Special Counsel Robert Mueller requested the House Intelligence Committee's transcript of Trump adviser Roger Stone's testimony last week, which people familiar with the request said signals the prosecutors could be moving closer to charging the right-wing media figure on Wednesday, according to The Washington Post.
The request is the first time Mueller has formally asked the committee to turn over material it gathered in its own investigation into Russian interference during the 2016 presidential campaign.
The move also signals Mueller is finalizing his investigation into Stone's role and his possible link between Moscow and the Trump campaign.
Stone has been an advisor to Trump for decades and was frequently in contact with Trump during the presidential campaign, which thrust him as a focus for Mueller's probe and his role in WikiLeaks release of Democratic emails that were allegedly hacked by Russian operatives.
Legal experts said Mueller would need to secure the official transcript before pursuing an indictment against Stone for lying to lawmakers and could also use the threat of a charge to seek cooperation with Stone, as he has done with Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn and his longtime lawyer Michael Cohen.
Stone has given conflicting accounts about what made him predict WikiLeaks would release the material which could be damaging to the Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
On Wednesday, Stone said he was notified of Mueller's request but confident the transcript would not provide any grounds for charging him.
“I don’t think any reasonable attorney who looks at it would conclude that I committed perjury, which requires intent and materiality,” Stone said.
But as former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner explained, the official transcript requests "suggests prosecutors are getting ready to bring a charge. Prosecutors can’t bring a charge without an original certified copy of the transcript that shows the witness lied.”
People with knowledge of the situation said the House has not yet turned over the official Stone transcript to Mueller and will likely discuss the issue in a closed-door meeting on Thursday.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) will take over from Republican Rep. Devin Nunes of California as the chairman of the committee next month, replacing the Trump ally with a promise to work with Mueller.
“I believe that there’s ample reason to be concerned about his truthfulness, “ Schiff said Sunday on NBC News’s “Meet the Press.” “And I do think that with respect to Mr. Stone, and perhaps others, the special counsel is in a better position to determine the truth or falsity of that testimony, and that we ought to provide it to the special counsel.”
Stone accused the Democrats of “attempting to play frivolous word games, and hairsplitting about semantics over nonmaterial matters.”
“This has devolved into gotcha word games, perjury traps and trumped process crimes,” he said Wednesday to The Post. “I think people can see through the political motivations behind this.”
Mueller has been investigating Stone for several months since he boasted about being in touch with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange before the organization leaked hacked Democratic emails before the November election.
Mueller previously charged a group of Russian intelligence officers due to their role in hacking the emails and then providing them to WikiLeaks in July.
Stone told the House committee he based his predictions about the WikiLeaks release of the emails on public information and associates but also said he had an intermediary who gave him information about the company.
Mueller's team have also targeted conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi since he emailed Stone about how WikiLeaks was planning to release emails in October to damage Clinton's chances.
“Word is friend in embassy plans 2 more dumps,” Corsi wrote in the email according to charging documents drafted by Mueller’s team and provided to The Washington Post. “One shortly after I’m back. 2nd in Oct. Impact planned to be very damaging.”
Corsi claimed the email was based on speculative information and that he did not have any insider knowledge.
-WN.com, Maureen Foody
Photo:
AP / J. Scott Applewhite, FILE