Robert Mueller subpoenas social media expert who made ‘Twitter swarms’ to help Donald Trump win election
Jason Sullivan worked for Trump’s political adviser, Roger Stone; his subpoena suggests Mueller may be closing in on Stone amid claims that he had advance knowledge of material allegedly hacked by Russia and given to WikiLeaks
US Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller has issued two subpoenas to a social media expert who worked for long-time Donald Trump adviser Roger Stone during the 2016 presidential election campaign, creating “swarms” of robots that could promote Trump on Twitter.
The subpoenas were delivered late last week to lawyers representing Jason Sullivan, a social media and Twitter specialist Stone hired to work for an independent political action committee he set up to support Trump, according to Knut Johnson, a lawyer for Sullivan, on Tuesday.
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The subpoenas suggest that Mueller, who is probing Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election, is focusing in part on Stone and whether he might have had advance knowledge of material allegedly hacked by Russian intelligence and sent to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who published it.
Stone appeared before the US House of Representatives Intelligence Committee last September and denied allegations of collusion between the president’s associates and Russia during the election.
“I am aware of no evidence whatsoever of collusion by the Russian state or anyone in the Trump campaign,” Stone told reporters at the time.