Mueller team calls to question madam

Investigators in special counsel Robert Mueller's office have notified an attorney for Kristin Davis, who gained notoriety for running a high-end prostitution ring, that they intend to question her as part of their probe of Russian interference in the 2016 elections, Davis said Friday.

Davis, who is known as the "Manhattan Madam," said she expects to be asked about Roger Stone, a political operative and longtime confidant of President Donald Trump.

Stone was not named in the indictment, but messages cited by prosecutors match communications that he says he had with the Twitter persona Guccifer 2.0. Prosecutors say Guccifer was operated by Russian intelligence officers.

In 2016, WikiLeaks released emails hacked from the Democratic National Committee and John Podesta, a top adviser to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Prosecutors have said Guccifer routed the stolen documents to the group. Stone has described his contact with Guccifer as benign, saying he was merely congratulating the Twitter persona on being reinstated after being banned from the social media platform.

"Roger's one of my best friends," Davis said in a telephone interview Friday. "I have nothing bad to say about him." She called the Mueller probe a "witch hunt," and said "in terms of Russian collusion I know nothing."

The contact by Mueller's team was first reported by TMZ. Davis' attorney, Daniel Hochheiser, could not be reached for comment. Stone declined to comment. Mueller's office also did not respond to a request for comment.

Davis is the latest of multiple Stone associates to be contacted by Mueller's team.

"They seem to be going back with him and picking up people who worked for Roger, and some people who are disgruntled," Davis said.

A former Stone aide, Andrew Miller, is seeking to quash his subpoena from Mueller's team. Davis said she was unsure whether she would try to do the same.

A Section on 07/21/2018

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