Roger Stone, who was a political adviser to President Donald Trump for years, describes himself as a confidant of the president. Roger Stone says he’ll testify this month in House Russia probe

Roger Stone, a longtime associate of President Donald Trump who has boasted of his connections to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, said Thursday he expects to testify later this month in the House’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

The Sept. 26 hearing, he said, will be closed to the public.


Stone has previously indicated that he would be testifying on Capitol Hill only to see his appearances rescheduled or canceled. Committee officials declined to confirm whether Stone was officially on the docket this time.

Stone has denied any improper contacts with Russians or their allies in the course of the 2016 campaign. But Democrats have pointed to his tweets in the summer of 2016 that seemed to presage the mass release of stolen emails by WikiLeaks as potential evidence of collusion between Trump associates and Russia.

Stone, who was a political adviser to Trump for years and describes himself as a confidant of the president, regularly blasts House Intelligence Committee ranking Democrat Adam Schiff and has demanded a public appearance, though it appears those requests have been denied.

“I have again asked for immediate release of the transcripts so that there will be no confusion or misinformation about my testimony,” Stone said in a statement. “I very much look forward to testifying and I am anxious to correct a number of the misstatements by committee members regarding my activities in 2016."

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Stone aroused suspicion in August last year when he claimed to have communicated with Assange. He’s also acknowledged exchanging messages with Guccifer 2.0, a persona believed to be the front for Russia’s operation to hack the Democratic National Committee. But he has said the communication with Guccifer 2.0 was innocuous and posted message exchanges that he said prove that.

