Russia Probe: Roger Stone Associate Jerome Corsi Negotiating Plea Deal With Mueller
“It’s true. Your story is accurate,” Roger Stone associate, conservative conspiracy theorist, and prominent “birther” Jerome Corsi told the Washington Post, confirming speculation that he is negotiating a plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller. Corsi is now reportedly willing to cooperate and plead guilty in exchange for leniency. For Mueller’s Russia probe, Corsi’s cooperation could be a game-changer.
Roger Stone and Jerome Corsi’s cooperation and Corsi’s apparent willingness to strike a plea deal could shed light on Mueller’s claim that the Trump campaign was linked to WikiLeaks’ release of hacked Democratic emails during the 2016 presidential election. Stone and WikiLeaks have denied coordination, but in August 2016 – before WikiLeaks published the emails – the Republican operative tweeted, “It will soon the Podesta’s time in the barrel,” referring to former counselor to President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.
But Stone and Corsi’s account of what went on in 2016 are contradictory. In a recent interview with the conservative Daily Caller, Jerome Corsi revealed that Robert Mueller’s Russia probe team remains focused on alleged coordination between him and WikiLeaks. However, Corsi claims to have never been given any information pertaining to Democratic emails. He insists that he came up with a theory of his own.
“When I flew to Italy in July and early August 2016 for my 25th wedding anniversary, I really put it together,” he said, adding that special counsel rejected the explanation.
Stone associate Jerome Corsi is in plea negotiations with special counsel, according to a person with knowledge of the talks https://t.co/boB1ISHVBC
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) November 23, 2018
“They said they wanted me to tell the truth, but when I did tell the truth they told me it was preposterous, and they wouldn’t accept it. And that’s when it got incredibly difficult for me,” Corsi recounted for the Daily Caller, which notes that the conspiracy theorist tweeted on numerous occasions that WikiLeaks is about to drop confidential information pertaining to Hillary Clinton.
But Trump associate Roger Stone insists that Jerome Corsi never suggested that he is coordinating with WikiLeaks, or that he has knowledge about the whistleblower organization’s information drops.
“He simply told me of their Russian business deals in banking gas and uranium,” Stone recounted for the Washington Post.
Having found himself entangled in Mueller’s Russia Probe, Stone is being accused of intimidating alleged witness radio host Randy Credico, whose account of the events vastly differs from both Stone and Jerome Corsi’s, according to Axios. Both men are now, so it seems, desperate to strike a plea deal with Robert Mueller in an effort to avoid jail time as the special counsel expands his investigation.
Both Corsi and Stone are known collaborators and advisers of President Donald Trump, who is being accused of coordinating with Kremlin officials to sway the 2016 presidential election in his favor.
