If former Trump confidant Roger Stone gave anyone advance notice of WikiLeaks’ plans to release emails hacked from Democrats, it would not be a crime, President Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani asserted Sunday.
The former New York City mayor told ABC’s “This Week” that Stone did not tell Trump that in summer 2016, WikiLeaks had emails from the campaign manager for presidential rival Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee.
“I don’t believe so,” he said. “If Roger Stone gave anybody a heads-up about WikiLeaks’ leaks, that’s not a crime. It would be like giving them a heads-up that the [New York] Times was going to print something.”
Special Counsel Robert Mueller is said to be investigating whether Stone had advance knowledge of the hacks and subsequent release of the emails. Mueller has subpoenaed and interviewed several Stone associates in his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Stone has denied any awareness of the releases that came in the final months of the presidential campaign.
[Read more: Roger Stone: Mueller intent on ‘undoing the results of the last election and removing this president’]
