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Mueller Thinks Roger Stone Was Tipped Off About WikiLeaks Email Dump - Court Doc

US special counsel Robert Mueller's team believes a conservative author informed then-candidate Donald Trump's confidant Roger Stone months before WikiLeaks released thousands of private emails from members of the Democratic National Committee, a newly revealed document shows.
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The document, part of a plea offer drafted by Mueller for Jerome Corsi, was first reported by NBC News, and an online copy was published by the Washington Post on Tuesday. According to the document, Corsi sent an email to Trump’s former campaign adviser Roger Stone warning of the WikiLeaks releases.

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“Word is friend in embassy plans 2 more dumps. One shortly after I'm back. 2nd in Oct. Impact planned to be very damaging,” Corsi wrote on August 2, 2016, referring to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, according to draft court papers cited by NBC.

Mueller also sent Corsi a draft plea agreement, stating that the special counsel would not oppose Corsi requesting a sentence of probation if he agreed to plead guilty to one count of lying to federal investigators. Mueller’s team is investigating allegations of collusion between the Trump team and the Russian government to influence the 2016 election.

Corsi said on Monday that the document contains portions of emails he exchanged with Stone in the summer of 2016 about WikiLeaks. However, he denied that he intentionally lied to investigators about the emails and said that was why he rejected the plea offer, which would have charged him with making false statements.

“I did not ever willfully and knowingly give them false information,” Corsi said, claiming that he forgot about the emails in question during his first interview with Mueller's team and noting that he had provided 60,000 emails to the special counsel's office.

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The court document showed that the emails were exchanged in late July and early August of 2016, more than two months before WikiLeaks published the DNC emails leaked from the private email accounts of Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.

According to the document, Stone emailed Corsi, asking him to get in touch with Assange. Stone said he wanted Corsi to try to obtain emails the group possessed about Clinton, reported the Associated Press. The document said Corsi passed the request to an “overseas individual,” whom Corsi identified as Ted Malloch, a London-based academic who was also questioned by Mueller.

On Tuesday, Corsi told AP that the email he sent Stone was based on his own deduction and was not the result of any inside information or a source close to WikiLeaks. 

“It's all a guess. That email — 'word is' — is 100 percent speculation on my part, a package so that Roger's not going to dismiss it, because I'm real sure I'm right,” he said, adding that he has never had contact with Assange or knowledge about WikiLeaks’ plans.

Corsi also said he already told the investigators on Mueller’s team that he had told Stone that Assange had Podesta’s emails. “But I maintained, and still do, that I figured it out. I made it sound maybe like I had a source, but I didn't. And I don't think Stone ever believed me,” he added.

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Corsi said the prosecutors wouldn't believe him, thinking he was trying to protect Stone, adding that he believes he was threatened with a felony charge “because I couldn't give them what they wanted.”

Stone has repeatedly denied all allegations that he knew the source or content of the DNC emails, telling NBC News that his correspondence doesn’t suggest otherwise. “None of these emails provide any evidence or proof that I knew in advance about the source or content of any of the allegedly stolen or allegedly hacked emails published by WikiLeaks,” Stone said. “These emails prove nothing other than the fact that Jerry Corsi is an aggressive investigative reporter.”

Mueller is investigating alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election, as well as accusations of coordination between Moscow and the Trump campaign. Russia has denied all allegations of interfering in the election, calling the accusations "absurd," and has denied any collusion with Trump. The US president has also repeatedly rejected allegations of collusion, calling the investigation "a witch hunt."

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