Texts show Roger Stone worked to get Julian Assange a blanket pardon from Trump

[Borealis]

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/10/text-messages-show-roger-stone-was-working-to-get-a-pardon-for-wikileaks-julian-assange/4/

In early January, Roger Stone, the longtime Republican operative and adviser to Donald Trump, sent a text message to an associate stating that he was actively seeking a presidential
pardon for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange—and felt optimistic about his chances. “I am working with others to get JA a blanket pardon,” Stone wrote, in a January 6 exchange of
text messages obtained by Mother Jones. “It’s very real and very possible. Don’t fuck it up.” Thirty-five minutes later, Stone added, “Something very big about to go down.”

The recipient of the messages was Randy Credico, a New York-based comedian and left-leaning political activist whom Stone has identified as his back channel to WikiLeaks during
the 2016 campaign—a claim Credico strongly denies. As Mueller’s team zeroes in on Stone, they have examined his push for an Assange pardon—which could be seen as an attempt to
interfere with the Russia probe—and have questioned at least one of Stone’s associates about the effort. 

Assange has not been publicly charged with a crime in the United States, though the Justice Department has investigated WikiLeaks over its publication of classified material and role
in releasing emails pilfered from Democratic targets by hackers working for Russian intelligence. Last year, Attorney General Jeff Sessions described arresting Assange, who for the
last six years has taken refuge in Ecuador’s London embassy to evade criminal charges in Sweden stemming from a rape allegation, as a “priority.” Justice Department prosecutors
have considered charges against Assange since 2010, when WikiLeaks released more than a quarter million diplomatic cables.

Credico says Stone repeatedly discussed his effort to win a pardon for Assange. At one point, he notes, Stone claimed he was working with Andrew Napolitano, a Fox News personality
and former New Jersey Superior Court judge, on a plan in which Napolitano would float the idea on his show or directly to Trump. Napolitano said in a statement that he “categorically
denies” working with Stone to secure a pardon for Assange. 

Stone confirmed the pardon effort but declined to answer specific questions. “I most definitely advocated a pardon for Assange,” he said in an email. He also said he had “most
certainly urged my friend Andrew Napolitano” to support an Assange pardon.

It is not clear how far Stone’s effort went, and Credico says he wondered if Stone was being truthful. Stone, he notes, also claimed to have helped convince Trump to pardon former
Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona, in August 2017. A supporter of WikiLeaks and its enigmatic leader, Credico says Stone’s text messages concerning an Assange pardon
were part of a barrage of communications the Republican operative sent him earlier this year in a bid to convince him not to dispute Stone’s description of Credico as his WikiLeaks
go-between. “He was trying to get me not to talk,” Credico contends.

The special counsel’s scrutiny has many people, including Stone, speculating that the self-described dirty trickster may be indicted after the midterm elections. As Stone recently
emailed supporters while drumming up donations to his legal defense fund, “Robert Mueller is coming for me.”

[advancedlamb]

Good? If anyone deserves it, it's a whistleblower, I suppose. Better than that fucking concentration camp runner, Arpaio I think.

[Orpheus]

I hope Mueller serves him his indictment one letter at a time on a truckload of DOJ letterhead.

[Big Dumb Patriot]

Stone will be indicted, likely in a sweep or indictments coming immediately after midterms. As a matter of decorum, the DOJ has refrained from making any major announcements that could "impact the elections" over the last fifty days, but will be forced to produce actionable information to justify the Mueller investigation's continued progress once the election is over.

Stone is virtually guaranteed to be indicted. There's also a high probability that the indictments will, for the first time, cut directly into Trump's family with indictments leveled at Kushner and Trump Jr, judging by what is publicly known.