Steve Bannon is high-ranking Trump official mentioned in Roger Stone indictment

Jacquelyn Martin | AP

Former White House strategist Steve Bannon leaves a House Intelligence Committee meeting where he was interviewed behind closed doors on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018, in Washington.

Former White House chief strategist and Trump campaign CEO Steve Bannon is the “high-ranking Trump campaign official” in special counsel Robert Mueller’s indictment of Roger Stone, CNBC has learned.

Bannon, according to a personwith direct knowledge of the matter, is the Trump campaign official who in October 2016 reached out to Stone “about the status of future releases by Organization 1,” which clearly clearly refers to WikiLeaks and Julian Assange.

This person, who declined to be named, added that Bannon has spoken with Mueller’s team, along with the Senate Intelligence Committee, about the exchange.

Attorneys for Bannon and Stone declined to comment. Bannon did not return requests for comment. The special counsel’s office declined to comment, as did a spokeswoman for the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Within the indictment that led to Stone’s pre-dawn arrest Friday, the special counsel describes an interaction between what a source says is Bannon and Stone.

“On or about October 4, 2016, the head of Organization 1 held a press conference but did not release any new materials pertaining to the Clinton Campaign. Shortly afterwards, STONE received an email from the high-ranking Trump Campaign official asking about the status of future releases by Organization 1,” the indictment reads. “STONE answered that the head of Organization 1 had a “[s]erious security concern” but that Organization 1 would release “a load every week going forward.”

The email exchange was first reported by the New York Times in November.

Stone, a long-time political advisor for President Donald Trump, faces seven counts, including witness tampering, obstruction of justice and making false statements to Congress.

He is slated to make an 11 a.m. ET appearance at federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.