by Chuck Ross
Jerome Corsi, a right-wing author and associate of Trump confidant Roger Stone’s, said Monday that he will reject a plea offer from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office in the Russia probe.
Corsi told One America News Network (OANN) and NBC News that he will reject the offer to plead guilty to perjury regarding his testimony about WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange.
“The Mueller team offered me a plea bargain … it does not mean I’ve agreed. From what they’ve offered, I can tell you it’s unacceptable,” Corsi told OANN. “I will not sign a statement in front of a federal judge that says that I intentionally and willfully lied to the special counselor, because I did not.”
“They wanted me to testify that … I was the conduit to WikiLeaks and Assange for Roger Stone, who in turn had a conduit to the campaign,” he continued. “And it just isn’t so.”
Corsi, who testified before a federal grand jury on Sept. 21 and on Nov. 9, revealed to reporters on Friday that he was in plea discussions with the special counsel’s office. On Nov. 12, Corsi announced that he expected to be indicted, though he denied any wrongdoing at the time and claimed he was the victim of a “perjury trap” by investigators.
Corsi tweeted on Sunday night that “I continue to support Donald Trump and I did not lie to Mueller’s inquisition.”
https://twitter.com/jerome_corsi/status/1066882431918252032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Corsi told The Daily Caller News Foundation on Nov. 13 that prosecutors “wanted to know who my source was to Julian Assange, who gave me information where I really appeared to know in advance that he had Podesta emails.”
WikiLeaks released emails hacked from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta on Oct. 7, 2016.
Corsi said that he began telling associates in August 2016 that he “thought Assange had Podesta emails, and I thought he was going to drop them in October.”
But Corsi insisted that he did not have contact with Assange and that he came up with the idea that WikiLeaks had Podesta’s emails on his own.
“There was plenty on the public record that allowed me to conclude that just studying from what Assange says,” Corsi told The DCNF. “And I believe I was always telling the truth to the special counsel.”
“I had told others probably in phone conversations, probably in emails, because I didn’t see any reason not to share this,” Corsi said, adding that “I’m sure I talked to Roger Stone about it.”
Stone, who is being investigated by the special counsel, has vehemently denied the claim.
On Monday, Corsi said that prosecutors are trying to find evidence that Corsi provided information about WikiLeaks to Stone.
Corsi has previously denied meeting or having contact with Assange, who is living under asylum in the Ecuadorean embassy in London.
Corsi also points to tweets he sent days before WikiLeaks began publishing the Podesta emails which he says shows that he did not have direct knowledge about WikiLeaks’ plans.
“If Assange has the goods on Hillary, he ought just to drop the goods,” Corsi wrote on Twitter on Oct. 2, 2016. “Otherwise, he’s going to make a fool of himself.”
Corsi posted the tweet just before a highly-anticipated press conference by Assange. Assange did not release any documents, much to the frustration of Trump supporters.
“So Assange made a fool of himself,” Corsi wrote on Oct. 4, 2016.
“Had zero, or he would have released it. Will take grassroots on Internet to get truth out & beat Hillary.”
Corsi told TheDCNF that the tweets show he had no inside knowledge into WikiLeaks activities.
“What that did was it showed that I really didn’t know for sure even in October when Assange didn’t release them, I said, ‘well you’ve got nothing. You’re just blowing smoke at all of it,'” he told The DCNF.
“Assange didn’t give me anything.”
A spokesman for the special counsel’s office declined comment.
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Chuck Ross is a reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation. Follow Chuck on Twitter.
