Jerome Corsi, a far-right author linked to Roger Stone, revealed Tuesday that he told associates before the 2016 presidential election he believed WikiLeaks would publish emails damaging to Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
Corsi’s revelation follows remarks he made this week suggesting special counsel Robert Mueller would indict him next for lying to prosecutors or the grand jury as part of the ongoing federal Russia investigation.
For the past two months, Mueller’s team has been probing whether Corsi had a source who gave him advance warning that WikiLeaks had obtained emails stolen from Clinton’s then-campaign chairman John Podesta before they were released in October 2016. Corsi has appeared before a grand jury on two occasions since being subpoenaed in August.
In August 2016, Corsi, the former Washington bureau chief of right-wing publication InfoWars, advised associates — including Stone — that he suspected WikiLeaks had Podesta’s emails but did not know for sure, according to the Daily Caller. Corsi told the website his prediction was based on publicly available information and the fact the organization’s dump of Democratic National Committee documents in July of that year did not contain messages to or from Podesta.
“There was plenty on the public record that allowed me to conclude that just studying from what [WikiLeaks founder Julian] Assange says. And I believe I was always telling the truth to the special counsel,” Corsi said Tuesday. “I had told others probably in phone conversations, probably in emails, because I didn’t see any reason not to share this.”
Stone denied to the Caller that he spoke to Corsi about the emails. He claimed comedian Randy Credico was the person who told him WikiLeaks had information that could “roil” the campaigns. Credico has pushed back on Stone’s claim, while also claiming to be an intermediary between the ex-Trump confidant and Assange.
Stone is reportedly of interest to Mueller’s investigators after appearing to allude to the release of Podesta’s emails in a tweet before it occurred. The self-described political trickster said the message was predicated on Corsi’s research into Podesta and the lobby firm he founded with his brother, Tony. Stone has additionally offered contradicting statements on his relationship with Assange. He is yet to be contacted by Mueller’s office.
