House Intelligence Committee Democrat claims Roger Stone, Michael Caputo 'lied through their teeth'

(Image credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

published 22 June 2018

When Trump advisers Roger Stone and Michael Caputo testified before the House Intelligence Committee on their contacts with Russians, they "lied through their teeth," claims a Democrat on the committee, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.). Speaking on Yahoo News' Skullduggery podcast, Swalwell said he and the ranking Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff (Calif.), have been pushing to send transcripts of Stone and Caputo's testimonies to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, but that the pair have been "shielded by Republicans" like the committee's chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.).

Swalwell's accusation follows the revelation that "at Caputo's instigation, Stone met during the 2016 campaign in Florida with a Russian immigrant and sometime FBI informant named Henry Greenberg who offered 'dirt' on Hillary Clinton," Yahoo News writes. Caputo and Stone both failed to mention the meeting when being interrogated about their contacts with Russians before the House committee. "[T]o say that there was 'failure of memory' by both individuals to recall this meeting, I just don't buy it," said Swalwell.

Stone has since said he rejected the "dirt" on Clinton, which Greenberg allegedly wanted to sell for $2 million. Swalwell, though, argued that Stone "was communicating with individuals associated with the Russian hacks. It would be very hard for me to believe that if he was in contact with Donald Trump regularly throughout the summer of 2016 and the fall, that he would not be passing along to Mr. Trump his efforts to obtain Hillary Clinton’s deleted emails — or efforts that were passed along to him that others were taking to obtain the emails." Listen to the Swalwell's full comments on Yahoo News' podcast Skullduggery here.

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.