Three recently-issued subpoenas indicate Special Counsel Robert Mueller continues to focus on what roles far-right conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi and longtime Trump political advisor Roger Stone might have had in aiding Russia's 2016 election interference efforts.
ABC News has learned that at least three new witnesses connected to Stone associate Jerome Corsi – the former Washington, D.C., bureau chief for the far-right internet site Infowars – have been subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury hearing testimony on the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Two of those witnesses remain publicly unidentified. Corsi himself outed the third.
Corsi said in a Fox Business Network interview Monday night that his stepson, Andrew Stettner, had recently received a subpoena for his testimony.
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In Monday’s interview, Corsi said that Mueller’s investigators appeared focused on text messages he and Stettner exchanged in which Stettner said that a computer that had sat on Corsi’s desk had been “scrubbed,” an apparent reference to the deletion.
Corsi said the messages were innocuous — that he had not been using the computer and Stettner asked permission to take it to repurpose for his mother’s business, where he also works.
“I think they think that Andrew was conspiring with me, as my computer expert, to destroy evidence,” he said. “They’re looking for anything they can find.”
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A conspiracy theorist and radio host who helped popularize the false accusation that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States, Corsi communicated with Stone about WikiLeaks before the election, according to the draft court documents.
In November 2018, Corsi announced that he had been interviewed extensively by the special counsel’s office about those conversations. Corsi said he had rejected a plea deal proposed by the special counsel’s office in which he would have agreed he lied to investigators about some of his contacts with Stone. Corsi published internal documents from Mueller’s office, including the draft of their proposed plea deal.
According to those draft documents, prosecutors believe that Corsi deleted all emails from his computer that he sent or received before Oct. 11, 2016.
The prosecutors’ focus on Corsi’s email practices could explain their interest in Stettner.
He is scheduled to testify Friday.
Stone said in a statement to ABC News on Tuesday, “Any Claim that Jerry Corsi told me the source or content of either allegedly stolen or allegedly hacked e-mails published by Wikileaks or provided me copies of any such material is both categorically false and easily disproved. It's unfortunate that the limited e-mails between us on this subject have been willfully mischaracterized in terms of both their meaning and legal significance.”
Conservative writer Jerome Corsi says Mueller has summoned his stepson to testify before grand jury (WaPo)
Mueller plows ahead, issuing more subpoenas to associates of conservative commentator (ABC News)