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Trump Predicted More Leaks Amid WikiLeaks Releases in 2016, Ex-Aide Testifies Trump Predicted More Leaks Amid WikiLeaks Releases in 2016, Ex-Aide Testifies
(about 4 hours later)
WASHINGTON — Donald J. Trump told a top aide during the height of the 2016 campaign that “more information would be coming” — an apparent reference to upcoming releases by WikiLeaks of hacked Democratic emails, the aide, Rick Gates, said on Tuesday during testimony in the trial of Roger J. Stone Jr. The candidate made the comment after a July 2016 phone call with Mr. Stone, Mr. Gates said. WASHINGTON — Days after the rogue website WikiLeaks posted a trove of stolen Democratic Party emails during the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald J. Trump talked by phone with Roger J. Stone Jr., a longtime friend who claimed to have connections to WikiLeaks, then told a top aide that “more information would be coming,” the aide testified in Mr. Stone’s criminal trial on Tuesday.
Russian operatives stole tens of thousands of emails from Democratic computers in early 2016 and funneled them to WikiLeaks as part of an effort to sabotage the 2016 race and improve Mr. Trump’s chances of election. The aide, Rick Gates, said he did not hear the substance of the July 31, 2016, call. Nor did he say that Mr. Trump mentioned WikiLeaks, the organization that had received tens of thousands of emails stolen by Russian operatives seeking to sabotage the campaign of his opponent, Hillary Clinton.
Mr. Trump and Mr. Stone talked by phone on July 31 as Mr. Trump rode to La Guardia Airport, nine days after WikiLeaks had rattled Hillary Clinton’s campaign by releasing thousands of stolen Democratic emails, Mr. Gates testified. Although he could not hear the conversation from his seat in the back of the S.U.V. they were riding in, Mr. Gates said, he could see Mr. Stone’s cellphone number on a console. As soon as he hung up, he said, Mr. Trump turned to him and predicted more information would be released. But the context of the exchange suggests that Mr. Stone briefed Mr. Trump on whatever he had picked up about the website’s plans. In written answers that President Trump supplied during the special counsel’s investigation of Russian influence in the campaign, he said he did not recall the specifics of any of his 21 phone calls with Mr. Stone in the six months before the election. He also said he did not recall knowing that his campaign advisers were in touch with Mr. Stone about WikiLeaks.
His testimony underscored the limits of President Trump’s cooperation with the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, who this spring finished his two-year investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Mr. Trump refused to be interviewed, agreeing only to respond to written questions, a stance that frustrated the special counsel’s team. Mr. Gates’s testimony revealed other new details about the Trump campaign’s intense interest in how WikiLeaks might disrupt Mrs. Clinton’s campaign. Much of what he said in court was covered in the 448-page report by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, but it was blacked out in the version released publicly last spring to protect grand jury secrecy or open cases, a person familiar with the report said.
In written answers, Mr. Trump said he recalled no conversations with Mr. Stone during the six months before he was elected. He also said he did not recall ever discussing WikiLeaks with Mr. Stone, or knowing that his campaign aides were talking to Mr. Stone about WikiLeaks. In conversations with the Trump campaign as early as April 2016, Mr. Gates said, Mr. Stone had predicted releases of Democratic documents that would prove helpful to Mr. Trump. That was roughly three months before WikiLeaks released its first tranche of stolen emails, throwing the Clinton campaign on the defensive on the eve of the Democratic National Convention.
Mr. Gates said that “for months” before WikiLeaks’ July 22 release of emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee, Mr. Stone had predicted to Mr. Trump’s aides that WikiLeaks had planned moves that would damage Mrs. Clinton. Campaign officials had brainstormed about how to react, he said, but their confidence in Mr. Stone’s predictions faltered as weeks passed and nothing happened. “It was, in a way, a gift,” Mr. Gates testified about the July 22 release of tens of thousands of emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee. He said the Trump campaign was “in a state of happiness” that Mr. Stone’s predictions had come true.
When WikiLeaks disclosed nearly 20,000 emails that embarrassed Mrs. Clinton just before the Democratic National Convention, the Trump campaign “was in a state of happiness,” Mr. Gates said. “It was in a way a gift.” Mr. Stone, a former Trump campaign aide and 40-year friend of the president’s, repeatedly told top campaign officials that he was privy to inside information from WikiLeaks through his connections with Julian Assange, the organization’s founder. He now says that he was only boasting and had access to only public sources of information.
WikiLeaks then released more emails in October and November that Russian operatives stole from the computer of John D. Podesta, the chairman of Mrs. Clinton’s campaign. Some of those emails cast the campaign in a negative light and kicked off last-minute controversies before the election. Phone records introduced into evidence in Mr. Stone’s trial suggest that he kept in close touch with Mr. Trump and his top campaign aides. From March to November 2016, the records show, Mr. Stone had 39 calls with Mr. Trump, 126 calls with Mr. Gates and 153 calls with Paul Manafort, who was forced to resign as campaign chairman that August but continued to informally advise the campaign.
Much of what Mr. Gates said in court is reflected in Mr. Mueller’s 448-page report, parts of which were blacked out because of secrecy rules governing grand jury evidence and other issues, a person familiar with the report said. In the final three months of the race, Mr. Stone tried to dispatch two intermediaries to get either stolen emails or information from Mr. Assange. Both of them have testified under oath that they were unsuccessful.
Mr. Stone, a 40-year friend and former campaign adviser of Mr. Trump’s, is on trial on charges of lying to the House Intelligence Committee. At the time, the committee was conducting its own investigation into Russia’s interference in the election, including the role of WikiLeaks. After its July 22 release, WikiLeaks went dark for months. Then, at a critical moment, it released thousands of emails stolen from the account of John D. Podesta, Mrs. Clinton’s campaign chairman. That release distracted attention from an explosive audio tape in which Mr. Trump was heard bragging about grabbing women’s genitals.
Mr. Stone is also charged with trying to block the testimony of another witness who would have contradicted his account. Mr. Stone is on trial for lying to the House Intelligence Committee in September 2017 about his efforts to contact WikiLeaks and with trying to block the testimony of another witness whose account would have contradicted his. At the time, the committee was conducting a parallel inquiry to Mr. Mueller’s into Russian interference in the election, including the role of WikiLeaks.
Prosecutors, who wrapped up their case on Tuesday morning, said Mr. Stone, 67, lied because the truth about his attempts to reach Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, would have reflected badly on Mr. Trump and his campaign. Defense lawyers have argued that Mr. Stone never deliberately misled investigators, but simply confined his answers to what he believed were the strict parameters of the committee’s inquiry. Prosecutors claim that Mr. Stone lied because the truth about his efforts to reach WikiLeaks would have embarrassed Mr. Trump and his campaign. They rested their case on Tuesday after presenting four days of evidence.
Amy Berman Jackson, the federal judge overseeing the trial in Washington, said she expects the case to go the jury by Wednesday, unless she grants a defense motion for acquittal filed Tuesday. Defense lawyers have argued that Mr. Stone never deliberately misled congressional investigators, but simply confined his answers to what he believed were the strict parameters of the committee’s inquiry. They played a 50-minute-long recording of Mr. Stone’s testimony to the House committee, then rested their case, as well.
The charges against Mr. Stone carry a maximum penalty of 20 years, although the punishment for a defendant with no criminal record, like Mr. Stone, would almost certainly be far lighter. Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who is overseeing the trial in Washington, said she expected the case to go to the jury by Wednesday, far sooner than had been expected. The charges against Mr. Stone, 67, carry a maximum penalty of 20 years, although the punishment for a defendant with no criminal record, like Mr. Stone, would almost certainly be far lighter.
Mr. Gates, who served as Mr. Trump’s deputy campaign chairman, has been a prominent witness in criminal prosecutions by Mr. Mueller’s team against Mr. Trump’s former aides. After pleading guilty to conspiracy and lying to federal investigators in early 2018, he testified about financial crimes he committed with Paul Manafort, Mr. Trump’s onetime campaign chairman. Mr. Manafort was convicted and is now serving a seven-and-a-half-year prison term. Mr. Gates, who served as Mr. Trump’s deputy campaign chairman, has been a prominent witness in a series of criminal prosecutions by Mr. Mueller’s team against Mr. Trump’s former aides. After pleading guilty to conspiracy and lying to federal investigators in early 2018, he testified about financial crimes he committed with Mr. Manafort, who was convicted and is now serving a seven-and-a-half-year prison term.
Mr. Gates, who may be sentenced next month, is hoping that his cooperation with federal prosecutors will spare him a prison term, leaving him instead on probation. Mr. Gates, who may be sentenced next month, is hoping that his cooperation with federal prosecutors will spare him a prison term, leaving him instead on probation. Over all, he said, federal investigators or prosecutors have interviewed him about 40 or 50 times.
Like Stephen K. Bannon, another former top Trump campaign official, he testified that Mr. Stone implied that he had inside information from WikiLeaks about the content or timing of its releases of the stolen Democratic emails. He said Mr. Stone had asked for the contact information for Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and a senior campaign adviser, and for another top political aide, so he could pass information to them.
The Stone case is the third in which Mr. Gates has appeared as a prosecution witness. He also testified in August in a high-profile case against Gregory B. Craig, an aide to former President Barack Obama who was found not guilty of charges related to foreign lobbying. Mr. Gates said Tuesday that F.B.I. agents and prosecutors had interviewed him about 40 to 50 times.
Besides the cases against Mr. Stone and Mr. Gates, there is one other prosecution brought by Mr. Mueller that remains to be resolved. Michael T. Flynn, a former national security adviser for Mr. Trump who pleaded guilty to lying to F.B.I. agents in 2017, awaits sentencing.
Adam Goldman contributed reporting.Adam Goldman contributed reporting.