'5 categories of lies': Prosecutors tie Roger Stone's alleged crimes to Trump and his campaign

Kristine Phillips | USA TODAY

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WASHINGTON — Roger Stone spun a web of lies to hide his back-channel efforts to push for the release of stolen emails that would damage then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and help his longtime ally, then-Republican candidate Donald Trump, win the presidency, a federal prosecutor told a jury Wednesday.

And these back-channel efforts reached senior members of the Trump campaign, including the candidate himself, Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron Zelinsky said during his opening arguments, tying Stone's alleged crimes directly to Trump.

"Roger Stone lied … because the truth looked bad for the Trump campaign and the truth looked bad for Donald Trump," Zelinsky said.

Stone, a fixture in GOP politics known for his flamboyance and combativeness, is on trial this week on accusations he lied to Congress about his interactions with the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks, an international anti-secrecy group, during the 2016 presidential race. He also is accused of trying to force a witness to lie.

His defense attorney, Bruce Rogow, told jurors that Stone did not "intentionally" or "willfully" mislead Congress. He said Stone testified voluntarily – and not because of a subpoena – before the House Intelligence Committee in 2017 during its investigation into Russian meddling in the previous election and possible links to the Trump campaign.

"The evidence will show that’s not the usual way that people go to a committee hearing … especially if they are intending to lie," Rogow said.

Stone, 67, is among the most prominent Trump allies to be charged as part of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia's interference. The spectacle of his trial could reinvigorate the Trump-Russia controversy as the president faces accusations he sought to have another country, Ukraine, interfere to damage a political opponent.

Trump impeachment inquiry: Read all the transcripts from the closed-door testimony in the Trump impeachment inquiry

The trial, which could last about two weeks, comes amid a fast-moving impeachment inquiry that has yielded damning testimony about the Trump administration's efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, the president's potential 2020 Democratic rival.

Stone, who has maintained his innocence, faces seven charges: one count of obstruction of an official proceeding, five counts of false statements and one count of witness tampering. Wearing a dark gray suit, Stone appeared at his trial accompanied by his wife and daughter.

'Five categories of lies'

During opening arguments Wednesday, Zelinsky outlined the "five categories of lies" that Stone told the House Intelligence Committee.

First, Zelinsky said, Stone denied the existence of hundreds of written communications in which he talked about WikiLeaks, its founder Julian Assange and damaging emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee. Second, Stone lied about having multiple intermediaries – two people he relied on to pass information to and from WikiLeaks, Zelinsky told jurors.

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Third, Stone denied asking these intermediaries to be his conduit to WikiLeaks. Zelinsky said that Stone, in fact, requested one of these former associates, right-wing political commentator Jerome Corsi, to go to London and "get pending Wikileaks emails" from Assange.

Assange, at the time, was on a self-imposed exile at the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Stone also asked the other associate, radio host Randy Credico, to confer with Assange about potentially damaging emails about Libya and Clinton, who was then secretary of state, Zelinksy said.

Stone also told the House Intelligence Committee that he never had written communications with Credico and Corsi about their back-channel efforts — despite the existence of "hundreds and hundreds and hundreds" of text messages and emails, Zelinsky said.

Finally, Stone told the committee he never discussed his efforts with the Trump campaign — the last set of lies he told Congress, Zelinsky said.

Prosecutors point to phone records showing Stone and Trump spoke multiple times in the summer of 2016, though they do not know what the two talked about. Stone "dispatched" Corsi to make contact with WikiLeaks that July, an hour after Stone and Trump talked on the phone.

In August 2016, around the time that Stone was publicly acknowledging he was communicating with WikiLeaks through an intermediary, he told former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort in an email that he knew how to help Trump win.

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"But it ain't pretty," he said in another email that month to Steve Bannon, who was the campaign's chief executive.

In early October 2016, WikiLeaks began releasing a massive amount of hacked emails stolen from John Podesta, Clinton's former campaign chairman. The email dumps continued until Election Day.

"Roger Stone could easily have told the truth ... But Roger Stone didn’t do that. He didn’t even come close. Instead, he repeatedly lied to the House Intelligence Committee. He did it because if he told the truth, as he said before, it wasn’t pretty. It would look bad," Zelinsky said.

Stone's state of mind

Stone's defense attorney acknowledged the existence of text messages and emails. But "what isn’t there for you to see is Mr. Stone’s state of mind" when he testified before the House Intelligence Committee in September 2017, Rogow told jurors.

Rogow said the scope of the committee's investigation was not what WikiLeaks or Assange did, but what Russia did. Mueller's two-year investigation found that Russian intelligence stole the DNC emails and passed them to WikiLeaks.

Stone's "belief, his state of mind, is that the Russians did not collude with the Trump campaign," Rogow said. "His state of mind undermines any argument that he did this in a conscious, evil, purposeful way to mislead the committee."

He said prosecutors "plucked out" only a few questions out of the hundreds that Stone answered during his three-hour congressional testimony. Any knowledge Stone had about WikiLeaks' plans was from publicly available sources, Rogow added.

Stone is also accused of trying to force Credico, who was subpoenaed by the House Intelligence Committee, to lie, invoking Mafia references from "The Godfather" trilogy and threatening Credico's dog.

Trump impeachment inquiry: Read all the transcripts from the closed-door testimony in the Trump impeachment inquiry

Stone's defense team portrayed Credico — and Corsi — as opportunists who used Stone and engaged in "political machinations" to make themselves look important.

"These people were playing Mr. Stone, and Mr. Stone took the bait ... There was no intermediary between Roger Stone and Julian Assange. It’s made-up stuff," Rogow told jurors.

Rogow also said Stone’s communications with members of the Trump campaign were part of "a joint effort to get Trump elected.

"That is not a crime," he said.

Five other former Trump campaign allies and aides have been indicted or convicted since 2017 as part of Mueller's Russia investigation.

Manafort is serving more than seven years in prison after he was convicted on several charges, including defrauding banks and taxpayers out of millions of dollars amassed through illicit lobbying.

Former national security adviser Michael Flynn awaits sentencing pleaded guilty to making false statements to investigators about his contacts with a Russian ambassador. He has not been sentenced.

Michael Cohen, Trump's former personal attorney, is serving three years in prison after admitting he lied to Congress about plans to build a Trump Tower in Russia. Former campaign adviser George Papadopoulos, who is running for Congress, served a two-week prison sentence last year after admitting he lied to investigators about his contacts with Russians.

Another former campaign aide, Rick Gates, pleaded guilty to lying to investigators. His sentencing has been put on hold as he cooperates in other cases, including Stone's. He may testify at Stone's trial.