Thread by @grantstern

**** THREAD *****

Roger Stone told me that he communicated with Donald Trump throughout the campaign in an exclusive interview and I'm going to break down why that's important here, with audio and links.

#TrumpRussia #TheResistance

Last May, I met Stone at iHeartRadio studios after a national broadcast with @AmandiOnAir on @WIOD.

Fernand Amandi photographed us chatting and this is the interview.

soundcloud.com/grantstern/exc…

Roger Stone's a dogged debater when you go off the topics he's interested in pushing. On May 1st, 2017 there was no Special Counsel and former FBI Director James @Comey wouldn't testify for two more days.

So I asked Stone first about his role in Trump's hiring of Paul Manafort.

I knew of Roger Stone's past business with Paul Manafort, and at the time it wasn't clear who brought him onto Trump's campaign.

Donald Trump fires many people, but never seems to get rid of any of them... especially if they're offering "free" advice. Roger Stone maintains that he quit the Trump Campaign, but he told me in detail about his relationship with Trump from 2015 until the election.

Last week, @NatashaBertrand revealed Roger Stone's DMs with @wikileaks during the #TrumpRussia campaign while @JulianAssange was busy strategically leaking Hillary Clinton's emails.

theatlantic.com/politics/archi…

When you combine Stone's prior denials of any discussions with @Wikileaks with @NatashaBertrand's story and my reporting there's only one logical conclusion:

Roger Stone was the campaign's back channel to #Wikileaks

washingtonpress.com/2018/02/27/rog…

Roger Stone's complete testimony to Congress is still confidential but the portion he released left his role with Trump open to interpretation.

Stone was less forthcoming in subsequent interviews about divulging his private conversations with Trump.

thesternfacts.com/exclusive-roge…

The remainder of the interview was about Roger Stone's "Stop the Steal" PAC which he called an "exit polling" operation, but about which he could recall virtually no details other than operating in Cuyahoga County, Ohio which includes Cleveland.

Stone never released his results.

I spoke with Roger Stone for about six minutes, and he ended our discussion with both a tremendous compliment and a foreboding admission.

This is probably why he will regret that.

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