Roget Stone doubled down on the White House's claims that Obama wiretapped Trump Tower. | Getty Roger Stone: I haven’t talked to the FBI 
 
 Roger Stone, the longtime Republican strategist and confidant of President Donald Trump, doubled down on claims that former President Barack Obama had wiretapped Trump Tower, and said that he had not spoken to the FBI as part of an investigation into communications between Trump allies and Russians during the campaign. 
 
 In an appearance on CBS This Morning on Tuesday, Stone said he assumed he was under investigation, based on news reports. 
 
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 “I have assumed that, because page one of the New York Times on Jan. 20 said that wiretapped information on Trump aides was being used in an inquiry,” Stone said, after being asked by CBS This Morning host Charlie Rose whether he was aware that was under investigation. “I assumed that I had been under surveillance now for some time. What probable cause there is or what evidence that would dictate that, I don’t know.” 
 
 Stone confirmed that the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee had sent him a letter asking him to preserve documents in the case of an investigation. 
 
 Stone also dug in on the White House’s claims that Obama had wiretapped Trump Tower, even as FBI director James Comey shot down the allegations at a Senate hearing Monday. He suggested that Comey and the FBI “are the same people who said there were weapons of mass destruction,” and made claims about “the deep state.” 
 
 When asked directly whether he believed Trump Tower was under surveillance and was wiretapped at all, Stone said he thought it was “certainly possible.” 
 
 Stone, who has repeatedly denied contacts with Russians aiming to influence the presidential election, defended his communications with the hacker Guccifer 2.0. He suggested that his conversations with the hacker was linked to a story he wrote for Breitbart News, and characterized his conversations as “entirely benign.” Stone had previously bragged about having been in communication with WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange (something WikiLeaks and Assange have denied), and he suggested that Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta would “soon be in the barrel” prior to WikiLeaks’ publication of Podesta’s emails. 
 
 Stone asserted that he had not had any contact with Russians nor had he been involved in trying to tamper with the election, and he defended former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former national security adviser Michael Flynn. He declined defending the Trump campaign’s former foreign policy adviser Carter Page, who Trump advisers have denied was involved in the campaign, saying only that he “never heard of this guy.” 
 
 “When people say, when there’s smoke, there’s fire, in this particular case, you say what?” co-host Gayle King asked Stone. 
 
 “Let me have my day in court,” Stone said. ||||| Longtime GOP operative and Trump confidant Roger Stone on Tuesday doubled down on his assertion that he did not collude with Russia to meddle in the 2016 U.S. election. 
 
 “I have said that repeatedly and I say that again today,” Stone said in an interview on “CBS This Morning.” 
 
 Stone said he’s aware that he’s under investigation by the FBI, but that he has not spoken to the bureau. He said he is following the Senate Intelligence Committee’s request to preserve documents. 
 
 “I assume I have been under surveillance now for some time,” Stone said. “What probable cause there is, or what evidence that would dictate that, I don’t know.” 
 
 Stone’s name frequently popped up during a House Intelligence Committee hearing with FBI Director James Comey and NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers that was focused on Russia’s interference in the election. He had been in contact with Guccifer 2.0, someone involved in hacked the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 race, though he says their exchange was “benign.” 
 
 “The inference that my now completely public exchange with a hacker Guccifer 2.0 -- who may or may not be a Russian agent -- somehow constitutes collusion is not true based either on the facts, on the actual text which I released or on the timing,” he told CBS. 
 
 U.S. officials have said they believe Guccifer 2.0 is linked to Russia. 
 
 Asked if President Trump should say he was wrong when he accused President Obama of ordering a wiretap of Trump Tower, Stone said, “No, actually, I don’t.” Comey said Tuesday neither the FBI nor the Justice Department has evidence to support that claim. 
 
 Stone said it’s “certainly possible” that Trump Tower was under surveillance. ||||| Longtime Republican operative Roger Stone, whose possible ties to WikiLeaks while he communicated with President Trump's campaign have come under scrutiny in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe, on Sunday vowed to never testify against the president. 
 
 His comments come days after ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen confessed in a surprise guilty plea that he lied to Congress about a Moscow real estate deal he pursued on Trump’s behalf during the heat of the 2016 campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. 
 
 Stone insisted it was "absolutely correct" that he had never spoken with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, contacted WikiLeaks in any way, or communicated about WikiLeaks-related matters with Trump. 
 
 "There's no circumstance under which I would testify against the president, because I'd have to bear false witness against him," Stone told ABC "This Week" host George Stephanopoulos. "I'd have to make things up, and I'm not going to do that." 
 
 He added: "I've never done anything in politics that was outside the norms of my colleagues. ... And I've always made it clear that so-called dirty tricks come up to, but do not cross, the line into illegality." 
 
 "Again, where is the crime? I engaged in politics." — Trump associate Roger Stone 
 
 Stone has said he believes Mueller is investigating whether he had advance knowledge of WikiLeaks releasing hacked emails of Democrats during the 2016 campaign. 
 
 MANAFORT, WIKILEAKS SUGGEST LEGAL ACTION AGAINST THE GUARDIAN AFTER UNVERIFIED REPORT OF SECRET CONSULATE MEETING 
 
 On July 25, 2016, just three days after WikiLeaks released thousands of stolen emails from the Democratic National Commitee, Stone says he received an email alerting him that WikiLeaks would release a similar email dump concerning Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation. 
 
 In remarks August 8, Stone publicly told an audience in Florida that “I actually have communicated with Assange. I believe the next tranche of his documents pertain to the Clinton Foundation, but there’s no telling what the October surprise may be." He later claimed to be embellishing. 
 
 On Sunday, Stone clarified to Stephanopoulos: "I had no contact with Assange. Assange himself had said 'while Roger Stone is a brilliant spin master, we've had no communication with him.'" 
 
 On Aug. 21, Stone tweeted, "Trust me, it will soon [be] the Podesta’s time in the barrel,” apparently referring to John Podesta, then Clinton's campaign chairman and a longtime Clinton associate. 
 
 Stone told Stephanopoulos he has not been contacted by Mueller's team about the remarks or any other topic -- which Stephanopoulos said suggests Stone might be a target of the investigation, because federal investigators often talk to witnesses before targets. 
 
 But Stone was adamant that he has done nothing wrong. 
 
 "It suggests nothing at all. Again, where is the crime? I engaged in politics. ... My purpose was to take a tip which I thought to be solid, and then after that to follow the WikiLeaks Twitter feed and set a Google News alert for Julian Assange, and use Twitter to hype" the organization's disclosures when they were released. 
 
 TUCKER CARLSON: FOR THE CRIME OF FOREGETTING MINOR DETAILS, LONGTIME TRUMP ASSOCIATE IS FACING BANKRUPTCY AND JAIL TIME 
 
 In the plea on Thursday, Cohen said he lied to be consistent with Trump’s "political messaging." The agreement made clear that prosecutors believe Trump's former lawyer was continuing to pursue the Trump Tower Moscow project weeks after his boss had clinched the Republican nomination for president and well after the point that Cohen has publicly acknowledged. 
 
 Meanwhile, conservative author and Stone associate Jerome Corsi revealed last week he plans to reject a potential deal with Mueller to plead guilty to perjury. Corsi, who wrote the anti-President Obama book "The Obama Nation," recently announced that he expected to be indicted in Mueller’s probe. 
 
 "They can put me in prison the rest of my life," Corsi told CNN. "I am not going to sign a lie." 
 
 Stone told Fox News' "Hannity" last week that he believes it is "despicable" for Mueller to effectively pit Corsi and Stone against each other, charging that the effort is politically motivated. 
 
 And in another turn in the WikiLeaks saga, The Guardian published a report last week claiming that former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort had secretly met with Assange in the Ecuadorian Embassy during the campaign. 
 
 Both WikiLeaks and Manafort have suggested they may sue the Guardian for the report, and the paper has since edited the language in the article to clearly attribute the claim to sources and to suggest that the meeting may not have occurred. 
 
 In a tweet highlighting the edits made by the Guardian, WikiLeaks suggested the paper's editor should resign. 
 
 Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who is poised to become the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee in January, said on "This Week" he did not find Stone's interview to be "at all" credible minutes after it aired. 
 
 "It also looks like Mr. Stone was attempting to enlist Mr. Corsi's help in covering for false testimony," Schiff said. "So I think the testimony alone is reason for great exposure for Mr. Stone." ||||| Story highlights Stone said it's "naive" to think the intelligence community isn't politicized 
 
 Stone has long assumed that he's under surveillance 
 
 (CNN) A longtime Donald Trump associate who has became a recurring topic in conversations about the relationship between the Trump campaign and Russian officials said that the US intelligence community has become "politicized." 
 
 Political adviser Roger Stone was asked Tuesday if he thought Americans should stop trusting recommendations from the intelligence community. 
 
 "To think that our intelligence community has not been politicized would be naive," he said on CBS "This Morning." 
 
 Stone said he does not think Trump should apologize or admit that he was wrong for making unsubstantiated claims that former President Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower during the presidential election. FBI Director James Comey said Monday he had "no information" to support the President's accusations. 
 
 "The people you are referring to are the same people that said there were weapons of mass destruction and (Saddam) Hussein had them, who lied about rendition, who lied about torture at Abu Ghraib," Stone said. 
 
 Read More ||||| Special counsel Robert Mueller Robert Swan MuellerSasse: US should applaud choice of Mueller to lead Russia probe MORE’s indictment of Russian military officers in the 2016 hacking of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) appears to make reference to former informal Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone Roger Jason StoneRoger Stone challenges Dems to produce WikiLeaks evidence Google chief defends company during Capitol Hill grilling Alex Jones heckles Google CEO heading into House hearing MORE. 
 
 The longtime GOP strategist acknowledged to CNN that messages included in the latest indictments match ones that he previously released relating to the hacker Guccifer 2.0, but he denied that he is the person referred to in the indictment “because I wasn't in regular contact with members of the Trump campaign.” 
 
 Stone told The Hill in a text that his “24 word exchange with someone on Twitter claiming to be Guccifer 2.0 is benign based on its content context and timing,” adding that he said the same during his testimony before the House Intelligence Committee last year. 
 
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 “This exchange is entirely public and provides no evidence of collaboration or collusion with Guccifer 2.0 or anyone else in the alleged hacking of the DNC emails, as well as taking place many weeks after the events described in today’s indictment,” he continued. 
 
 The indictment released Friday refers to “a person who was in regular contact with senior members of the presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump” who was contacted by the Russian officers under the guise of the hacker Guccifer 2.0. 
 
 The document cites messages where Guccifer 2.0 wrote to the individual “please tell me if i can help u anyhow ... it would be a great pleasure to me” and “what do u think of the info on the turnout model for the democrats entire presidential campaign.” 
 
 The individual replied to the last message, “Pretty standard.” 
 
 Those messages match up with Twitter direct messages exchanged between Stone and Guccifer 2.0. Stone posted screenshots of the messages last year. 
 
 Stone has emerged as a person of interest in Mueller’s probe into Russian efforts to meddle in the 2016 presidential election, and some of Stone's associates have recently been subpoenaed in the probe. 
 
 The former Trump campaign adviser said during an interview last month with Hill.TV’s “Rising” program that it’s possible that he’ll be indicted in Mueller’s probe. 
 
 Mueller on Friday indicted 12 Russian intelligence officers in the hacking of the DNC in 2016. 
 
 Stone noted to CNN on Friday that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Rod Jay RosensteinMueller’s real challenge Graham vows to push Trump’s AG pick through Judiciary Committee House GOP set to grill Comey MORE had said "that they knew of no crime by US citizens" when he announced the indictments. 
 
 "They included my exchange with Guccifer, which is now public, in the indictment. And it's benign. So I don't know that it refers to me," Stone told the network. 
 
 "There is no allegation in the indictment that any American was a knowing participant in the alleged unlawful activity or knew they were communicating with Russian intelligence officers," Rosenstein said Friday while announcing the charges. 
 
 — Niall Stanage contributed to this report. ||||| (CNN) In the final months of the 2016 campaign, longtime Donald Trump associate Roger Stone repeatedly discussed his backchannel communications with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and claimed knowledge of forthcoming leaks from the group, a CNN KFile review of his public statements shows. 
 
 Stone's comments about WikiLeaks have come under increased scrutiny as the FBI and congressional committees investigate whether Trump associates were involved in Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 election. 
 
 Stone has repeatedly and publicly denied that he had any contact with Russian officials during the campaign. Stone declined to answer questions from CNN for this story. After this story was published, WikiLeaks tweeted, "WikiLeaks & Assange have repeatedly confirmed that they have never communicated with Stone." 
 
 But Stone's many statements have fueled suspicions that figures in Trump's orbit played a role in releases of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta. 
 
 On July 22 of last year, on the eve of the Democratic National Convention, WikiLeaks released nearly 20,000 internal DNC emails, which ultimately sparked the resignation of DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz. 
 
 "Guccifer 2.0," the online persona US intelligence officials believe is a front for Russian intelligence, claimed responsibility for the hacks. 
 
 WikiLeaks began to serially release emails from Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta in October. The US intelligence community has attributed those hacks to Russian intelligence. 
 
 Stone began discussing WikiLeaks and Assange in August 2016. Stone told a local Republican Party group in Florida on August 10 that he had "communicated with Julian Assange." In an interview later in August, Stone suggested that Assange had material that included emails deleted by Clinton aides Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills. At other times, Stone said the material released would be related to the Clinton Foundation. 
 
 On August 21, Stone tweeted that "it will soon the Podesta's time in the barrel." Stone claimed in an October 19 Breitbart post that he did not have advanced knowledge that Podesta's hacked emails would be leaked, claiming his tweet was about Podesta's business dealings. 
 
 In mid-September, Stone said on Boston Herald Radio that he expects, "Julian Assange and the Wikileaks people to drop a payload of new documents on a weekly basis fairly soon. And that of course will answer the question of exactly what was erased on that email server." 
 
 In late October, Stone told a local Florida television station he only knew of the material that would be released in "a broad sense" from a source who was a friend of Assange. 
 
 Here's a timeline of Stone's statements: 
 
 Stone tells a local Republican Party group in Florida "I've actually communicated with Julian Assange." 
 
 Stone says on the #MAGA podcast he believes Assange has emails deleted by Clinton aides Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills. He adds that he knows he has them and they should be expected to drop in the next three months. 
 
 "In fact I know [Assange] has them," Stone said. "And I believe he will expose the American people to this information in the next 90 days." 
 
 Stone engages in direct messages with DNC hacker Guccifer 2.0, according to direct messages reported by the Washington Times and The Smoking Gun. Stone tells the hacker he was "delighted" Twitter reinstated his account. 
 
 Stone tells World Net Daily he communicated with Assange and forthcoming material will be related to the Clinton Foundation. 
 
 Stone tells radio host Alex Jones he has "backchannel communications" with Assange who has "political dynamite" on the Clintons. 
 
 Stone says in an interview on C-SPAN he's been in touch with Julian Assange "through an intermediary—somebody who is a mutual friend." WikiLeaks would later tweet in response to Stone's appearance, "We are happy to hear true information from everyone. But so far, we have not heard from Mr. Stone." 
 
 Stone says he is not "at liberty to discuss" information he received from Assange. Stone claims he was hacked after speaking with Assange. 
 
 Stone says on The Blaze radio that he had "communicated" with Assange through a "mutual acquaintance." 
 
 Stone tweets that "it will soon the Podesta's time in the barrel." Stone later says his tweet was about Podesta's business dealings. 
 
 Stone denies Guccifer 2.0 is connected to the Russians on local Maryland radio. 
 
 "The DNC leaks that nailed Deborah Wasserman Schultz in the heist against Bernie Sanders was not leaked by the Russians, it was leaked by Cruccifer [sic] 2, I should say hacked and leaked first by Cruccifer 2, well known hacker who is not in the employment of the Russians and then Wikileaks. So that whole claim is a canard." 
 
 In an interview with Breitbart Radio, Stone says, "I'm almost confident Mr. Assange has virtually every one of the emails that the Clinton henchwomen, Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills, thought that they had deleted, and I suspect that he's going to drop them at strategic times in the run up to this race." 
 
 Stone says on local Florida radio of Assange and the Clinton Foundation, "Perhaps he has the smoking gun that will make this handcuff time." 
 
 Stone says on Boston Herald Radio that he expects Assange the WikiLeaks to "drop a payload of new documents on a weekly basis fairly soon. And that of course will answer the question of exactly what was erased on that email server." 
 
 Stone adds of Assange, "I am in touch with him through an intermediary." 
 
 Stone tweets, "Wednesday @HillaryClinton is done. #Wikileaks." 
 
 Stone tells a local Florida radio station that he has "a back-channel communication with Assange, because we have a good mutual friend." 
 
 "That friend travels back and forth from the United States to London and we talk. I had dinner with him last Monday," Stone said. 
 
 Stone writes on Breitbart: "I had no advance notice of WikiLeaks' hacking of Podesta's e-mails." 
 
 Stone says on local Florida television that he had no advanced knowledge of the forthcoming hack of Podesta's emails, but says he has a "backchannel contact" to Assange. 
 
 "We have a mutual friend," Stone says. 
 
 When asked about the content of the information shared, Stone said, "Broad information pertaining to the fact that Wikileaks has information pertaining to massive secret surveillance, war, oil, the U.S. election." 
 
 Stone says he only knew about emails being released "in the broad sense." He says he has never met or spoken to Assange and didn't pass any information about it to Trump. 
 
 Stone calls claims that he colluded with Assange "false" in a blog post and says he only knew of forthcoming material because, "Julian Assange of WikiLeaks on numerous occasions had signaled that he had unspecified political dynamite that would shake up the presidential race." 
 
 Stone explains his WikiLeaks contacts in a Reddit ask me anything. 
 
 "I have been forthright about the fact that Julian Assange of Wikileaks and I share a common friend who has communicated with both of us," he writes. "I was simply told Wikileaks was in possession of 'political dynamite' that would 'rock Hillary's campaign,' and they would release it in late October." 
 
 "I had no previous knowledge of the subject of the disclosures, although I've speculated that it would be related to the Clinton Foundation. I've had no advance knowledge of the hacking of Podesta or anyone else. Nor do I believe that Assange is an agent of the Russians, a charge which is yet undocumented with proof and which he denies." 
 
 Stone tweets -- then deletes -- about communicating with Assange, writing that he "never denied perfectly legal backchannel to Assange who indeed had the goods on #CrookedHillary." 
 
 Stone says charges he colluded with Russian hacker Guccifer are "demonstrably false." 
 
 Stone tweets in response to the House Intelligence Committee hearing on Russian interference in the 2016 election: "It's only fair that I have a chance to respond 2 any smears or half truths about alleged "Collusion with Russians" from 2day's Intel Hearing." ||||| Roger Stone: I'm 'probably' unnamed person mentioned in Robert Mueller indictment 
 
 CLOSE The indictments were announced Friday by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein as part of the ongoing special counsel probe into potential coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia. (July 13) AP 
 
 Former Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone acknowledged late Friday that he's "probably" the unnamed person mentioned in special counsel Robert Mueller's indictment against 12 Russian military intelligence officers who allegedly sought to influence the 2016 presidential election. 
 
 Mueller's indictment, unveiled days before President Donald Trump is set to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, asserts that the Russian suspects engaged in a far-reaching hacking scheme that targeted the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign. 
 
 The indictment also referenced a U.S. person who "was in regular contact with senior members of the presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump" and exchanging messages with the conspirators, who were posing as Guccifer 2.0. 
 
 In an interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo, Stone said that he's "probably" the person named in the filing. 
 
 Roger Stone: I probably am the person in the indictment https://t.co/zOWDTXBFFy — Christopher C. Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) July 14, 2018 
 
 Stone's admission is a reversal of sorts. Earlier Friday, the longtime Republican strategist told The Hill that his messages with Guccifer 2.0, which Stone admitted to having exchanged in the past, were "benign based on its content context and timing." But he denied he was the person named in Friday's indictment "because I wasn't in regular contact with members of the Trump campaign," The Hill reported. 
 
 Stone maintained that the exchange was benign in his interview with CNN, and acknowledged he was in contact with Trump campaign officials. 
 
 He told CNN he hadn't read the "extensive document" and "misunderstood" the reference to the messages when he denied being the unnamed person. The messages were included in the indictment, raising speculation that Stone was the unnamed person. 
 
 More: 12 Russian intelligence officers indicted for hacking into DNC, Clinton campaign 
 
 Related: Read the Russian election meddling indictment of 12 Russian nationals 
 
 Contributing: Kevin Johnson, Erin Kelly and Jessica Estepa 
 
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– With Monday's news the FBI is investigating the Trump campaign, it's a good time to get the know the man who stands a good chance of being at the center of the investigation. Roger Stone, a Republican strategist who's championed a Trump presidency for three decades, has been accused of colluding with Russian agents to make that happen. Here's what you need to know: To start with, the New York Times has a profile of the man who calls himself a "dirty trickster," has a massive Nixon back tattoo, claims he's survived a recent assassination attempt, and says he's playing a character. CBS News reports Stone denies any sort of collusion with Russia regarding the 2016 election. And Stone says he hasn't spoken to the FBI as part of its investigation into communication between Trump camp and Russians, though he's long assumed he himself has been under investigation, according to Politico. Heavy has a list of five facts about Stone, including that he acknowledges being in communication with Gufficer 2.0, the hacker who took credit for data breaches within the DNC ahead of the election. Stone also claims to have a direct line of communication with Julian Assange and has repeatedly said he knows about WikiLeaks releases before they happen, CNN reports. Also according to CNN, Stone accuses the US intelligence community of being "politicized" and says Americans shouldn't trust it, especially when it claims there's no evidence Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower. Finally, New York wonders what's up with Stone's bizarre sartorial choices—such as this outfit, or this one—that have been keeping Twitter busy in recent days.