The Roger Stone indictment makes Trump's public request of Russian hackers sound pretty suspicious

Roger Stone.
(Image credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Around the time then-candidate Donald Trump was publicly encouraging Russians to hack Hillary Clinton's emails, his campaign was reaching out to Roger Stone to find out what WikiLeaks had on his Democratic opponent.

This is according to the indictment of Stone, Trump's longtime adviser who has acknowledged having contact with an intermediary to WikiLeaks. "After the July 22, 2016 release of stolen DNC emails by [WikiLeaks], a senior Trump Campaign official was directed to contact Stone about any additional releases and what other damaging information [WikiLeaks] had regarding the Clinton Campaign," the indictment reads.

"Thereafter," the indictment goes on to say, "Stone told the Trump Campaign about potential future releases of damaging material by [WikiLeaks]."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

It was on July 27, 2016 that Trump said in a press conference, "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing," encouraging Russians to hack Clinton's emails, per The New York Times. Although the indictment isn't completely clear on the exact date Stone delivered his information, it would seem to suggest that at the time Trump made these statements, he — or at least members of his campaign — had been informed by Stone that WikiLeaks planned to continue releasing hacked emails damaging to Clinton.

The indictment also mentions, "By in or around June and July 2016, Stone informed senior Trump Campaign officials that he had information indicating [WikiLeaks] had documents whose release would be damaging to the Clinton Campaign."

That October, WikiLeaks began to release hacked emails from Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta. Stone received a text shortly after by a Trump campaign aide telling him, "Well done," the indictment says.

The key question left open in this indictment is who, exactly, encouraged the high-ranking Trump official to contact Stone, but in an interview with CNN Friday, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders did not deny that it was Trump himself.

Explore More
Brendan Morrow

Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.