Robert Mueller/Screengrab
The Thursday session has apparently featured an appearance from Andrew Stettner. Stettner is the stepson of professional conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi. Corsi was one of the first to push the idea that Barack Obama had been born outside the United States, and was a frequent guest and author in right-wing media pushing the “birther” myth. Corsi is also an associate of Trump adviser Roger Stone, and met with and worked with Stone during the Trump campaign.
Corsi has previously been subpoenaed by Robert Mueller’s investigation to detail his conversations with Stone during the 2016 campaign and his knowledge of contacts with WikiLeaks. While Stone famously made public predictions about upcoming documents from WikiLeaks, it appears that at least some of the information spread by Stone came through emails that originated with Corsi. Corsi has also been subpoenaed to appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee as part of that body’s investigation into connections between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.
An NPR story from Jan. 3, provides insight into a lawsuit that Corsi filed, and lost, against the special counsel’s office—a suit that is very likely directly related to the Thursday grand jury session. In that suit, Corsi claimed that Mueller had exceeded his authority by overreaching with the information he gathered. Of particular concern in the suit was a conversation between Corsi and stepson Stettner in which they discussed “scrubbing” the drive on a computer. Corsi has insisted that the computer in question had nothing to do with Russia, or WikiLeaks, or the hacking of the DNC. But the fact that the special counsel has Stettner in, not for questioning in their offices, but for testimony in front of the grand jury, would seem to indicate that there was more significance to this event than Corsi has allowed.
Hsu reports that Stettner’s testimony has been completed and was brief. However, it’s not yet clear if additional witnesses are going to be called in this session.