Politics
AP Photo/John Minchillo, File
Randy Credico, a comedian and radio show host who has previously run for political office in New York, has been subpoenaed to testify in special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
- Comedian Randy Credico has been subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury on September 7 as part of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
- Credico has been rumored to have served as a "back-channel" between Trump campaign ally Roger Stone and Wikileaks.
- WikiLeaks is accused of disseminating hacked emails from the DNC and Clinton campaign during the 2016 presidential election.
The special counsel Robert Mueller has issued a subpoena ordering Randy Credico, a comedian with ties to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and the political operative Roger Stone, to testify before a grand jury on September 7 as part of the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Credico's attorney, Martin Stolar, told CNN that he received the subpoena on Friday, and that his client intends to comply with the order and testify before. Credico had previously declined to sit for a voluntary interview with Mueller's team, but will likely do so before his testimony, Stolar said.
Stone briefly served as an adviser on President Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and subsequently acted as an informal adviser to Trump. He has said that Credico served as a "back-channel" between him and Assange. Credico was subpoenaed to testify before the House Intelligence Committee in December 2017, but asserted his Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination.
During the campaign, Stone communicated with WikiLeaks, which has been accused of working with Russia to disseminate tens of thousands of emails Russians are accused of hacking from the Democratic National Committee and the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton.
On October 5, 2016, a little over a month before the 2016 election, Credico posted to Twitter a selfie from outside the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where Assange has been living since 2012 to avoid being extradited to the United States over WikiLeaks' leaking of classified documents.
Just two days later, Wikileaks released a trove of hacked emails from the account of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, the same day the "Access Hollywood" tape of Trump was released.
"My speculation is that they probably want to talk to him about Roger Stone and Julian Assange," Stolar said of Credico's planned testimony to CNN.
The subpoena, first reported by MSNBC's Ari Melber on Thursday, comes as Andrew Miller, another associate of Roger Stone, was held in contempt of court by a federal judge for failing to appear for testimony as part of the special counsel investigation.
Assange himself is also "seriously considering" traveling to the United States to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee.