Meet the civil rights attorney who may have linked Roger Stone and WikiLeaks

When long-time Donald Trump associate Roger Stone was arrested by the FBI on January 25 in connection with Robert Mueller’s investigation, the indictment referenced an attorney who had a connection to Julian Assange’s WikiLeaks. And that attorney, according to one of Bloomberg News’ sources, is 73-year-old Margaret Ratner Kunstler—who in the past, was married to civil rights attorneys Michael Ratner and William Kunstler.

In 2016, WikiLeaks published stolen Democratic Party e-mails—and Mueller believes that Stone, through an intermediary, was in touch with WikiLeaks during the presidential campaign. Kunstler has represented WikiLeaks.

According to Bloomberg News, “A 2017 direct message from Assange’s Twitter account to Donald (Trump) Jr., identified Kunstler as a person for the Trump Administration to contact at WikiLeaks.” But Kunstler is by no means a right-winger and has a long history of supporting liberal, progressive and civil rights causes.

On January 30, Bloomberg’s David Kocieniewski reported that “the Stone indictment provides the first suggestion by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office that Kunstler may have been asked to act as an intermediary with WikiLeaks during the crucial pre-election months of 2016.”

Kocieniewski also noted that hearing Kunstler’s name in connection with WikiLeaks has “caused consternation in the left-wing legal community. Her long-time friends and associates find it unthinkable that an activist and stalwart in the civil rights bar might have aided the Trump campaign or administration—even inadvertently.”

Deborah Hrbek, an attorney who has known Kunstler for many years, assured Bloomberg News that she “hates Donald Trump. We all hate Trump.”