, an on-again-off-again political ally and confidante of Trump for more than three decades who by the summer of 2016 was an informal adviser with Trump’s campaign, attempted to reach out to Assange, who was suspected of having tens of thousands of stolen Democratic emails. Stone also communicated with the hacker Guccifer 2.0, a fictitious persona created by Russian intelligence that dealt with some of the purloined records.
The U.S. government announced the day the emails were released by WikiLeaks that it believed Russia was behind the hack, and the Intelligence Community Assessment in January 2017 affirmed that conclusion. Mueller also concluded that Russian military intelligence had carried out cyberattacks against Democratic email systems and then provided those stolen emails to WikiLeaks. The Justice Department has repeatedly defended that conclusion.
Prosecutors say Stone tried to contact Assange by using conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi and Randy Credico as conduits. He allegedly misled Congress in 2017 by concealing months-long WikiLeaks discussions with Corsi, telling the committee he’d only reached out to WikiLeaks through Credico. He then allegedly worked to stop Credico from telling the House.
The testimony from Gates seemingly contradicts Stone’s sworn testimony in front of the House.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Stone’s defense team played an hourlong portion of Stone’s September 2017 congressional testimony. During it, Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell of California pressed Stone on his communications with Trump. “Did you ever discuss WikiLeaks with him?” Swalwell asked.
Stone replied, “I did not.”
Closing arguments are expected Wednesday.
