Two former advisers to President Donald Trump said Friday that they’re willing to speak to the House Intelligence Committee about their role in Trump’s campaign for the committee’s investigation into Russian meddling in the US election.
The attorney for former Trump adviser Roger Stone is informing the committee that his client is willing to talk — and preferably in public — Stone told CNN.
“Mr. Stone deeply resents that several members of your Permanent Select Committee have intimated that he has committed treason in his political, press and social media activities,” the letter states. “As Mr. Stone has repeatedly stated publicly since these matters have come to light, he is eager to voluntarily appear in open session in front of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence without the necessity of a subpoena. Mr. Stone is anxious to redress the false and misleading way he has been portrayed by some on the Permanent Select Committee.”
Stone told CNN he has done nothing wrong.
“I acknowledge I am a hardball player. I have sharp elbows. I always play politics the way it is supposed to be played,” Stone said. “But one thing isn’t in my bag of tricks — treason.”
Carter Page, who advised the Trump campaign on foreign policy, also has volunteered to talk to the committee about its Russia investigation and “set the record straight.”
In a strongly worded letter in his own defense Thursday, Page wrote to Chairman Devin Nunes and ranking member Adam Schiff to say he wants to come forward to talk and defend his reputation.
“I would eagerly welcome the chance to speak with the Committee to help finally set the record straight following the false evidence, illegal activities as well as other lies distributed by certain politically-motivated suspects in coordination with the Obama Administration, which defamed me and other Americans,” Page wrote in the letter that he provided to CNN.
Page told CNN he’d prefer the hearing being public, and made the same offer to the Senate Intelligence Committee.
“My preference is that it be public,” Page told CNN, adding he’s tired of the “leaks and innuendo.”
The letter comes the same day Nunes announced Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, has also agreed to come talk to the committee.
Stone has made recent comments about WikiLeaks that 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 said he does occasionally talk with Manafort “from time to time” but the two have not been coordinating their appearances or cooperation in any way.
Page, who the White House has said was only loosely connected to the Trump campaign, emphasized he was not a campaign insider.
“I was never paid by the Trump campaign and never made any financial contributions to that movement, with the negligible exception of purchasing a few Make America Great Again hats and a “Veterans for Trump” button. Furthermore, I have never received any transactions fees, financial compensation, equity stake or related offers from Rosneft — in 2016 or at any point in my life.”