Roger Stone told the House Intelligence Committee Tuesday that a journalist served as his “go-between” with WikiLeaks ahead of the 2016 election and that Democrats are pursuing a “witch hunt” for evidence of conspiracy between Russia and the Trump campaign.
The colorful political operative was seen by some committee members as a potential link between President Trump’s campaign and Russia, due in part to his tweets and boasts of contact with the secret-spilling group.
Stone told the committee that all he knew about WikiLeaks came from the organization’s public statements, along with confirmation from a “journalist” who previously interviewed Assange, according to prepared remarks.
Whether Stone exaggerated his access has been a matter of public debate. He told lawmakers the “journalist” was his only source and that “I have referred publicly to this journalist as an ‘intermediary,’ ‘go-between’ and ‘mutual friend.'”
“I have never said or written that I had any direct communication with Julian Assange and have always clarified in numerous interviews and speeches that my communication with Wikileaks was through the aforementioned journalist,” Stone said, according to his prepared remarks.
Journalist and entrepreneur Charles Johnson, known for his investigative reports and for setting up an August meeting between Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., and Assange, told the Washington Examiner he “probably” is the journalist that Stone mentioned.
“But knowing Roger, who really knows?” Johnson said in an email.
Stone told the Examiner that Johnson was “most definitely not the journalist who confirmed that WikiLeaks had the goods on HRC.”
Assange has denied Stone had a “back channel” to WikiLeaks.
After the hearing, Stone said he would not reveal the identity of the “journalist,” telling reporters, “That’s the only question I declined to answer.”
Two committee members — Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas — appeared to confirm Stone’s account.
Conaway told The Daily Beast that Stone’s statement from a podium after the hearing was “very accurate,” while Schiff — who Stone chastised as a grandstander — said “there was one significant area” where “Stone was unwilling to answer our questions,” and that a subpoena may be necessary in the future.
Reasons the committee wanted to speak with Stone include his prescient August 2016 tweet that “it will soon the Podesta’s time in the barrel,” more than a month before WikiLeaks released the Clinton campaign chairman’s emails. Stone also repeatedly claimed contact with the group.
This article has been updated to include comment from Roger Stone.
