But in 2017, when Congress began investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election, Stone tried to cover up all of that, Mueller charges. Stone told the House Intelligence Committee that he didn’t have any relevant documents, which turned out to be false. He disclosed using Credico as an intermediary to WikiLeaks, but not Corsi. He said he’d never asked an intermediary to communicate anything to Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks head, and he said he’d never discussed with the Trump campaign any communications he’d had with WikiLeaks. All of these claims turned out to be false as well, as Mueller documented with written communications.

Stone also tried to persuade Credico to lie in his sworn testimony, making reference to the Godfather: Part II character Frank Pentangeli. (Credico replied, “You should have just been honest with the House Intel committee … you’ve opened yourself up to perjury charges like an idiot.”) As a result of all of this, Mueller charged Stone with obstruction, six counts of making false statements, and witness tampering.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Friday that “this has nothing to do with the president, and certainly nothing to do with the White House.” Yet the indictment makes clear the close connections between the Trump campaign and the behavior involved, and Trump has also praised Stone publicly for saying he would not testify against the president. Testify about what?

Much of what is revealed in Friday’s indictment was already partially made clear in a draft document from Mueller’s team that Corsi leaked to the press in November, which sketched out many of the communications between Stone and Assange, via Corsi and Credico.

Yet much of it was known long before that. Stone took remarkably little effort to conceal his communications with WikiLeaks during the campaign. On August 8, 2016, speaking to a Republican group in Florida, Stone said, “I actually have communicated with Assange. I believe the next tranche of his documents pertain to the Clinton Foundation, but there’s no telling what the October surprise may be.” Four days later, during an interview, he again said he had been in touch with Assange, but added that he was “not at liberty to discuss what I have.” In two interviews on August 16, he again boasted about communications with Assange via a “mutual acquaintance who is a fine gentleman.” On August 21, he correctly predicted the leak of the Clinton-campaign chairman John Podesta’s emails, tweeting, “Trust me, it will soon [be] Podesta’s time in the barrel.” On August 23, on Credico’s radio show, Stone said, “We have a mutual friend, somebody we both trust, and therefore I am a recipient of pretty good information.” He twice tweeted semi-cryptic teases in the days before an October 7 WikiLeaks dump, too.