Roger Stone barred by U.S. judge from posting on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook through trial
Source: Washington Post
A federal judge on Tuesday barred Roger Stone from communicating through Instagram, Twitter or Facebook until after his trial after months of social media postings that the judge said violated a gag order she had imposed to prevent prejudicing potential jurors. The new order says Stone cannot post anything to the social media sites, expanding on the previous gag order that banned his discussing his case or its participants in the media or public settings. Stone, a longtime confidant of President Trump, was previously rebuked by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson of Washington for public statements attacking his indictment, the conduct of the FBI, intelligence agencies and government officials including former special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.
Jackson did not say how she would enforce the tighter order, but said she could hold a hearing to find Stone in contempt of court later, possibly after his trial. She said holding such a hearing now would waste both sides' resources and the court's, and might spread the prejudicial pretrial publicity she is trying to prevent.
In court Tuesday, Jackson read aloud social postings by Stone, 66, that referred to his case. She recited that litany after noting she already had warned him several times in court about his postings that criticized Mueller's probe of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. One such incendiary post prompted the Feb. 21 gag order, his posting of a photograph of the judge's face next to what appeared to be gun-sight crosshairs. "Mr. Stone, what am I supposed to do with you?" Jackson said "I find that he is in violation of his conditions of release and media communication order."
Stone has pleaded not guilty to charges of lying about his efforts to gather information about Democratic Party emails hacked and leaked by Russian operatives in 2016. Stone was in court Tuesday for a regularly scheduled hearing on a request from his lawyers to suppress evidence they argued was gathered through a flawed search warrant underpinned by what the defense says was second-hand unreliable information.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/roger-stone-barred-by-us-judge-from-posting-on-instagram-twitter-facebook-through-trial/2019/07/16/2dd98f06-a7d5-11e9-a3a6-ab670962db05_story.html
Original article and headline -
By Washington Post Staff
July 16 at 1:14 PM
A gag order limiting Stone's public comments about his case or any participants in it already had been in place as U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said, to try to limit pre-trial publicity that could prejudice his case. He is now barred from posting anything to the social networks. Stone has pleaded not guilty to charges of lying about his efforts to gather information about Democratic Party emails hacked and leaked by Russian operatives in 2016.
This is a developing story. It will be updated.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2019/07/16/federal-judge-bars-roger-stone-from-posting-on-instagram-facebook-or-twitter-expanding-gag-order-pending-trial-of-trump-confidant/?utm_term.0ad048704c25
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