Credico ‘prepping’ to be ‘Russiagate’ witness BY LINCOLN ANDERSON Randy Credico may or may not be Roger Stone’s alleged “backchannel” to Julian Assange and WikiLeaks. Stone says he was, but Credico denies it. In addition, Credico may or may not have recently gone down to Washington, D.C., to talk to federal prosecutors as they close in on a possible indictment of Stone in the wide-ranging probe into so-called “Russiagate.” On Thanksgiving, The Villager texted Stone, asking him what was new in the now-year-and-a-half-old investigation. He texted back, in part, regarding Credico, “I understand he has been called back before the grand jury.” Credico is a Manhattan-based standup comic-turned-radio journalist who had Assange on his WBAI radio show prior to the 2016 presidential election. He also visited Assange in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London several times, the first visit a year after the election. Credico already testified before a federal grand jury once, on Aug. 31, as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged Russian influence in the election. Credico has said, when questioned before the grand jury, he mainly spoke about Stone. For his part, Stone was previously questioned by the House Special Committee on Intelligence, which conducted its own Russiagate probe. Asked if he was, as Stone claimed, going down to D.C. to be grilled in front of the grand jury again, Credico wrote back, in part, on Nov. 28, via Facebook message, “I’m finished with the grand jury… and the FEDS… .” Yet, it seems possible Credico might, in fact, have made another trip down to Washington —and that, at the least, he definitely was considering it. On Dec. 2, in a phone call with The Villager, Credico said he didn’t know whether he would be going to Washington that Wednesday, Dec. 5, or not, and to call him “after Wednesday” and check up on what transpired. He added he was being circumspect about his planned whereabouts because he feared for his safety, worrying that the “alt-right” was out to get to him. “Nothing happened this week,” Credico subsequently reported in a Facebook message on Sat., Dec. 8. However, speaking to The Villager the following week, Credico confirmed that he and his attorney, Martin Stolar, actually had been mulling another meeting between Credico and Mueller’s prosecutors. “It was a standby situation,” Credico explained. “Marty said, ‘We’re going down.’ [But] we didn’t need to go down — they got Cohen and Manafort,” he said, indicating that the feds didn’t feel they “needed” Credico, as a result. Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former fi xer, was sentenced Dec. 12 to Schneps Media
PHOTO COURTESY RANDY CREDICO
Roger Stone, left, and Randy Credico in 2017 when Credico was acting as a talent coordinator for a documentar y on Stone by David Lugo. According to Credico, he and Stone had had a falling out and didn’t speak to each other from 2010 to 2016. A s for the Richard Nixon posters, Stone star ted his career back with “Trick y Dick” and spor ts a muchpublicized tattoo of him on his back.
three years for lying to Congress and campaign-fi nance violations by paying off two women who had flings with Trump before he was president. Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairperson, has been convicted of tax fraud, among other charges, and has also entered a guilty plea on charges of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and witness tampering. In addition, he was recently accused of violating his plea agreement.
guy yet.” Asked who “the guy” is, Stolar blurted out, “Stone!” No one has informed the attorney that Stone is the so-called “target” yet, but that’s the obvious assumption. “It’s not a big deal,” Stolar said of witness preparation. “I do it all the f—in’ time. I mean, [if I] put a witness on the witness stand, I need to know what the witness is going to say. It’s standard stuff. It’s your witness — you control what questions you’re going to ask your witness.” Asked whether Credico did, in fact, meet with federal prosecutors on Dec., 5, Stolar responded, “I’m not confirming when and where this happened — or if it happened. “I’m not saying it happened, either — but it’s something that’s going to happen,” he assured. “It happened — or it’s going to happen. It’s a real thing, and it’s standard stuff.” As for Stone, Stolar said he could take a plea or the case could be dismissed or possibly go to trial. As for Stone claiming Credico was slated to go before the grand jury again, Stolar said the infamous Republican “dirty trickster” and former Trump campaign adviser is way off base. “Stone doesn’t know s—,” he said. “He doesn’t know what we’re doing.” The attorney blasted Stone’s accusation that it was Credico who fed Stone advance information about WikiLeaks’ damaging “dumps.” In August 2016, Stone hinted that WikiLeaks would be publishing incendiary e-mails from John Podesta — Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager — gloatingly tweeting, “It will soon [be]
‘I’m not confirming if it happened.’ Martin Stolar “I’m going to stay out of the news right now,” Credico said. “I’m not going to get in any more pissing matches with Roger Stone. I need a break.” He recommended speaking to his attorney Stolar for more details about what may or may not have recently happened in D.C. New York magazine is set to publish a big profile on him, he added. Stolar said what Credico potentially is doing — although he stressed he has not necessarily done it yet — is to meet with prosecutors for “witness preparation” for a possible trial. “Randy is a potential witness at the trial,” Stolar explained. “If there’s a trial: They haven’t decided to indict the TVG
Podesta’s turn in the barrel.” Similarly, in October 2016, Stone showed possible foreknowledge of another e-mail “dump” that would harm the candidate, when he tweeted, “Wednesday Hillary Clinton is done #WikiLeaks.” “The bottom line is: Was Randy Credico the back channel to all these WikiLeaks dumps?” Stolar asked. “You think Randy is that sick that he would hurt Hillary to help Trump?” he said, answering his own question. Credico has said he supported Green Party candidate Jill Stein for president. “Can you conceive of Randy Credico being a Trump supporter?” Stolar asked, incredulously. “He’s a civilrights activist and a reformer. Was he the backchannel? No. … Stone can say whatever he wants.” When Stone texted The Villager on Thanksgiving, he included about two-dozen texts that Credico allegedly sent him right before the October ’16 WikiLeaks dump. Among these were: “big news Wednesday,” “now pretend u don’t know me,” “Hillary’s campaign will die this week,” “i think its on for tomorrow,” “Why can’t you get Trump to come out and say that he would give Julian Assange Asylum,” “Off the Record Hillary and her people are doing a fullcourt press [to try to] keep Assange from making the next dump,” “That’s all I can tell you on this line,” “Please leave my name out of it,” “There will be an announcement but not on the [embassy] balcony.” In addition, in the text exchanges provided by Stone, Credico tells him that a friend of Stone’s did not have a meeting with Assange, and also that Assange had scheduled a press conference for 3 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time. “How would you know, rummy?” Stone texts back, taking a dig at Credico’s history of substance abuse. Credico allegedly responds, “Because I’m friends with his lawyer and leave it at that! and leave it alone.” Credico is friends with Margaret Ratner, widow of civil-rights attorney William Kunstler. Credico lived in Kunstler’s Gay St. home over the years and also headed the William Moses Kunstler Fund for Racial Justice. Ratner is reportedly an attorney for WikiLeaks. Stone added that he has released 80 pages of text messages that confirm Credico was “the source” of his information on the WikiLeaks dumps. Similarly, Credico has given all of his texts and e-mails to Mueller and also, apparently, to the writer of the New York magazine article. This past June, Credico shared some e-mails with The Villager that he said were examples of Stone trying to intimidate him. Stone countered they were doctored by Credico and also taken out of context. “I stand by everything I’ve said publicly and behind closed doors,” Credico said. December 20, 2018
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