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“Start practicing your Pantagele [sic],” Stone allegedly texted radio show host Randy Credico while discussing Credico’s potential testimony to the House Intelligence Committee, according to court filings. Prosecutors have said Stone made up a cover story involving Credico to hide his efforts in 2016 to reach WikiLeaks — and that he urged Credico to follow his lead under oath.
Former special counsel Robert Mueller indicted Stone earlier this year as part of the Russia probe. The trial is scheduled to begin on November 5, almost exactly three years after the 2016 election.
Prosecutors also said on Friday that they also want to use a series of videos of Stone at trial in which he brags, during the 2016 presidential campaign, that he is in contact with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
In the videos, Stone makes claims such as: “I actually have communicated with Assange.”
But while they want to bring in the Assange videos, prosecutors are seeking to quash evidence and arguments about Russian hacks against Democratic targets and allegations that Russians coordinated with the Trump campaign.
Stone’s lawyers have said the Justice Department must prove at trial that Russia hacked the Democrats and transferred those files to WikiLeaks in order to prove that Stone committed a crime. Prosecutors disagree and are now trying to block this argument from coming up at trial.
“Stone is not charged with participating in Russia’s hacking activities or otherwise conspiring with the Russian government,” prosecutors wrote.
“Evidence and argument about these issues should be excluded from trial because it is irrelevant to the charges at issue in this case and also presents a serious risk of jury confusion, prejudice, and delay.”
The government says that argument will only serve as a distraction. It said it needs to show only that the House Intelligence Committee — which Stone allegedly lied to — was investigating possible Russian involvement in the hacks and potential links to the Trump campaign.
But Stone’s team argued they should be allowed to present evidence that WikiLeaks did not obtain stolen documents from Russia.
The House Intelligence Committee investigation “was premised on the assumption that the Russian state transferred the stolen data to WikiLeaks. In turn, this assumption became the foundation of the charges against the Defendant,” Stone’s legal team wrote in a filing. “To ignore that underlying foundation makes this a very different case.”
Stone’s team argued that because his indictment includes context about Russia’s involvement in the DNC hacking, he should be allowed to challenge it.
“The government cannot use their Russian state allegations as both a sword and a shield,” Stone’s team wrote.
Stone faces charges of lying to Congress and witness tampering. He has not been accused of participating in the Russian hacks against Democrats or conspiring with the Kremlin.
Mueller brought the charges earlier this year before wrapping up the investigation and closing his office.
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