Report: Jerome Corsi Shuts Down Mueller Plea Deal
Jerome Corsi, an associate of Trump loyalist Roger Stone, said Monday he has turned thumbs-down on a deal offered by special counsel Robert Mueller.
Corsi’s name has come up in connection with documents released by WikiLeaks in the 2016 election, and whether he helped move documents from Stone to WikiLeaks. Mueller is investigating alleged improprieties in the 2016 election that could possibly relate to communications between the Trump campaign and Russia.
“They can put me in prison the rest of my life. I am not going to sign a lie,” Corsi told CNN.
Corsi said he was offered a deal if he would plead guilty to one count of perjury.
NBC reported that Corsi, 72, told the network that the charge stems from “testimony involving seeing” WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Corsi said he did not know in advance about hacked emails that would be released on WikiLeaks.
Corsi said that when he gave a statement to Mueller’s investigators, he “forgot almost everything about emails in 2016.”
“They want me to say I willfully lied. I did not intentionally lie to the special counsel. I’m not going to agree that I lied. I did not,” Corsi said. “I will not lie to save my life. I’d rather sit in prison and rot for as long as these thugs want me to.”
Corsi said the special counsel told him he “willfully lied on an amended statement,” a characterization he disputes.
When asked if he knows what comes next, Corsi replied, “I don’t know.”
Mueller’s office had no comment on the report.
Last week, Corsi was reportedly negotiating a deal with Mueller, the Washington Times reported.
On Monday, Stone issued a statement defending Corsi.
.@jerome_corsi -RS pic.twitter.com/PlDUqOdufu
— Roger Stone (@StoneColdRoger) November 24, 2018
“I continue to see that my friend Dr. Jerry Corsi is being harassed by the Special Counsel, not for lying, but for refusing to lie,” Stone said. “It is inconceivable that in America someone would be prosecuted for refusing to swear to a false narrative pushed on him by the Muller investigators.”
Stone said he had never communicated with Corsi until after WikiLeaks first released hacked emails from the account of Hillary Clinton campaign chief John Podesta.
“Prior to that, our discussions had been limited to the research he had been doing on the money and business ties that the Podesta brothers had with Russian interests,” Stone said
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