On Friday, Special Counsel Robert Mueller claimed in a new court filing that the prosecutors have received evidence that Trump’s former advisor, Roger Stone, communicated with WikiLeaks. Wikileaks is known for being the organization that actually released the hacked emails during the presidential campaign in 2016.
Roger Stone was indicted last month on charges of making false statements related to Wikileaks’ release, witness tampering, and obstruction. When he spoke with Fox News, Stone said that there was no evidence whatsoever of any communication.
These are by no means considered simple crimes in the eyes of the court or the citizens of the United States of America. The seriousness of this indictment could cause Stone, if convicted, to do some serious time in prison. Stone will continue to maintain his innocence in the case.
Mueller’s team made a motion on Friday that stated “search warrants were executed on accounts that contained Stone’s communications” with an organization that most people believe to be the infamous WikiLeaks. When Stone was indicted last month, he was not charged with conspiring with the WikiLeaks organization —the anti-secrecy website that published all of the emails —or with the Russian officers that Mueller says hacked them.
The indictment explains that during the summer of 2016, Stone spoke to the Trump campaign officials about WikiLeaks and the information that the organization apparently had that could have been damaging to the Hillary Clinton campaign. The indictment also states that Stone was contacted by “senior Trump campaign officials” to find out more about any future WikiLeaks that could end up releasing hacked emails from the Democrats. Stone has chosen to plead not guilty to all of the charges.
Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the federal court for the District of Columbia established a partial gag order for Stone on Friday morning. Stone has been ordered to “refrain from making statements to the media or in public settings that pose a substantial likelihood of material prejudice to this case.”
Judge Jackson ordered others to refrain from speaking about the case, as well. Judge Jackson also made the order that any person who has involvement in the case, which includes the council and the witnesses, must “refrain” from making any kind of statement to the public or the media while in the vicinity of the courthouse that could potentially “influence any juror, potential juror, judge, witness or court officer or interfere with the administration of justice.”
Mueller’s case was handed over to Judge Jackson because they believe that it’s related to the Russian hacker case. Even though the courts say one thing, Stone’s prosecutors continuously stand by their belief in Stone.
“At first blush and without the benefit of discovery, there is nothing about these cases that suggests they are suitably related, other than they are both brought by the Office of Special Counsel,” wrote Stone’s attorneys in a February 8th filing.“Roger Stone’s alleged conduct is not connected to any of the ‘Russian activities’ outlined in the Netyksho indictment,” they continued, in reference to the indictment of Viktor Borisovich Netyksho and other Russian hackers.
Despite the efforts of Stone’s attorneys, Robert Mueller’s prosecutors believe they have enough evidence to prosecute and convict Stone. Mueller’s prosecutors wrote Friday that while investigating emails “the government obtained and executed dozens of search warrants on various accounts used to facilitate the transfer of stolen documents for release, as well as to discuss the timing and promotion of their release.”
