Judge to Roger Stone: 'How hard was it to come up with a photograph that didn't have crosshairs?'
Roger Stone. Photo by Cornelius O’Donoghue/Shutterstock.
A federal judge on Thursday put indicted Republican political consultant Roger Stone under a full gag order after he posted a photo of her with a crosshairs in the background near her head.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson was unmoved by Stone’s courtroom apology, saying she thought his Instagram post with the hashtag #fixisin was done to “denigrate this process and taint the jury pool.” The National Law Journal, the Washington Post and Politico have coverage.
Stone told Jackson he had multiple images of her on his phone, and he’s not sure how he obtained the crosshairs photo. A group of about five volunteers and staff have access to his phone, he said.
“Do you know how to do a Google search?” Jackson asked Stone. “How hard was it to come up with a photograph that didn’t have crosshairs in the corner?”
Stone said he didn’t even notice the crosshairs in the background until a reporter brought it to his attention. He attributed the Instagram post about a “show trial” before Jackson to emotional and financial stress.
Stone said he is trying to earn money by selling T-shirts and signed rocks dubbed “Roger” stone paperweights.
Stone was indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller’s office last month for allegedly making false statements to Congress and trying to persuade a witness to provide false testimony to obstruct investigations of Russian influence in the 2016 presidential election.
Stone had posted the photo of Jackson along with this comment: “Through legal trickery Deep State hitman Robert Mueller has guaranteed that my upcoming show trial is before Judge Amy Berman Jackson, an Obama appointed judge who dismissed the Benghazi charges against Hillary Clinton and incarcerated Paul Manafort prior to his conviction for any crime.”
Jackson had called the Thursday hearing to determine whether she should change Stone’s release conditions or alter what had been a limited gag order that prevented him only from making statements to the media at the courthouse.
While Jackson expanded the gag order, she did not revoke bail. “I want to be clear today,” she said. “I gave you a second chance. But this is not baseball. There will not be a third chance.”
