Stone trial: Who's who?

[struggle4progress]

By Spencer S. Hsu and Rachel Weiner
November 6, 2019 at 12:19 p.m. EST

... Stone told associates in the spring of 2016 that he’d been in contact with Assange and had learned that WikiLeaks had emails that could damage Clinton and Podesta. WikiLeaks published the material in two sets. The first, documents from the Democratic National Committee, was published just before the Democratic National Convention began in July. The second set of emails, from Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta, was pushed out through the month of October.

WikiLeaks engaged with Russian operatives on Twitter, saying WikiLeaks could give the leaked emails a “higher impact” ...

Guccifer 2.0 is the persona created by Russian intelligence operatives to disseminate emails stolen from the Hillary Clinton campaign ...

Roger Stone interacted online with Guccifer 2.0 throughout 2016 and wrote an opinion piece defending the hacker as unconnected to Russia. Guccifer 2.0 called Stone a “great man” and asked whether he could “help” in any way. Stone has maintained that there was no proof that Russia was behind the account ...

In an Oct. 4, 2016, email to Bannon — days before WikiLeaks began releasing emails hacked from the account of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta — Stone said that WikiLeaks founder Assange feared for his personal safety but would nevertheless be releasing “a load every week going forward,” according to emails released by Stone ...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/the-roger-stone-trial-who-is-who/2019/11/06/60d34436-f746-11e9-a285-882a8e386a96_story.html

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1. Trial opens with info indicating Trump may have lied to Mueller

Dan Friedman
David Corn

... The trial kicked off on Wednesday at a federal courthouse in Washington, DC, with a bit of a circus atmosphere. The neo-fascist Proud Boys were there, as well as other luminaries of the alt-right, to support Stone, the dirty trickster and conspiracy theorist who has been a Trump adviser since the 1980s. Facing seven felony counts, Stone is charged with lying repeatedly to the House Intelligence Committee, obstructing justice, and witness tampering. But this case goes beyond Stone’s alleged lies: prosecutors have revealed new information about how Trump tried to benefit from the Russian operation during the 2016 campaign that hacked the Democratic National Committee’s servers. And they are producing material undercutting Trump’s claim to Mueller that he has no recollection of talking to Stone during the campaign about WikiLeaks. This information also presents a new wrinkle in the Trump-Russia scandal: Trump might have thought in 2016 that his campaign, in effect, was colluding with WikiLeaks. That’s because the campaign was communicating with Stone about WikiLeaks’ plans and intentions and campaign officials (and perhaps Trump) believed Stone was in contact with WikiLeaks.

“The evidence in this case will show that Roger Stone lied to the House Intelligence Committee because the truth looked bad,” lead prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky said in his opening statement on Wednesday. “The truth looked bad for the Trump campaign and the truth looked bad for Donald Trump.”

One of the key points Mueller investigated was whether the Trump campaign had interacted with WikiLeaks or Russian intermediaries in 2016 when Moscow was using WikiLeaks for its operation to subvert the US presidential campaign (which was mounted in part to help Trump win). Trump refused to be questioned in person by Mueller and his investigators. Instead, he agreed to answer written questions on a limited number of subjects. Several of the queries Mueller submitted to Trump focused on whether he was ever told Stone had been in touch with WikiLeaks and whether he or anyone associated with his campaign had spoken to Stone about WikiLeaks. In his written response, Trump replied, “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.” He also noted, “I do not recall discussing WikiLeaks with [Stone], nor do I recall being aware of Mr. Stone having discussed WikiLeaks with individuals associated with my campaign.” And Trump, who has boasted of possessing a prodigious memory, claimed to have “no recollection of the specifics of any conversations I had with Mr. Stone between June 1, 2016” and Election Day. The impression Trump provided: as far as he knew, he and his campaign had had nothing to do with Stone and WikiLeaks.

Mueller’s report characterized Trump’s responses as “inadequate.” Zelinsky’s opening statement suggests Stone’s trial could show Trump’s statements were false ...

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/11/stone-trial-opens-with-information-indicating-donald-trump-may-have-lied-to-robert-mueller/

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2. 'Straight up lied'

NOVEMBER 6, 2019 / 6:06 AM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO
Sarah N. Lynch

... Stone “straight up lied” to Congress, prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky told the jury, which was selected earlier in the day. Defense lawyer Bruce Rogow countered that Stone never “willfully and intentionally” misled lawmakers.

Stone - a self-described “dirty trickster” and “agent provocateur” - has pleaded not guilty to charges of obstructing justice, witness tampering and lying to the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee in its investigation into Russia interference in the 2016 election.

“Now you’ll ask, why didn’t Roger Stone just tell the truth?” Zelinsky asked the jurors. “The evidence in this case will show that Roger Stone lied to the House Intelligence Committee because the truth looked bad. The truth looked bad for the Trump campaign, and the truth looked bad for Donald Trump” ...

The first witness called by prosecutors was a former FBI agent who presented evidence that Stone was in frequent contact with top Trump campaign officials including strategist Steve Bannon and chairman Paul Manafort about when WikiLeaks might release more emails damaging the Clinton ...

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-stone/straight-up-lied-prosecutors-say-adviser-stone-fibbed-to-protect-trump-idUSKBN1XG1KH

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3. Prosecutors tie Stone's alleged crimes to campaign

Kristine Phillips, USA TODAY
Published 1:58 p.m. ET Nov. 6, 2019 | Updated 8:22 p.m. ET Nov. 6, 2019

... First, Zelinsky said, Stone denied the existence of hundreds of written communications in which he talked about WikiLeaks, its founder Julian Assange and damaging emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee. Second, Stone lied about having multiple intermediaries – two people he relied on to pass information to and from WikiLeaks, Zelinsky told jurors.

Third, Stone denied asking these intermediaries to be his conduit to WikiLeaks. Zelinsky said that Stone, in fact, requested one of these former associates, right-wing political commentator Jerome Corsi, to go to London and "get pending Wikileaks emails" from Assange ...

Stone also told the House Intelligence Committee that he never had written communications with Credico and Corsi about their back-channel efforts — despite the existence of "hundreds and hundreds and hundreds" of text messages and emails, Zelinsky said.

Finally, Stone told the committee he never discussed his efforts with the Trump campaign — the last set of lies he told Congress, Zelinsky said ...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/11/06/roger-stone-trial-trump-ally-wikileaks/4176432002/

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4. 'Payload is still coming' email went to Erik Prince, prosecutors say

By Kara Scannell and Shimon Prokupecz, CNN
Updated 9:01 PM ET, Wed November 6, 2019

... The Donald Trump supporter who Stone alerted in October 2016 that "the payload is coming" -- an apparent reference to WikiLeaks' release of damaging emails from Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign -- was Blackwater founder Erik Prince, according to prosecutors.

The exchange was publicly known but it had not been previously revealed that Prince, a Trump donor whose meetings with Trump officials during the transition stirred controversy, is the individual identified in the Stone indictment as "a supporter involved with the Trump campaign."

Stone is accused of lying to the House Intelligence Committee, which was investigating Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election, and obstruction of justice. The longtime Trump associate has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors referenced Prince and the communications during the first day of Stone's trial, which is expected to last three weeks.

The communication is one of several at the center of the trial. Prosecutors expect to call members of the Trump campaign but are not planning on calling Prince, according to a person familiar with the plan ...

https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/06/politics/erik-prince-roger-stone-trial/index.html

[triron]

5. See my post on this. Seems to get undeserved scant attention aroud here doesn't it?

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212660604

[Pachamama]

6. This trial is an important key to understanding the crimes of the Trump Crime Family and the 2016

...Election and how it all interconnects.....

[triron]

7. You hit the nail on its head.