Owen Bowcott
Wed 23 Jan 2019 09.00 EST

... Lawyers for the Australian activist have filed an urgent application to the Washington-based Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) aimed at forcing the hand of US prosecutors, requiring them to “unseal” any secret charges against him.

The legal move is an attempt to prevent Assange’s extradition to the US at a time that a new Ecuadorian government has been making his stay in the central London apartment increasingly inhospitable.

He has been staying in the Knightsbridge flat, which houses the embassy, since 2012 when he fled extradition proceedings at the UK’s supreme court. Swedish prosecutors have since dropped their request to extradite him to Stockholm over a rape investigation.

If he were to walk out on to the street, Assange is likely to face contempt of court charges for fleeing British justice. His chief fear, however, is that once arrested, the US authorities would begin fresh extradition proceedings against him alleging security offences ...

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/jan/23/julian-assange-launches-legal-challenge-against-trump-administration-extradition

By Adam Davidson
12:20 P.M.

... The office of the special counsel, Robert Mueller, issued a seven-count indictment, which charges Stone with obstruction of an official proceeding, false statements, and witness tampering. It also makes the case that Stone acted as a conduit of information between the Trump campaign and Julian Assange as Assange’s organization, WikiLeaks, released e-mails that the Russian government had stolen from the Democratic Party and members of Hillary Clinton’s campaign in an effort to help Trump win the Presidential election.

The charges stem not from the original acts themselves but from Stone’s alleged lies about them. In September, 2017, Stone testified before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence that he had “no e-mails, no texts, no documents whatsoever” or any other materials that discussed hacked documents or conversations about Assange ...

https://www.newyorker.com/news/swamp-chronicles/robert-mueller-got-roger-stone

By Aaron Blake
January 25 at 12:30 PM

Roger Stone has seen this day coming for a long time, and he prepared for it ...

Asked by Chuck Todd last year whether working with WikiLeaks would be treasonous, Stone made the case that it would not. He argued that the link between WikiLeaks and Russia was too tenuous.

"I don’t think so, because for it to be a treasonous act, <WikiLeaks founder Julian> Assange would have to be probably a Russian asset and WikiLeaks would have to be a Russian front, and I do not believe that is the case,” Stone said. He called Assange “a courageous journalist” and said, “I can say with confidence that I know nothing about any Russian collusion or any other inappropriate” ...

... while Stone doesn’t regard WikiLeaks as a front for the Russians, the U.S. government says it played a key role in Russian election interference ...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/01/25/roger-stones-indictment-thickens-russia-collusion-plot/

By Erik Larson
January 25, 2019, 12:19 PM EST

... Person 1 is believed to be Jerome Corsi, a conservative conspiracy theorist and Stone associate who relayed WikiLeaks updates to Stone. Corsi didn’t immediately respond to a call seeking comment.

Person 2 is believed to be Randy Credico, a comedian and radio host who has known Stone for more than a decade. Credico didn’t immediately respond to a call seeking comment.

Steve Bannon is believed to be the high-ranking Trump campaign official in early-October emails with Stone. Bannon didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Organization 1 is believed to be WikiLeaks ...

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-25/roger-stone-timeline-puts-trump-s-wikileaks-ties-in-focus?srnd=markets-vp

BY CRISTINA MAZA ON 1/25/19 AT 12:26 PM

... “The document reflects existing reporting on Stone, <Jerome> Corsi & <Randy> Credico's attempts at braggadocio in response to WikiLeaks' announcements. New evidence of no ‘back channel’ with WikiLeaks,” the organization tweeted about the indictment on Friday.

Around the same time, a Twitter account that defends Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who has been holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since 2012 to avoid facing charges in the U.S. for the publication of classified information, also tweeted the claim that Wikileaks was exonerated by the indictment.

“Roger Stone indictment proves what @WikiLeaks has always said. Stone ran around trying to claim a ‘back channel’ to draw attention to himself. Here Stone is indicted for trying to push @credicorandy into falsely claiming a back-channel to WikiLeaks -- by threatening his dog,” the account Defend Assange Campaign wrote ...

https://www.newsweek.com/wikileaks-denies-ties-roger-stone-says-mueller-indictment-braggadocio-1305370

Grace Panetta
Jan 26, 2019, 4:28 AM

On or about July 25, 2016, Stone sent an email to Person 1 with the subject line, “Get to [the head of Organisation 1].”
The body of the message read, “Get to <the head of Organisation 1< at Ecuadorian Embassy in London and get the pending <Organisation 1> emails . . . they deal with Foundation, allegedly.”

Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, has lived out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London since 2012. The Foundation referenced in this message is the Clinton Foundation.

On or about the same day, Person 1 forwarded Stone’s email to an associate who lived in the UK, believed to be the political commentator Ted Malloch.

On or about July 31, 2016, Stone emailed Person 1 with the subject line, “Call me MON.” The body of the email said Person 1’s associate in the UK “should see <the head of Organisation 1>.”

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/all-messages-between-roger-stone-and-wikileaks-intermediaries-randy-credico-jerome-corsi-2019-1

By Noah Feldman
Bloomberg News

... In 2016, WikiLeaks had and released a large numbers of emails that had been stolen by Russian intelligence from the Democratic National Committee and from Hillary Clinton's campaign.

Stone's coordination between the campaign and WikiLeaks is substantive, from what the court filings show. Stone, a Republican political operative and confidant of Trump, got advance notice of WikiLeaks document releases that he passed on to the Trump campaign. That included information about an "October surprise," which turned out to be the leaking of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta's emails.

Stone also allegedly sent messages back to Assange, through intermediaries, specifying the precise content of Clinton emails he would like to see leaked.

All this appears, according to the indictment, to be supported by documentary evidence in the form of emails. If accurate, it proves a degree of coordination between the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks —which was getting its leak material from Russian intelligence ...

https://www.fltimes.com/tns/commentary/noah-feldman-circle-of-collusion-assange-to-stone-to-trump/article_57fb3ee9-ff65-5455-89f3-ecfe817e85ab.html

ADRIAN MORROW
WASHINGTON
PUBLISHED JANUARY 25, 2019
UPDATED 18 MINUTES AGO

... Stone tried to get WikiLeaks to give him hacked Democratic Party e-mails ... Mr. Stone’s intermediaries told him about Wikileaks’s plans, and how the Trump campaign could coordinate with them ... Stone passed on his information on WikiLeaks to a “senior Trump Campaign official” ... Stone repeatedly lied to Congress about his attempts to contact WikiLeaks ...

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/us-politics/article-five-things-we-learned-from-the-roger-stone-indictment/

Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY
Published 11:20 a.m. ET Jan. 25, 2019
Updated 11:47 a.m. ET Jan. 25, 2019

... The indictment does not claim Stone's collusion with Russia or that he directly worked with WikiLeaks to release the stolen Democratic documents. It also does not claim that Stone received the tranche of stolen information prior to its publication ...

However, the indictment does allege that Stone lied about and attempted to obscure his "frequent written communication by email and text message with Person 1, who also provided STONE with information regarding Organization 1" ...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/01/25/roger-stones-indictment-connected-transparency-group-wikileaks/2675752002/

by The Associated Press | Today at 6:14 a.m. | Updated January 25, 2019 at 12:08 p.m.

... Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Trump's press secretary, told CNN on Friday the charges brought against Stone "don't have anything to do with the president" ...

https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2019/jan/25/trump-associate-stone-arrested-faces-obstruction-c/

Philip Bump
The Washington Post
Updated
1/25/2019 10:26 AM

... April 18, 2016: Using credentials obtained by hacking the Democratic Party's congressional campaign arm, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, hackers believed to be linked to Russian intelligence gain access to the Democratic National Committee's network ...

June 12, 2016: In an interview with the British network ITV, Assange says the organization has emails from Clinton. The organization had "accumulated a large cache of information about the Democratic presidential nominee that could be used to bring an indictment against her," according to ITV ...

June and July: According to the indictment, Stone tells Trump campaign officials that he knew of upcoming releases by WikiLeaks ...

July 22, 2016. Days before Democratic convention opens, WikiLeaks begins releasing documents stolen from the DNC ...

https://www.dailyherald.com/news/20190125/timeline-indictment-of-roger-stone-fills-in-new-details-about-wikileaks-and-the-2016-campaign

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JANUARY 25, 2019 01:03 PM,
UPDATED 20 MINUTES AGO

... Stone says he believes his arrest in the special counsel's Russia probe was "politically motivated" and he's vowing to plead not guilty ... Stone said he is "falsely accused" of making false statements to the House intelligence committee. He says any error he made in his testimony wasn't intentional ...

https://www.macon.com/news/nation-world/article225071025.html

Each one of these posts should be an OP.

Thanks for all of them!

Rosalind S. Helderman, The Washington Post
Published 10:54 am EST, Friday, January 25, 2019

... Stone was not charged with any crimes related to communicating with WikiLeaks about its activities, and he has repeatedly denied that he conspired with the group.

But his 24-page indictment details numerous occasions when Stone claimed to campaign officials that he had information about WikiLeaks or was in contact with Assange - and it depicts Trump aides and allies as acutely interested in learning about the group's plans in advance.

Among those who sought information from Stone, according to the filing, was a "senior Trump Campaign official" who "was directed" by an unnamed person to contact Stone as soon as WikiLeaks began publishing Democratic emails in the summer of 2016.

Stone also communicated about WikiLeaks with "a high ranking Trump Campaign official," whose emails in the filing match those of former campaign chairman Stephen Bannon. And Stone received a query about the group's activities from a "supporter involved with the Trump campaign," whom he then asked to communicate via a secure messaging app, according to prosecutors ...

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Stone-was-in-close-contact-with-Trump-campaign-13561285.php

... MR. STONE: ... I have told the truth throughout this entire proceeding, and I will prove that in a court of law ... I am a fervent supporter of the president. I think he is doing a great job of making America great again ... I haven’t even had a chance to read the indictment ...

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/25/us/politics/roger-stone-statement.html

Good compilation.

Rob Crilly
January 25, 2019

... The indictment does not say who else knew of Mr Stone’s alleged role but for the first time reveals prosecutors believe additional people around the president knew of his effort to contact Julian Assange ...

Mr Stone addressed the media on the steps of Fort Lauderdale courthouse after the hearing to declare his innocence.

“I’ve always said the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about,” he said with a smile ...

https://www.thenational.ae/world/europe/roger-stone-dawn-arrest-for-maverick-of-the-dark-political-arts-1.818034

David Jackson, Kevin Johnson and Brad Heath, USA TODAY
Published 1:11 p.m. ET Jan. 25, 2019 | Updated 1:12 p.m. ET Jan. 25, 2019

... Mueller's office did not allege that Stone or other campaign aides worked with WikiLeaks to release the stolen records. Instead, they allege that Stone lied to the House Intelligence Committee during its investigation of Russian election interference, and that he tried to conceal emails and other records the committee had requested ...

Speaking outside a federal courthouse on Friday .. Stone accused the FBI of terrorizing his wife and dogs ...

Democratic lawmakers said the charges against Stone – coupled with those against other members of the president's inner circle – raise new questions about Trump's own involvement. "Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen, Rick Gates, Michael Flynn... What did the President know and when did he know it?" Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., the chairman of the House judiciary committee, said ...

The special counsel's office has obtained indictments or convictions of at least 32 people, including four connected to Trump's campaign: Paul Manafort, the former campaign chairman; Rick Gates, Manafort's deputy; Michael Flynn, a campaign aide as well as, briefly, the National Security Adviser in the White House; and George Papadopoulos, a campaign foreign policy adviser ...

https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/2019/01/25/grand-jury-indicts-donald-trump-aide-roger-stone/2678720002/

... Stone, 66, has worked as a political operative for prominent Republicans, including past presidents, since the 1970s ...

Stone and Trump have been friends for decades ... Stone has taken credit for persuading Trump to get involved in politics ...

As a young adult, Stone worked as an operative on national political campaigns. At age 24, he was elected president of the Young Republicans.

Through the decades, Stone worked as an operative with many national Republican figures, including Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. In the 1980s, Stone was a partner in the lobbyist firm Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly ...

https://abc7.com/politics/russia-probe-who-is-roger-stone/5106007/

BY JESSICA KWONG ON 1/25/19 AT 12:23 PM

... According to Mueller’s indictment, Stone, who faces charges of obstruction, witness tampering and making false statements, made the threats to Credico by email around April 9, 2018. Person 2 refers to Credico, who was allegedly an intermediary between Stone and WikiLeaks, which released a trove of hacked emails from the Hillary Clinton campaign during the 2016 presidential election.

“You are a rat. A stoolie,” Stone allegedly wrote to Credico. “You backstab your friends-run your mouth my lawyers are dying Rip you to shreds.”

Stone also wrote that he would “take that dog away from you” ...

On or around the same day, Stone wrote: “I am so ready. Let’s get it on. Prepare to die <expletive>” ...

https://www.newsweek.com/who-randy-credico-roger-stone-dog-1305319

Jan. 25, 2019, 1:54 PM EST
By Corky Siemaszko

... “I will never testify against Trump,” Stone declared in December.

“Nice to know that some people still have “guts!” Trumped tweeted afterward ...

Not only did Black, Manafort & Stone work for Republicans, they also earned a fortune representing brutal dictators like Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines and Mobutu Sese Seko of the Republic of Congo ...

When Trump ran for president in 2016, Stone ...made headlines for launching bigoted broadsides against TV commentator Roland Martin and fanning unsubstantiated adultery allegations against GOP rivals like Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas ...

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-stone-friendship-faces-its-biggest-test-yet-n962801

Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 1:43 PM ET, Fri January 25, 2019

... "STONE Made multiple false statements to HPSCI about his interactions regarding Organization 1, and falsely denied possessing records that contained evidence of these interactions" ...

"Shortly after Organization 1's release, an associate of the high-ranking Trump Campaign official sent a text message to STONE that read 'well done.' In subsequent conversations with senior Trump Campaign officials, STONE claimed credit for having correctly predicted the October 7, 2016 release" ...

"On or about September 26, 2017—the day that STONE testified before HPSCI and denied having ever sent or received emails or text messages from Person 2 — STONE and Person 2 exchanged over thirty text messages" ...

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/25/politics/roger-stone-donald-trump-robert-mueller/index.html

By Philip Bump
January 25 at 9:10 AM

... Stone has twice proven to have correct insights about upcoming news events. The first was his series of predictions about material that WikiLeaks would release during the 2016 campaign, allegedly stolen by Russian hackers. The second was when he predicted last year that he would be indicted, which he was on Friday ...

July 31, 2016. The FBI begins an investigation into possible collusion between Russian agents and the Trump campaign. The investigation is triggered by WikiLeaks' release of the DNC files ...

Stone emails Corsi: “Call me MON.” (Aug. 1.) He asks Corsi have Malloch contact Assange.

Aug. 2, 2016. Corsi emails Roger Stone from Europe. In the message, Corsi tells Stone that Assange “plans 2 more dumps” of documents ...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/01/25/indictment-roger-stone-fills-new-details-about-wikileaks-campaign/

This was October 14, 2016, the same day Donald Trump Jr. shared several messages he exchanged during the 2016 campaign with WikiLeaks

FFW to 8m 57s