A close associate of Roger Stone has been held in contempt of court for refusing to testify in the Russia probe
- A federal judge in Washington, DC, has held an ally of the Republican strategist Roger Stone in contempt of court for refusing to testify in the Russia investigation.
- Andrew Miller, Stone's associate, was ordered to appear before a grand jury on Friday but he did not show up.
- Miller worked with Stone during the 2016 presidential election.
- He is one of several Stone associates to be called to testify in the Russia investigation.
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A federal judge in Washington, DC, has held Andrew Miller, a close associate of President Donald Trump ally Roger Stone, in contempt of court for refusing to comply with a subpoena to testify in the Russia investigation.
Miller was ordered to appear in court to testify before a grand jury on Friday, but he did not show up. Earlier this month, another federal judge, Berry Howell, issued a 93-page opinion upholding the subpoena after Miller's attorneys challenged it.
Miller is one of at least six Stone associates who have been called to testify in the Russia investigation.
Stone was an informal adviser to the Trump campaign during the election and recently told Business Insider he is still in touch with the president from time to time.
His relevance to the Russia probe stems mainly from his contacts during the election with the self-proclaimed transparency group WikiLeaks and the Russia-linked hacker Guccifer 2.0. Stone also said in August 2016 that he had "communicated" with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, but he later walked back his comments and said it was through an intermediary, the radio host Randy Credico.
WikiLeaks and Guccifer 2.0 were instrumental in Russia's campaign to hack into the servers of the Democratic National Committee and disseminate stolen emails that were damaging to former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's campaign.
Stone sent a series of cryptic tweets about WikiLeaks and Clinton campaign manager John Podesta days before the group published a batch of Podesta's emails in October 2016. Stone denies having any prior knowledge of the document dump.
The hack of the DNC was at the center of a recent indictment from Mueller's office that charged 12 Russian military intelligence officers with hacking and aggravated identity theft. The indictment said Guccifer 2.0 was a front for Russian intelligence, and it also referenced WikiLeaks as an unnamed, third-party group that the Russians used to further their scheme.
Credico, meanwhile, was also recently subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury in Mueller's investigation in September. His attorney told CNN that prosecutors "probably want to talk to him about Roger Stone and Julian Assange."
Other Stone associates who have been called to testify in the Russia probe include his driver, a social media consultant, and Kristin Davis, the "Manhattan madam" who used to run a high-end prostitution ring.