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Posted: 2018-11-28T22:27:47Z | Updated: 2019-01-25T16:49:02Z

Special counsel Robert Mueller s team indicted Roger Stone , a longtime aide and informal adviser to President Donald Trump , and FBI agents on Friday arrested Stone at his Florida home.

Stones arrest and indictment is one of the biggest developments in months for the Mueller investigation, which has zeroed in on connections between Trumps associates and WikiLeaks the organization that published a trove of emails Russian hackers stole from Hillary Clintons campaign manager ahead of the 2016 election.

The special counsel alleges in the seven-count indictment that Stone lied to lawmakers about his dealings with WikiLeaks and spoke to senior Trump Campaign officials about the organization during the presidential campaign.

Months earlier, Muellers team reportedly questioned witnesses around potential links between Trumps allies and WikiLeaks. Draft court documents emerged in November detailing email exchanges that potentially show Trumps allies had advance knowledge of WikiLeaks plans to publish the hacked emails. The Guardian also reported that month that former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort met multiple times with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange prior to the election.

Here is what we know so far about the potential links between Trumps campaign and WikiLeaks:

Mueller Charges Roger Stone With Lying About WikiLeaks

Muellers investigation has long been circling around Stone who was a political consultant on the Trump campaign and his associates. A central focus of the probe is whether anyone in the campaign knew ahead of time that WikiLeaks had Clinton campaign chair John Podestas internal emails and planned to publish them.

Mullers indictment accuses Stone of repeatedly talking with Trump campaign officials about WikiLeaks and its email releases. After WikiLeaks published its first set of stolen Podesta emails on Oct. 7, 2016, the indictment says, a high-ranking Trump official texted Stone to say well done.

The indictment also alleges Stone attempted to intimidate a witness in the investigation radio host Randy Credico, who had connections with WikiLeaks. Stone allegedly told Credico to lie in his testimony to a grand jury, and threatened Credicos therapy dog, Bianca.

The indictment suggests that after WikiLeaks initial release of stolen emails, senior Trump campaign officials were eager to know if Stone could find out about any additional document dumps.

Stone was contacted by senior Trump Campaign officials to inquire about future releases by Organization 1, meaning WikiLeaks, according to the indictment.

Stones attorney, Grant Smith, disputed the charges. He said in a statement following Stones arrest that there was no Russian collusion and that the indictment was an attempt at silencing Stone.