Roger Stone, a self-professed “dirty trickster” since the 1970s who is on trial in federal court in Washington for false statements and witness tampering, has found a defense that takes advantage of his unsavory reputation: Don’t believe me or anyone else.

Stone claimed throughout 2016 to have an intermediary feeding him information on WikiLeaks’ plans to release hacked emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee that might destroy her presidential run. Texts and emails from Stone shown in court have him suggesting that he had two go-betweens: conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi and former talk show host Randy Credico, both of whom forewarned Stone of coming dirt on Clinton.

But “it’s made-up stuff,” defense attorney Bruce S. Rogow told jurors in his opening statement Wednesday. “People were playing Mr. Stone. He took the bait.”

The second day of testimony at Stone’s trial opened with jurors hearing the parameters of the House Intelligence Committee investigation in which Stone is accused of lying, then listening to a recording of Stone’s testimony to the committee.

In Stone’s opening statement at the committee, which a prosecutor played for jurors, Stone asserted the hearings are “largely based on a yet unproved allegation that the Russian state is responsible... for the hack [of the DNC] and transfer of that info to Wikileaks.”

Stone “did brag about his ability to try to find out what was going on,” Rogow said a day earlier, but ultimately learned only what was in “the public domain.”

A longtime Trump adviser and political consultant, Stone told Trump campaign officials and associates that more damaging Clinton emails would be coming throughout the late summer and early fall of 2016. When emails belonging to Clinton’s campaign chairman were released on Oct. 7, an employee of Trump strategist Stephen K. Bannon emailed Stone to say, “Well done.”

Stone, 67, claimed inside knowledge, Rogow said, because “he was playing others himself” and such claims “play in politics … in newspaper articles, in public.”

The trial is the last case filed by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III in his investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 campaign. Stone has pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors countered in their opening statement that “the evidence in this case will show Roger Stone lied to the House Intelligence Committee because the truth looked bad for the Trump campaign and the truth looked bad for Donald Trump,” as Aaron Zelinsky, who was a member of Mueller’s team, told the jury of nine women and three men.

On the recording played for jurors Thursday, lawmakers asked Stone directly about the identity of his purported “go-between” or “back-channel” to WikiLeaks, saying that person could be a key witness to corroborate or contradict Stone’s account of his interactions with the anti-secrecy group and and its founder Julian Assange. Stone intiailly refused to answer — saying that person was a journalist who had not released Stone from a pledge to respect his anonymity —though he later wrote the committee and said the person he had discussed WikiLeaks with was Credico.

Prosecutors allege Stone lied to the House Intelligence Committee by saying that only Credico had reached out to WikiLeaks on his behalf, that there were no records of those conversations and that he never discussed his efforts with the Trump campaign.

Stone is also accused of trying to tamper with a witness by threatening Credico not to contradict him.

Stone, Rogow told jurors Wednesday, thought he would be asked questions about Russia rather than about WikiLeaks. “He goes into this bare, naked,” Rogow said of Stone’s exchanges with House investigators. “His state of mind undermines any argument that he did this in a conscious, evil, purposeful way to mislead the committee.”

What prosecutors labeled a conspiracy to thwart a congressional investigation, Stone’s lawyers framed as meaningless bragging and confusion among a group of eccentrics.

Stone and Credico had a “strange relationship,” Rogow said, and Credico is “an impressionist.” When Stone told Credico to “do a Frank Pentangeli” before the committee and feign forgetting information so as not to contradict Stone, Rogow suggested he was merely asking his friend to act out a scene from the second “Godfather” movie. Prosecutors used that quote as evidence that Stone wanted Credico to help him avoid a perjury charge by lying under oath, as the Pentangeli character does for Michael Corleone in the film.

That conversation was previewed in opening statements but has not yet been discussed in detail.

In a text presented in court late Wednesday, however, Credico compared Hillary Clinton to a character from the first “Godfather,” saying she kills her enemies like Luca Brasi does. Stone urged Credico not to be scared.

Later, he told his friend to “stonewall” if contacted by investigators: “Anything to save the plan.”

Credico replied, “What plan?”

Stone replied, “I’m telling them Stone isn’t talking and neither is Credico.”

Credico responded with a thumbs-up emoji.

Spencer S. Hsu contributed to this report