Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigators have questioned a London-based American academic named Theodore Roosevelt "Ted" Malloch about his connection to WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, and Roger Stone.
Malloch, the author of a new book alleging Trump has been the target of a "deep state" plot by enemies with the U.S. intelligence community, told ABC News the questioning occurred in March after he was detained by federal agents at Boston's Logan Airport upon arrival from his home in London.
In his book, he expresses bewilderment about interest in his contacts with the Wikileaks founder, who has been living in detention in Ecuador’s embassy in London.
"Had I ever visited the Ecuadorian[sic] embassy in London? They asked," Malloch writes in his post-script. "No. I replied truthfully."
Malloch told ABC News he has only met Stone a few times but asked to re-purpose the text of a speech Stone gave as the forward to his book.
Stone continues to insists he did not communicate with Assange.
“I know and like Professor Malloch,” he said in an email response to questions. “I met him during the 2016 campaign and think we were together on perhaps three occasions… There has been some inference in the media that Ted was somehow a go-between between me, Wikileaks and Julian Assange. This is false.”
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In an email to ABC News, he added: “I reiterate that I had no advance knowledge of the source content or exact timetable for release the WikiLeaks disclosures regarding Hillary Clinton and the DNC. I never received anything from WikiLeaks or Julian Assange or anyone else Including allegedly hacked emails and never passed in anything on to Donald Trump or the Trump campaign. There is so simply no evidence to the contrary.”
Mueller seems to think otherwise.
Malloch told ABC News in an interview last month that the FBI agents confiscated his cell phone after presenting him with a search warrant signed by a federal magistrate judge in Boston.
Mueller’s agents have conducted interviews and searched cell phones and other devices of several potential witnesses during airport detentions as the subjects passed through the passport lines in various U.S. airports. Lebanese-American foreign policy operative George Nader received similar treatment, as did Stephen Roh, a German lawyer with ties to a suspected Russian agent who had been close to one-time Trump aide George Papadopoulos.
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Malloch’s detention involved the first known use of a search warrant by the special counsel to obtain data on the phone of a witness in the Russia probe in a U.S. port of entry. Malloch insisted, however, that he had limited direct interaction with Trump and Stone and he denied knowing Assange at all -- which he says he also told the FBI under questioning.
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He did say during the ABC News interview that his questioning by the FBI at Logan was “extremely professional” and even “humorous.”
“They talked to me for about 50 minutes and it was actually quite friendly," Malloch said.
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Malloch said he was an unpaid, volunteer adviser to the Trump campaign and wrote more than 20 op-eds supporting candidate Trump. But many of Trump's closest aides told ABC News they were unaware of Malloch prior to last month when he said he was stopped by agents at Logan.
"Never heard of him," said one senior Trump campaign aide.
In his initial statements about his run-in with Mueller's investigators to the media, Malloch said he had agreed to appear before the grand jury probing Russian active measures to influence the 2016 election in Washington, D.C. federal court on April 13. He confirmed to ABC News that he did not testify then but declined to say why, or if his testimony has been rescheduled.
Full story: Mueller's agents asked about Roger Stone, Trump supporter says (ABC News)