Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators have been asking witnesses whether Donald Trump knew about the theft of Democratic emails that rocked the 2016 presidential campaign.
Investigators want to know if Trump knew in advance that WikiLeaks had the emails and was preparing to publish them – and whether he was involved with their release, NBC reported, quoting people familiar with the probe.
The timing of the release of the stolen emails was auspicious for Trump’s campaign: embarrassing DNC emails filled with infighting came out on the eve of the Democratic National Convention, and emails belonging to Clinton campaign chair John Podesta came out in in the final weeks of the campaign, in October and November.
Probers are also asking about a notorious Trump public comment inviting Russia to hack rival Hillary Clinton’s emails in July of 2016. Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the comment was a joke. Trump said: ‘Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.’
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators have been asking witnesses whether Donald Trump knew about the theft of Democratic emails that rocked the 2016 presidential campaign
The shadowy interactions of longtime Trump advisor Roger Stone have also become a subject of inquiry. Stone testified that he was in contact with WikiLeaks, but only through an intermediary, whom he later identified as a New York comedian.
Stone has advised Trump for decades, and is credited with helping persuade him to run and helping shape the outlines of his political persona.
The Atlantic published newly revealed private Twitter messages between Stone and WikiLeaks, an account thatfounds Julian Assange said is manned by staff.
A person familiar with the line of questioning told NBC investigators wanted to know if Stone had ever met Assange, and whether Stone was in fact working for Trump.
Stone wrote WikiLeaks Oct. 13, 2016: ‘Since I was all over national TV, cable and print defending wikileaks and assange against the claim that you are Russian agents and debunking the false charges of sexual assault as trumped up bs you may want to rexamine the strategy of attacking me- cordially R.’
The Wikileaks account responded, according to screen shots published in the article: ‘We appreciate that. However, the false claims of association are being used by the democrats to undermine the impact of our publications. Don’t go there if you don’t want us to correct you .’
Investigators are also interested in longtime Trump advisor Roger Stone’s communications with WikiLeaks and his role advising Trump. Here Stone, a former confidant to President Trump speaks to the media after appearing before the House Intelligence Committee during a closed door hearing, September 26, 2017 in Washington, DC
WikiLeaks published Democratic National Committee emails and years of messages from Clinton chief of staff John Podesta during the campiagn
The group also wrote Stone the day after Trump stunned the political world and won the election. ”Happy? We are now more free to communicate,’ said the message.
With respect to Stone, an avid defender of Trump’s who says he helped design his run for president, investigators are probing the longtime connection between the two men and whether Stone was still working for Trump after the campaign said he was no longer associated with it.
‘They wanted to see if there was a scheme. Was Stone working on the side for Trump?’ said one person who was interviewed, saying investigators wanted to know, ‘Was this a big plot?’
At the same time, investigators on Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team are investigating Trump’s business ties to Russia during the period before he ran for president in 2016.
Mueller’s prosecutors have been asking witnesses in the ongoing probe into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 elections questions about when Trump decided he would run for president.
Investigators on Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team are taking an interest in Donald Trump’s (seen right in Moscow with Miss Universe Gabriela Isler of Venezuela in 2013) business ties to Russia before he ran for president in 2016, it was reported on Tuesday
They are focused on the 2014 period, when Trump was moving toward making a run – as well as the financials and other matters regarding the 2013 Trump-owned Miss Universe pageant, which was held in Mosco.
Sources close to the investigation said that Mueller wants to know about any potential compromising information that Russia may have about Trump, CNN reported as it revealed the lines of questioning.
Mueller is also inquiring as to why plans for a Trump Tower in Moscow fell through, sources told CNN – while questioners also are trying to explore the possibility that Russians obtained compromising information on the president.
Mueller wants to know details about a plan by Trump to build a Trump Tower in Moscow together with two Russian real estate developers – Aras Agalarov (seen right with Trump in Moscow in 2013) and his son, Emin Agalarov (left)
Trump has steadfastly denied that his presidential campaign colluded with the Russian government to help him defeat Hillary Clinton.
One witness reportedly told Mueller’s team that Trump first became serious about running for president in 2014 – even though the president tweeted recently that he ‘didn’t know’ he was going to run for the White House until 2015.
Mueller’s investigators were also said to be interested in any compromising information that Russia may have on Trump – an allegation laid out in the infamous ‘Steele dossier’ of damaging information about Trump.
Trump’s most well-known public appearance in Russia came in 2013, when he served as a judge at the Miss Universe pageant in Moscow.
Last year, Mueller (seen above in 2008) was appointed as special counsel to investigate alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election
The claims of compromising information are included in the dossier compiled by a former British intelligence agent, Christopher Steele. Passages in the dossier – whose research was funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee – describe a stay by Trump at the Ritz Carlton Hotel.
According to the dossier, the contents of which have been vehemently denied by Trump and the Russian government, Trump arranged to stay at the presidential suite where President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, had stayed on a prior visit.
During Trump’s stay, it is alleged that he watched as prostitutes urinated on one another while on the bed in a ‘golden showers’ routine.
The dossier alleged that Trump’s lewd sexual behavior in Russia was recorded by the Kremlin’s intelligence agencies and held as ‘kompromat’, or damaging information which it has used to blackmail Trump.
Mueller is also reportedly trying to corroborate details from a dossier written by British ex-spy Christopher Steele (above)
Mueller’s investigators are reportedly interested in the financing of the Miss Universe pageant, an event that was once owned by the Trump Organization.
The Moscow pageant came about as a result of a partnership between Trump and Aras Agalarov, a billionaire real estate developer, and his son, Emin Agalarov.
Last year, Donald Trump Jr told Congress that the Trump Organization and the Agalarovs held ‘preliminary discussions’ to build a tower in Moscow.
Those plans, however, never came to fruition because of the economic downturn in Russia caused by Western sanctions.
Talks for a potential Trump Tower in Moscow were reportedly re-started by Michael Cohen, the president’s personal lawyer.
But those talks ended in 2016.
While it has been known Trump pursued business opportunities in Russia, he has consistently said that he had ‘nothing to do with Russia.’
As recently as Tuesday, he called the Mueller probe a ‘WITCH HUNT!’
The relationships between Trump and his associates and officials from the Russian government have attracted scrutiny since the hacking of emails belonging to Democratic Party officials.
US intelligence officials believe that President Vladimir Putin directed Russian hackers to wreak havoc on social media and the internet as part of an overall effort to help Trump and hurt Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
Russia has denied the allegations.