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‘IT WAS A JOKE’ Donald Trump campaigner Roger Stone provides ‘proof’ he never met with Julian Assange – and reveals he only said he dined with him as a JOKE

The longtime friend and advisor to the US president told Artvoice he ‘unequivocally denies’ ever meeting the WikiLeaks founder – and blames anti-Trump campaigners for spreading the ‘false’ story

LONGTIME Donald Trump ally Roger Stone has provided evidence he never met with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange – and revealed he only pretended he went for dinner with him as a joke.

Stone, who worked on Trump’s election campaign, showed Artvoice flight details, his passport, credit card bills and hotel receipts to prove he was in Los Angeles on August 3, 2016, the date he supposedly had dinner with Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

He unequivocally denied ever meeting or speaking to Assange, saying: “It’s not what you said you did but what you did that is important.”

It comes after Stone wrote, “I dined with Julian Assange last night,” in an email to fellow Trump campaigner Sam Nunberg on August 4, 2016.

The email, which was published on Monday, is now being probed by investigators looking into links between the Trump campaign and the Russians, the Wall Street Journal reported.

If Stone had met with Assange it would be significant as it could prove that Trump had advanced knowledge of the hack of Democrat emails during the election – and suggest there may have been coordination over the timing of their eventual release.

US intelligence chiefs believe WikiLeaks published stolen Democratic emails after a Russian hacking operation.

But in an exclusive interview with Artvoice, Stone said he made up the claim to try and get Nunberg off the phone – and said he saw no evidence of any ties to Russia from Trump’s camp.

“Sam is the kind of person who calls you 20 or 30 times in one day but never really had anything to say,” he said.

“It was a Friday afternoon, I was on my 30th call with Sam that day and trying to get him off the phone and he said to me: ‘Do you have plans for the weekend?’ and I said: ‘Yeah I think I’ll fly to London and have dinner with Julian Assange.’

“It was throwaway line, it was a joke. Then I milked the joke in an email once I found out that the guy actually believed it.

“My passport, customs records, airline records, surveillance cameras at the Ecuadorian embassy would all prove that I never left the country – never mind met with Assange. I never left the country at all in 2016.

“WikiLeaks was at the center of the American presidential election; everyone was taking about it and I had certainly speculated about what information he had. Remember Assange went on TV at the beginning of June and said: ‘I’ve got the goods on Hilary’ but we didn’t know what it was until October that year.

“I never met with Assange, contacted him on the phone or in person – or through emails ever — unequivocally not. I’ve never gone to see him, never  Skyped him, never FaceTimed with him.”

He added: ‘The supposition is that Assange of WikiLeaks gave me the material in advance and then I passed it on to Donald Trump. I can state unequivocally I never received anything from WikiLeaks or Assange or anybody representing them and never passed anything on to Donald Trump or the Trump campaign. I never even discussed the matter with Trump even in a general sense.”

Stone said he traveled to Los Angeles from New York on August 1st, 2016, and stayed at the London Hotel, West Hollywood, before flying back to Miami on August 3rd.

He arrived on August 4th and took part in a live interview on Infowars.

The 65-year-old also says he has witnesses – including a co-worker who traveled with him – who can confirm he was in Los Angeles at the time.

Stone believes that anti-Trump campaigners are responsible for spreading the ‘false’ story that he dined with Assange – and said that investigating his email would prove to be a ‘dead end’.

He also dismissed any ties between Trump and the Russians as ‘a fairytale’.

‘This is not aimed at me it’s aimed at Trump,’ he said. ‘If you go by the premise that Assange is a Russian agent – which by the way I don’t but many people in the USA do – and therefore I received something from him and I passed it on to Trump that would be treason – and they would have ‘got Trump’ so to speak.

“I have worked on and off for Donald Trump for 38 years – he was at my wedding and I was at two of his weddings. We are good friends.

“‘I worked very hard to get him elected president. They called me a dirty trickster but there’s one thing that’s not in my bag and that’s treason.

“I have never had any contact with the Russians – the Russian state, Russian intelligence or anybody representing them. Now in their new narrative Assange is a Russian, Stone met with Assange, Stone got these allegedly hacked emails to pass them on to Trump. None of that is true.

“I was never aware of any links between the Trump campaign and the Russians. I don’t know of anybody who engaged in conspiracy, collusion, or co-ordination with the Russians or anybody representing them I really think this is a fairytale.”

***

Here are documents Roger Stone provided to Artvoice to demonstrate he was in Los Angeles at the time he “jokingly” said he was dining with Assange in London.

Assange is in exile in the Embassy of Ecuador and has not left it for years – as far as anyone knows. If we assume Assange was in London on Aug. 3, then Stone would have to dine with him there at the Embassy of Ecuador.

If the Stone flight documents are accurate, on the evening of Aug. 3, Stone was on a Delta flight from Los Angeles to Miami. The flight departed at 9:43 pm PST and was scheduled to arrive at 5:43 am Aug. 4 EST in Miami. Stone lives in nearby Fort Lauderdale.

If his flight document is true – and it will be easy enough for Special Counsel Robert Mueller to confirm – via subpoena – it would be difficult – although not impossible for Stone to have dined with Assange on Aug. 3, 2016- as he indicated in his email.

When Stone boarded his Aug. 3, 2016, 9:43 pm [Pacific Time] flight it was 5:43 am Aug 4 in London [BST].

Could he have been in London earlier in the day and took a flight from London to Los Angeles?

It is an 11 hour plus flight from London to Los Angeles. It takes about an hour plus to go by car from the Embassy of Ecuador in London to Gratwick Airport – a most likely departure point.

For Stone to have dined with Assange on Aug. 3, and make the Delta flight in Los Angeles, he would have had to leave London certainly not later than or 3:43 pm BST – if we allow Stone an hour to drive to Gratwick and an hour before departure for check in at the airport.

Stone could have conceivably have had an early dinner with Assange -and rushed back from London to Los Angeles to make the Delta flight from Los Angeles to Miami.  But where is the proof of that?

His passport shows he did not travel outside the USA. How did he leave the USA without his passport being stamped?

Without the power of subpoena, Artvoice cannot conclude 100 percent that Stone did not go to London on Aug. 3, and dine with Assange. However, the preponderance of evidence – in our estimation – leans toward the idea that he told Nunberg a joke about dining with Assange when he was actually in Los Angeles during the day and evening of Aug. 3 – until he left on a Delta flight headed for Miami.

 

 

 

This copy from Roger Stone’s passport shows that Stone left the US in 2010 and 2017, but did not leave the USA during 2016 – unless of course he eluded US Customs.

About the author

Frank Parlato

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