The records reveal the extent of communications between Stone and Assange, whose anti-secrecy website published Democratic emails hacked by Russians during the 2016 presidential election.

Stone, a staunch ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, faces sentencing on convictions for witness tampering and lying to Congress.

There is little outward worry from either end of Pennsylvania Avenue that Attorney General William Barr would follow through on his private threat to resign over presidential meddling.

The barrage of tweets comes days after Trump earned a public rebuke from his own attorney general, said the president's tweets were "making it impossible'' for him to do his job.

The U.S. president is misrepresenting the Justice Department’s handling of the legal case of his confidant, Roger Stone, among other exaggerations this week.

Barr, who will testify before the House Judiciary Committee next month, is expected to be asked about the decision this week to overrule four federal prosecutors and lower the amount of prison time it would seek for Trump's confidant Roger Stone

An official said there was no contact with the White House before the decision was made to lower the sentence recommendation.

Stone is the sixth Trump aide or adviser to be convicted of charges brought as part of special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.

The longtime Republican provocateur's indictment in January was an offshoot of Robert Mueller's investigation. 

Roger Stone has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which stem from conversations he had during the election campaign about WikiLeaks.