Stone aide who battled Mueller will testify at former boss’ trial

Roger Stone’s “wingman,” who spent a year fighting a subpoena from special counsel Robert Mueller, has now been subpoenaed to testify at his former boss’ trial.

Andrew Miller, a longtime aide to Stone, received a subpoena in early August to appear as a government witness, said Miller’s lawyer, Paul Kamenar. Kamenar said he was “puzzled” as to why prosecutors wanted Miller as a government witness — he said earlier this year that he did not think Miller would be called — but confirmed that Miller plans to comply.

The result is that one of Stone’s closest aides will be testifying about him at his trial in November for lying to Congress about his dealings with WikiLeaks during the 2016 election. He has pleaded not guilty.

Miller worked with Stone for over a decade, managing his schedule and travel. Miller accompanied Stone to the Republican National Convention in 2016, meaning he might have insight into Stone’s activity around this time.

The subpoena offers further evidence that the government considers Miller a key part of its prosecution strategy and marks just the latest legal setback for Stone. U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson in July banned the one-time Trump political adviser from social media after ruling that he ran afoul of a court-imposed gag order.

Prosecutors have long had Miller on their radar and subpoenaed him in 2018 to testify before Mueller’s grand jury. Miller vigorously fought the move, arguing that Mueller’s appointment was invalid because his level of authority should have required Senate confirmation. He also contended that the deputy attorney general did not have the power to appoint Mueller, even though then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions had recused himself from the matter.

Although the fight dragged past Stone’s indictment, Mueller’s attorneys refused to drop their subpoena push. The move raised some eyebrows, since grand juries are not supposed to be used to investigate a criminal case that’s already been filed. But grand juries can be used to add new charges or to charge new defendants.

U.S. District Court Chief Judge Beryl Howell appeared satisfied during a hearing earlier this summer with prosecutors’ explanations of why they still needed Miller to testify before the grand jury, and ordered him to appear in early June. Miller then abandoned his fight, as his only remaining option was to appeal to the Supreme Court, and turned over all of his text messages with Stone from October 2016 to March 2017, as well as the written agenda for Stone while he was at the Republican National Convention in 2016.

Another government witness at Stone’s trial will be Randy Credico, a colorful New York radio host and Stone acquaintance who was subpoenaed by the Washington, D.C., U.S. attorney’s office on April 18. That subpoena, obtained by POLITICO, orders Credico to appear in court the day the trial opens.

Credico is expected to shed light not only on Stone’s efforts to connect with WikiLeaks during the 2016 election as he sought Hillary Clinton’s emails, but also on Stone’s alleged attempts to intimidate Credico into parroting his version of events.

CORRECTION: Roger Stone was not charged with lying to the FBI.