credico, randy
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Steve Bannon says Roger Stone was Trump campaign’s link to WikiLeaks | PBS News
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Bannon says Roger Stone was Trump campaign’s link to WikiLeaks
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump’s campaign viewed Roger Stone as an “access point” to WikiLeaks and tried to use him to get advanced word about hacked emails damaging to Hillary Clinton, a former top presidential adviser testified Friday.
In reluctant testimony, former campaign CEO Steve Bannon told a federal court that Stone, on trial for lying to Congress and witness tampering, had boasted about his ties to WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange, alerting them to pending new batches of damaging emails.
“The campaign had no official access to WikiLeaks or to Julian Assange,” Bannon told the court. “But Roger would be considered if we needed an access point.”
While Stone repeatedly “implied that he had a connection with WikiLeaks,” he never stated it directly, Bannon said.
It was the first time that anyone affiliated with the Trump campaign acknowledged in court that they had actively sought material from WikiLeaks, which released emails that U.S. intelligence agencies determined had been hacked by the Russian government in order to damage Clinton.
The White House had no immediate comment.
Stone, a colorful political operative and Trump ally, is charged with witness tampering and lying to Congress about his attempts to contacts WikiLeaks about the damaging material during the 2016 presidential campaign.
While Stone repeatedly “implied that he had a connection with WikiLeaks,” he never stated it directly, Bannon said.
The campaign took Stone’s boasts seriously enough to follow up, asking why expected information about Clinton wasn’t revealed when Assange held a press conference in October 2016.
Bannon, who testified in response to a subpoena, did not say anything about Trump and said Stone had not been sent by anyone on the campaign to talk to Assange.
Earlier this week, a former FBI agent testified about a flurry of phone calls between Stone and then-candidate Trump — including three calls on July 14, 2016 — the day that a massive hack of the Democratic National Committee’s servers was reported. But the agent said she did not know what was discussed on those calls.
As he left the courthouse, Bannon griped about being subpoenaed by prosecutors and Congress in addition to being interviewed several times by special counsel Robert Mueller’s team as it investigated Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
“I was forced and compelled to come here today,” he said as he climbed into a waiting SUV outside the courthouse.
Bannon’s testimony came after comedian and radio talk show Randy Credico told jurors that Stone pressured him into backing up lies he told Congress, threatening to take away his dog at one point. Credico said Stone pressed him to “go along” with a false account of the operative’s contacts with WikiLeaks during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.
“He wanted me to go along with this narrative,” Credico said in his second day of testimony.
Stone called a Credico a “rat” and a “stoolie” in a threatening April 2018 email. Credico also testified that Stone used repeated references from the movie “The Godfather Part II” to intimidate him into either backing up Stone’s testimony to Congress or refusing to testify.
“My lawyers are dying to rip you to shreds. I’m going to take that dog away from you,” he said in the email, which Credico read aloud in court. And while Credico testified he considered the threat “hyperbole,” he also said that Stone “plays hardball” and “I did not want to rile the guy.”
The radio host told the court he’s had his dog Bianca, a small breed known as a coton de tulear, since 2006. “I have no wife, no kids, I’ve been around the dog for 12 years,” he said.
Credico has occasionally provoked laughter in court and warnings from the judge.
Thursday’s testimony detailed the acrimonious collapse of the relationship between the liberal Credico and Stone, a longtime conservative operative who revered Richard Nixon so much that he has the disgraced former president’s face tattooed on his back.
Credico and Stone met in 2002 through the campaign of a third-party candidate for New York governor. Despite their political differences, Stone was a regular guest on Credico’s radio show.
“He’s good on radio,” Credico said of Stone. “He’s a good guest to have on.”
Stone, a longtime Trump confidant and conservative operative who has a tattoo of former president Richard Nixon’s face on his back, is accused of telling Congress that Credico was the source of his inside information about WikiLeaks. But Credico said he and Stone never discussed WikiLeaks before late August 2016, making it impossible that he was the “trusted intermediary” that Stone had been referring to for months.
Credico did manage to contact Assange through mutual acquaintance Margaret Kunstler, and hosted Assange on his radio show on Aug. 25, 2016. He says Stone, who had already claimed in interviews to have a back-channel link to Assange, immediately started asking Credico to put him in touch with Assange.
Prosecutors have said Stone lied about his efforts to learn more about the WikiLeaks releases because the truth about his efforts would “look bad” for Trump.
In an often-testy cross examination, defense attorney Robert Buschel tried to paint Stone as the victim of a con job by Credico, saying that the radio host repeatedly lied to Stone to exaggerate his connection and influence with Assange.
They went through the pair’s text exchanges before Credico’s September 2016 trip to London. Credico wrote to Stone that a meeting with Assange, who was sheltering from prosecution in the Ecuadoran embassy, was “on the agenda.” In reality, there was no meeting planned and the closest Credico got to Assange was delivering a letter from his radio station’s administration to the embassy offering Assange a show on their channel.
Credico said Stone was pestering him with requests and that he led Stone to believe he was working on making contact with Assange “just to satisfy him and get him off my back.”
Stone’s trial is scheduled to resume on Tuesday.
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https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/02/roger-stone-sentence-trump/
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How Trump’s Ratfucker Finally Screwed Himself
Revisiting our 2018 story about Roger Stone and the threatening messages that wound up getting him indicted.
DAN FRIEDMAN5 HOURS AGO
Roger Stone and Randy Credico Ronen Tivony/NurPhoto/ZUMA; John Minchillo/AP
Roger Stone, convicted of lying to Congress and obstructing House and FBI investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, was sentenced Thursday to 40 months in federal prison. The piece below was originally published May 2018, and it wound up figuring into the prosecution of Donald Trump’s favorite dirty trickster. Click the highlighted text throughout for the story behind the story.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller appears to be increasingly interested in the actions of Roger Stone. Investigators have questioned former associates of Stone, the self-proclaimed political dirty trickster who has been a longtime official and unofficial adviser to Donald Trump. On Meet the Press on Sunday, Stone—who during the 2016 campaign boasted he was in direct contact with Julian Assange of Wikileaks and then later denied that he had been—said that he is “prepared” for the possibility that he will be indicted for “some extraneous crime pertaining to my business” that Mueller’s team “may seek to conjure up.”
And perhaps the pressure is getting to Stone. Randy Credico, a New York radio host and comedian, provided Mother Jones with a series of vitriolic emails he says Stone sent him in recent weeks. Reached via text message, Stone acknowledged communicating with Credico but told Mother Jones that “most” of the emails were “probably fabricated.” Stone declined to share the complete correspondence between him and Credico.
Credico and Stone were once pals. When Stone started denying after the election that he had communicated directly with Assange, Stone claimed that Credico had served as something of a go-between for him with Assange during the campaign. For his part, Credico, who has publicly championed Assange, has said that he played no such role. Not surprisingly, the former friends have experienced a falling out.
“I am so ready. Let’s get it on. Prepare to die cock sucker,” Stone messaged Credico on April 9. Stone was responding to a message from Credico that indicated Credico would release information contradicting Stone’s claims about the 2016 election and that “all will come out.” Credico tells Mother Jones that he considered this email from Stone a threat.
In a text message to Mother Jones, Stone did not dispute sending this particular message to Credico. But he maintains he was not making a threat and contends that Credico is citing his words out of context. “He told me he had terminal prostate cancer,” Stone writes. “It was sent in response to that. We talked about it too. He was depressed about it. Or he was lying?” (In other messages provided by Credico, Stone appears to have said he was not threatening him.)
Credico says he does not have prostate cancer and did not have such a discussion with Stone. Referring to the “prepare to die” message from Stone, Credico insists, “That was a threat.”
Credico sent Mother Jones screenshots of messages he said were from Stone, many of which appear to have been prompted by media appearances and news reports in which Credico disputed Stone’s claim that Credico acted as an intermediary between Stone and WikiLeaks in 2016. During the presidential campaign, Stone appeared to possess advance knowledge of WikiLeaks’ release of Democratic emails stolen by Russian hackers. (Stone also privately communicated with Guccifer 2.0, an account suspected of having served as a front for Russian intelligence, and defended Guccifer 2.0 in public.)
Following the election, Stone changed his story to say he only had a general knowledge of WikiLeaks’ plans based on news reports and what he had learned about Assange from Credico. Yet Credico says that he had no information about Wikileaks or the stolen emails to share with Stone. Credico also claims that around the time Stone was interviewed by the House Intelligence Committee in September, Stone told him to “just go along with” his story.
Last November, the committee subpoenaed Credico, but he asserted his Fifth Amendment rights and was excused from testifying. This year, though, Credico began speaking out. In interviews with the Daily Beast, Mother Jones, and Yahoo News and for David Corn and Michael Isikoff’s Russian Roulette, Credico openly contradicted Stone’s claims that he was a source of information on Assange for Stone. These reports drew Stone’s ire.
“You are a rat,” reads one undated missive that Credico says Stone sent him. “A stoolie. You backstab your friends-run your mouth my lawyers are dying to Rip you to shreds[.]” In other messages over the past few months, Stone called Credico a liar and threatened to sue him.
An early April email to Credico—attributed to Stone—reads, “Everything I have said publicly about You has been complimentary – yet you continue to act like Nunberg,” a reference to Sam Nunberg, the former Trump aide and Stone protégé with whom Stone has had a falling out. Another email to Credico says, “Give Mueller my regards.” Another declares: “Everyone says u are wearing a wire for Mueller.” Credico tells Mother Jones he has not been contacted by Mueller.
On April 28, Credico attended the White House House Correspondents Dinner as a guest of Yahoo News’ Isikoff. At the event—from which he was ejected—Credico met Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. The men chatted and, according to Credico, Schiff invited him to meet informally as part of the Russia investigation Democrats on the committee are continuing. The Republican majority ended the committee’s official Russia inquiry earlier this year.
Credico met on Wednesday with four Democratic committee staffers. Credico says he went to the meeting to convey an invitation from Assange, who remains confined in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. According to Credico, he told the staffers that he had communicated with Assange through a Wikileaks associate, whose name he would not share with Mother Jones, and that Assange was willing to meet with Schiff.
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fmr left chomsky
emails coming on FB (already announced?)
https://kpfa.org/episode/letters-and-politics-november-18-2019/
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nyt
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Much of the trial revolved around relationship between Mr. Stone and Randy Credico, a New York radio host and comedian. The charge that Mr. Stone had tried to block Mr. Credico from testifying to the House committee was the most serious one he faced, carrying a maximum penalty of 20 years. Mr. Credico ultimately asserted his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination and refused to testify to the House committee.
He testified at the trial that despite the fact he repeatedly urged Mr. Stone to tell the truth, he falsely identified him to congressional investigators as his intermediary with Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks. Previously in their tortured 17-year friendship, he said, Mr. Stone had treated him as his “patsy.”
In an effort to ward off Mr. Credico’s congressional testimony, the evidence showed, Mr. Stone alternately flattered, bullied and threatened the radio host. At one point, Mr. Stone pretended that he had written a letter to the House committee characterizing Mr. Credico as highly talented and successful.
At other points, he urged Mr. Credico to “Do a Frank Pentangeli,” referring to a character in the movie “The Godfather: Part II” who gave false testimony during a Senate hearing on organized crime. Borrowing a quote from Richard M. Nixon to a top aide during the Watergate cover-up, Mr. Stone texted Mr. Credico in late 2017: “Stonewall it. Plead the fifth. Anything to save the plan.”
If he refused to go along, Mr. Credico testified, Mr. Stone promised to retaliate against him and Margaret Ratner Kunstler, a lawyer for Mr. Assange and one of Mr. Credico’s dearest friends. Prosecutors described Ms. Kunstler as a particularly effective “pressure point” with Mr. Credico, an unmarried man with no children and a 34-year history of alcohol abuse.
One of Mr. Stone’s most blatant deceptions, prosecutors said, was hiding records of his communications. He told congressional investigators that he and Mr. Credico only spoke on the phone, because Mr. Credico “was not an email guy.”
In fact, in the year and a half before Mr. Stone testified, he and Mr. Credico exchanged more than 1,500 emails and text messages, including 72 texts alone on the day of Mr. Stone’s congressional testimony. Because Mr. Stone misled the committee, prosecutors said, investigators failed to pursue promising leads and arrived at inaccurate conclusions in its final report on Russia’s election interference.
Mr. Credico tried for months to warn Mr. Stone that his lies would catch up to him. Among Mr. Stone’s responses: “Nice try.” “Meaningless.” “So what.”
And, “No one cares.”
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https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetillman/roger-stone-trial-congress-wikileaks-trump-politics
wASHINGTON — At the start of Roger Stone’s criminal trial Wednesday, a federal prosecutor told the jury that the case was “not about politics.”
Except it’s all about politics. Stone, a longtime adviser to President Donald Trump, is charged with lying to Congress about trying to contact WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange, during the 2016 campaign and communicate what he was learning to Trump’s campaign. To prove that, prosecutors spent the first day of the trial presenting evidence that Stone did try to contact WikiLeaks — and that he was, in fact, not only in touch with the campaign, but with Trump himself.
The jury saw emails, text messages, and call records documenting Stone’s communications with the campaign around the same time that he was in touch with two associates about tracking down emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee that were eventually released by WikiLeaks; the US intelligence community later concluded that Russian intelligence was involved in hacking the DNC and orchestrating the release of the stolen emails through WikiLeaks.
The jury saw records of phone calls between then-candidate Trump and Stone in 2016, including on June 14, 2016, when the DNC announced it had been hacked, and in the weeks that followed. Prosecutors made clear that they didn’t know what the two men discussed — they only had the call logs — but they placed those calls in the middle of a timeline of Stone’s alleged efforts to get messages to WikiLeaks and Assange.
“Evidence will show 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,” Assistant US Attorney Aaron Zelinsky told the jury.
The trial in the US District Court for the District of Columbia is expected to last at least two weeks. The courtroom was full on Wednesday, and a handful of demonstrators for and against Stone have shown up to the courthouse this week — on Wednesday, someone had set up a large, inflatable statue of Trump depicted as a rat outside one of the entrances. During a lunch break, Stone was joined by several far-right figures attending the trial, including Milo Yiannopoulos, Gavin McInnes, and Jack Posobiec.
The fact that Stone is on trial at all is also tied to politics. He was the last person charged by former special counsel Robert Mueller’s office — a probe Trump has continued to try to undermine, months after it ended — and Stone has repeatedly, albeit unsuccessfully, tried to use the case as a vehicle to challenge the legitimacy of Mueller's and Congress’s investigations into whether Russia interfered in the 2016 election.
Stone’s lawyer Bruce Rogow tried to draw a distinction on Wednesday between the subject of Russian interference in the election and the role of WikiLeaks and Assange in releasing emails stolen from the DNC.
Rogow argued that the House Intelligence Committee had said the subject of its investigation was Russian interference, and made no explicit mention of WikiLeaks or Assange in announcing that investigation or in its communications with Stone about his voluntary testimony. He said the government was right that the jury would see texts, emails, and Stone’s testimony, but what also mattered was Stone’s intent when he gave information to Congress.
“What isn’t there for you to see is Mr. Stone’s state of mind,” Rogow said. He argued there was no evidence of “corrupt intent” by Stone, and disputed that there were ever any actual “intermediaries” between Stone and WikiLeaks — he argued Stone was being “played” by then-associates Jerome Corsi and Randy Credico.
Leading up to the trial, the judge rebuffed Stone’s challenges to the indictment as well as his efforts to use the trial as a forum to criticize the Russia investigation and push the unsubstantiated conspiracy theory that Russia wasn’t involved in hacking the DNC. In September, the judge denied Stone’s request to introduce evidence that WikiLeaks did not receive emails stolen from the DNC from Russia, and granted the government’s request to limit evidence or arguments about whether Russia did actually try to interfere in the election.
Stone is facing a seven-count indictment: one count of obstructing Congress, five counts of making false statements to Congress, and one count of witness tampering. He faces up to 20 years in prison on the tampering count and up to five years in prison for each of the other charges.
He’s charged with lying or giving misleading information to the House on a number of subjects, including: allegedly saying he didn't have any records of communications about the hacked DNC materials, when he did; saying that he hadn't directed associates to contact WikiLeaks, when he had; saying he only had one intermediary with WikiLeaks, when there were two, Credico and Corsi; and saying that he hadn't discussed his conversations with an intermediary about WikiLeaks with the Trump campaign, when he had.
Prosecutors on Wednesday showed the jury messages between Stone (who served as an unofficial adviser to Trump during the 2016 campaign) and top campaign officials and key supporters, underscoring Stone’s efforts to influence the direction of the campaign. The jury saw an email Stone sent to Paul Manafort, then the Trump campaign chair, on Aug. 3, 2016, with the subject line “I have an idea” and the body text, “To save Trump’s ass.”
That email to Manafort was sent the day after Stone received a message from Corsi telling Stone that “word is friend in embassy plans 2 more dumps,” according to evidence introduced by the government on Wednesday.The jury saw an email that Stone had sent to Corsi the previous month telling him to “Get to Assange,” who was living at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London at the time.
Later in August 2016, shortly after Stone messaged with Corsi about getting additional information from WikiLeaks, Stone told Steve Bannon, then the Trump campaign chair, in another email shown to the jury on Wednesday: “I do know how to win this but it ain’t pretty.”
The jury saw an email on Oct. 3, 2016, from Stone to Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater who supported Trump’s campaign but wasn’t formally part of it. Stone told Prince that he “spoke to my friend in London last night” and that “the payload is still coming” — the same day that Stone was texting with Credico, who sent Stone selfies outside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, an FBI case agent testified.
On Oct. 4, 2016, after Assange gave a much-anticipated press conference but didn’t release any new information from the DNC servers, the jury saw an email from Bannon to Stone asking what had happened. He replied that there were “security” concerns, but that there would be “a load every week going forward.”
Rogow argued that Stone’s communications with Bannon, Gates, and Prince only reflected their shared interest in Trump’s success and a “joint effort” to get Trump elected.
“That is not a crime. That’s a First Amendment right that people have,” Rogow said.
Stone is also accused of trying to convince Credico to lie to Congress about their communications, and of threatening him when he pushed back. Prosecutors alleged that in December 2017, as Credico faced a congressional subpoena to testify, Stone asked him to do a "Frank Pentangeli" — a reference to a character in The Godfather Part II who was cooperating with law enforcement but then gave false testimony before Congress after his brother was threatened.
Whether the jury could see
became a source of contention between prosecutors and Stone’s lawyer. The government argued the jury needed to see the clip to fully understand the context of the message to Credico. Stone argued it would be prejudicial. The judge approved a compromise — that the government could read a description of the scene, but not show the film.
The jury also saw messages that the government described as Stone urging Credico to not cooperate with the Mueller investigation. “Waste of your time - tell him to go fuck himself,” Stone messaged Credico, who replied: “Who?” “Mueller,” Stone responded.
Credico is expected to testify.Anticipating attacks on Credico’s credibility, Zelinsky told the jury that Stone knew about some of Credico’s weaknesses — that he had struggled with alcohol and was “excitable” — and those made him a good person to “pin something on.” Zelinsky also tried to anticipate attacks on the credibility of another government witness, former deputy Trump campaign chair Rick Gates, noting that Gates would be testifying as part of a cooperation agreement; Gates took a plea deal after being charged in Mueller’s investigation. The testimony would be backed up by documents, however, Zelinsky said.
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Steve Bannon at Roger Stone trial says Stone claimed ...
https://www.washingtonpost.com › local › legal-issues › 2019/11/08
2 days ago - President Trump's former strategist testifies against Roger Stone in federal court. ... “I know how to win, but it ain't pretty.” Asked what Bannon ...
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Bannon says Stone claimed contacts with WikiLeaks
Rachel Weiner,
Spencer S. Hsu and
Devlin Barrett
November 8, 2019 at 6:51 PM EST
President Trump’s former chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon testified against political consultant Roger Stone on Friday, telling a federal jury that he thought of Stone as the Trump campaign’s liaison to the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks.
Bannon, a high-profile figure in the Trump campaign and the early days of the Trump administration, told the jury he was appearing only because he had been subpoenaed.
While Bannon was one of the most anticipated witnesses at Stone’s trial for allegedly lying to Congress about his efforts in 2016 to contact WikiLeaks, he was also one of the briefest, spending less than an hour under direct examination by prosecutors.
His testimony bolstered the government’s allegations that Stone lied to the House committee investigating Russian election interference when he denied discussing with the Trump campaign WikiLeaks’ release of emails damaging to political rival Hillary Clinton.
“He had a relationship, or told me he had a relationship with WikiLeaks,” Bannon said. “It was something I think he would frequently mention.”
“I was led to believe he had a relationship with WikiLeaks and [its founder] Julian Assange,” Bannon testified, based on Stone’s public statements and conversations going back years.
Stone and Bannon had known each other for a long time before Bannon joined the Trump campaign in August 2016, and they spoke between a half-dozen and a dozen times between then and the November election, Bannon testified.
Bannon said he discussed WikiLeaks with Stone as Stone was trying to learn more about hacked emails that might tank Clinton’s election run. The emails were stolen by Russian agents and shared with WikiLeaks, which released them at critical points in the 2016 election cycle, according to prosecutors.
After releases in summer 2016, Stone emailed Bannon, writing that “Trump can still win, but time is running out,” according to a copy of the message shown to jurors. “I know how to win, but it ain’t pretty.”
Asked what Bannon understood Stone’s email to mean, Bannon noted Stone’s claimed WikiLeaks connection and said: “Roger is an expert in the tougher side of politics.When you’re this far behind, you’re going to have to use every tool in the tool box .?.?. opposition research, dirty tricks, the kind of things campaigns use when you need to make up some ground.”
At one point in October 2016, when an expected revelation from Assange about Clinton emails proved to be a dud, Bannon sent Stone an email asking, “What was that this morning???”
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Bannon, smiling, said on the stand that he sent the message to ask why the much-hyped disclosures did not materialize and also as “a little bit of a heckle; It was twofold.”
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Stone replied that Assange was afraid for his safety but would still end up releasing damaging documents every week.
On cross-examination by Stone’s lawyer Robert Buschel, Bannon conceded that Stone never claimed to him that he had advance access to the hacked emails.
Stone, 67, listened intently, as he has throughout the trial. A longtime confidant of Trump, he has pleaded not guilty, and his attorneys have said any misstatements he made to Congress were unintentional.
Earlier in the day, former radio show host Randy Credico described on the witness stand how Stone urged him not to talk to Congress about their election year conversations. Credico said Stone threatened to damage the career of a close friend and even take away his dog.
Stone is also accused of witness tampering for allegedly trying to thwart Credico’s testimony to Congress. Jurors have seen Stone’s words in texts and emails, but Credico described how he understood Stone’s increasingly angry messages.
Prosecutors say Stone lied to protect the president when questioned in 2017 about WikiLeaks and the campaign. To keep the committee from unraveling those lies, prosecutors have said, Stone needed Credico to keep quiet and resorted to threats to try to ensure that.
Credico said in court Friday that Stone influenced his decision not to testify before the committee. “A lot of people played a role,” he said, “Mr. Stone among them.”
Trial evidence shows Stone texted Credico in April 2018: “You are a rat. A stoolie. You backstab your friends-run your mouth my lawyers are dying Rip you to shreds.” Stone later added: “I am so ready. Let’s get it on. Prepare to die.”
At one point, Stone texted Credico that he would “take that dog away from you,” according to trial evidence.
Credico said he was “sure” Stone knew how important histherapy dog Biancawas to him when he sent that message. But later when questioned by Stone’s defense lawyer, Credico said he never really feared for Bianca’s safety.
Credico said he was more concerned about jeopardizing the reputation of his friend Margaret Kuntsler, who did legal work for WikiLeaks and helped Credico land an Aug. 25, 2016, interview with Assange for his radio show. Once, on Stone’s behalf, Credico said he asked her for WikiLeaks’ help finding emails implicating Clinton in an incident in Libya. Kuntsler testified that she ignored the message, but Credico said Stone threatened to falsely name her as his “backchannel.”
Credico described Stone repeatedly asking him to “do a Frank Pentangeli,” referring to a character from “The Godfather: Part II” who is intimidated into saying at a Senate hearing that he cannot recall information he actually knows.
The defense has suggested that Stone was asking Credico to use his skills as a comic impressionist to imitate Pentangeli. Credico testified he understood the references as a direction to “throw .?.?. off the House Intelligence Committee.”
Credico told the jury that directive made no sense because “there’s a ton of photos and text messages. .?.?. If I did a Frank Pentangeli, I would look like a fool.” But Credico said he was worried that if he testified honestly, he might become the victim of “some kind of smear job” by Stone.
On cross-examination, Stone’s attorney painted Credico as a liar who made Stone believe he had a close connection to Assange. Credico readily admitted: “There were exaggerations, there were lies, there were rebuffs, yes.”
The defense tried to argue that Credico refused to testify before the House committee not because Stone threatened him but because of his own liberal political leanings.
“You did not want to be associated with the Donald Trump campaign?” Buschel asked.
“Absolutely. Would you?” Credico replied, adding later: “I did not want to be connected with Donald Trump at all.”
A conspiracy of hunches: Roger Stone trial set to start this week
Roger Stone trial: Day 1 of testimony
Key witness takes stand in Roger Stone trial
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wapo
Jerome Corsi
Author
Randy Credico
Radio host
Jason Sullivan
Social media consultant
Stone associates whom Mueller has questioned about a potential WikiLeaks connection.
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