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Robert Mueller.
- The special counsel Robert Mueller has subpoenaed Jerome Corsi, a far-right political commentator and conspiracy theorist, to testify in the Russia probe.
- Corsi's lawyer said the subpoena was not specific, but that he believes prosecutors will ask Corsi about his relationship with the GOP strategist Roger Stone, who has long been in Mueller's crosshairs.
- Asked what he thinks Corsi may be questioned about, Stone responded with a link to an Infowars article that Corsi wrote last year, which claimed he was responsible for Stone's tweets about WikiLeaks during the 2016 campaign.
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Jerome Corsi, a far-right political commentator and conspiracy theorist, has been subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury in Washington, DC, as part of the special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.
Corsi's lawyer, David Gray, said his client was feeling "confident and cooperative" ahead of his Friday morning testimony.
"We don't know exactly what they're going to ask or what they're going to look for, but we have nothing to hide," Gray said. "And certainly, Dr. Corsi did not even come close to committing any criminal offense, so we're looking forward to being compliant with the subpoena."
Gray said Corsi will bring his computer and cell phone to Washington, DC, to cooperate with prosecutors. He added that though the subpoena was not specific about the topic prosecutors want to question Corsi about, he believes their questions will center around Corsi's relationship with the longtime GOP strategist Roger Stone.
Stone has been in Mueller's crosshairs since the early stages of the Russia investigation, which is probing Russia's interference in the 2016 election and whether members of President Donald Trump's campaign colluded with Moscow to tilt the race in his favor.
Mueller zeroes in on Stone
Associated Press/J. Scott Applewhite
Longtime Donald Trump associate Roger Stone arrives to testify before the House Intelligence Committee on Sept. 26, 2017.
The special counsel has zeroed in on Stone of late, and has called over half a dozen of Stone's associates to testify in the Russia probe so far.
Mueller appears to be focusing specifically on links between Stone and the radical pro-transparency group WikiLeaks, as well as its founder Julian Assange.
WikiLeaks published thousands of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign at the height of the 2016 election. The US intelligence community believes the breaches and subsequent dissemination of emails were carried out on the Kremlin's orders.
When prosecutors indicted 12 Russian intelligence officers in July on conspiracy and hacking charges, they referenced WikiLeaks - though not by name - as the Russians' conduit to release stolen documents via the hacker Guccifer 2.0, who is believed to be a front for Russian military intelligence.
Stone said he has communicated indirectly with Assange in the past through the radio host Randy Credico. Credico will testify before a grand jury on Friday. Stone is also known to have been in direct communication with WikiLeaks and Guccifer 2.0 during the election.
Stone, who acted as an informal adviser to Trump during the campaign, sent out several tweets in the summer of 2016 that raised questions about whether he had prior knowledge about WikiLeaks' plans to publish the hacked emails.
In one tweet that drew increased scrutiny, Stone wrote on August 21, 2016, "Trust me, it will soon [be] Podesta's time in the barrel," an apparent reference to Clinton campaign manager John Podesta.
WikiLeaks published a batch of hacked emails from Podesta's account days later.
Stone denied knowing about the document dump in advance.
Corsi: 'I am now confident that I am the source behind Stone's tweet'
Charles Sykes/AP Images
Jerome Corsi will testify before a grand jury in Washington, DC, on Friday.
Asked in a text message what he thinks Corsi may be questioned about when he appears before a grand jury, Stone responded with a link to an Infowars article that Corsi wrote in March 2017, in which he claimed he was responsible for Stone's tweets about WikiLeaks during the 2016 race.
Corsi wrote that Democrats had "mistakenly" used Stone's tweet "to 'prove' Stone had advance knowledge Julian Assange of WikiLeaks was about to release emails hacked from John Podesta..."
"Having reviewed my records, I am now confident that I am the source behind Stone's tweet," Corsi wrote.
He went on to lay out a timeline of what he said were his and Stone's efforts to counter reports at the time that Trump's campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, had a string of shady financial and political ties to pro-Russian interests.
In particular, Corsi wrote that he and Stone wanted to shed light on what they believed were Clinton's and Podesta's links to Russian money.
"When Stone wrote his 'suspicious' tweet on Aug. 21, 2016, he and I planned to publish a one-two punch, using the Government Accountability Institute report to expose Hillary and Podesta's ties to Russia," Corsi wrote.
Stone and Corsi have known each other for years. Corsi's name first cropped up in the mainstream media in March, when it emerged that the FBI had detained and subpoenaed Ted Malloch, a controversial American academic tied to Stone and UKIP founder Nigel Farage, to testify in the Russia probe.
Corsi said at the time that a shaken Malloch had called him while he was being questioned by FBI agents in Cleveland after being detained at Boston Logan International Airport.
Stone told Business Insider in March that he had met Malloch two or three times, including once at a dinner with Corsi during the 2016 campaign at the Manhattan restaurant Strip House.
Stone said his conversation with Malloch and Corsi was friendly but not memorable, and that they discussed "Brexit and globalism." He added that they never discussed WikiLeaks, Assange, or Russia.
Corsi told Business Insider in March that he worked with Malloch on the latter's book in 2016.
"Ted was NOT part of TRUMP campaign," Corsi said. "I had NO contact w ASSANGE, SNOWDEN, Kim Dot Com, Russians. MUELLER DESPERATE. panic tactics, GRAB at STRAWS."