Roger Stone, a longtime ally and former campaign adviser for President Donald Trump, insists that he had "no obligation" to turn over emails he sent during the 2016 presidential campaign to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in an attempt to get information about Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
"The emails referenced fell outside the precisely worded scope of the House Intelligence Committee request," Stone told Politico. "I had no obligation to turn them over and the content of them merely confirms my claim that I was utilizing a back channel and never communicated directly with WikiLeaks or Assange."
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that Stone tried to get information he considered damaging. In a Sept. 18, 2016, email, at a time when he had no formal role in the Trump campaign, Stone urged an acquaintance who knew Assange to ask him for emails related to Clinton's alleged role in disrupting a Libyan peace deal in 2011 when she was secretary of state, the Journal reported.
"Please ask Assange for any State or HRC e-mail from August 10 to August 30 – particularly on August 20, 2011," Stone wrote in one of his emails to Randy Credico, a New York radio personality who had interviewed Assange several weeks earlier, using Clinton's initials in his request.
The Journal, citing other emails, said the messages could bring questions about the Stone testimony before the House Intelligence Committee this past September. At that time, he said he "merely wanted confirmation" from an acquaintance that Assange had information about Clinton.
Stone told Politico that there was "nothing improper with my request to determine whether Wikileaks had any material on the murder of [Libyan dictator] Moammar Gadhafi."
He further said he'd received "a credible report' that the dictator [had] reached an agreement to abdicate and leave the country with our State department but was murdered anyway. The WSJ story is entirely consistent with my sworn testimony to the House Intelligence Committee and the September request is a legitimate journalistic inquiry."