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Judge Denies Roger Stone’s Motion To Disqualify Her

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The judge who sentenced Roger Stone to three years in prison says she is not stepping down from hearing his argument for a new trial, calling his request for her recusal unwarranted for “several reasons.” . . .

Stone, an ally of President Donald Trump, was sentenced last week by federal Judge Amy Berman Jackson to 40 months in prison from charges stemming from the Mueller probe. The judge made the decision to move forward with sentencing despite Stone’s request for a new trial, given revelations that the lead juror is a Democratic activist who expressed anti-Trump bias on social media.

On Friday, Stone’s attorneys filed a motion requesting that Berman Jackson disqualify herself from the hearing for a new trial, arguing that the judge could hold some bias because she praised the jury during sentencing by saying they “served with integrity under difficult circumstances.”

Over the weekend, Judge Berman Jackson denied Stone’s request, writing that “there are several reasons why recusal is not warranted.”

In her rejection of the motion, the judge concluded Stone’s request appeared to be for show, writing, “Given the absence of any factual or legal support for the motion for disqualification, the pleading appears to be nothing more than an attempt to use the Court’s docket to disseminate a statement for public consumption that has the words ‘judge’ and biased’ in it.” (Read more from “Judge Denies Roger Stone’s Motion To Disqualify Her” HERE)

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Roger Stone Files Motion To Disqualify Judge Over Her Statements At His Sentencing

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Attorneys for Roger Stone filed a motion Friday for the judge in his case to recuse herself from hearing his upcoming argument for a new trial, saying her statements praising the jury during his sentencing hearing should be disqualifying. . .

Stone is currently seeking a new trial after it was revealed that the lead juror in the trial against him made social media posts criticizing President Trump and celebrating Stone’s conviction. That juror, Tomeka Hart, was also a former pollical candidate with a history of activism for the Democratic Party.

Because Judge Berman-Jackson praised the jury, Stone’s attorneys argue, it is reasonable to question her impartiality in hearing his case for a new trial based on the apparent bias within the jury that convicted him.

(Read more from “Roger Stone Files Motion To Disqualify Judge Over Her Statements At His Sentencing” HERE)

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Lead Roger Stone Juror Ran for Congress as a Democrat in 2012

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A former Democratic congressional candidate whose social media accounts are replete with criticism of President Donald Trump came forward Wednesday as the foreperson on the jury that convicted longtime GOP operative Roger Stone at a trial in November 2019.

According to multiple news reports, Tomeka Hart revealed her role on the jury in a Facebook post supporting the four prosecutors who withdrew from the Stone case Tuesday in protest over a revision in a sentencing recommendation for the GOP operative.

“I have kept my silence for months. Initially, it was for my safety. Then, I decided to remain silent out of fear of politicizing the matter,” Hart wrote on Facebook, adding: “But I can’t keep quiet any longer.”

CNN first reported Hart’s post but did not note that she was a Democrat. Commercial Appeal, a news outlet affiliated with USA Today that spoke to Hart, reported details of her professional background. Those details match up with the same person who ran for Congress in 2012. A Politico reporter who covered Stone’s trial identified Hart as a former congressional candidate.

Hart, who did not respond to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment, lost to incumbent Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen in the primary that year. (Read more from “Lead Roger Stone Juror Ran for Congress as a Democrat in 2012” HERE)

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Prosecutors Seek 7 to 9 Years in Prison for Roger Stone

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Federal prosecutors are urging that longtime Donald Trump adviser and Republican political provocateur Roger Stone be sent to prison for about seven to nine years for his conviction on charges of lying and witness tampering during investigations of ties between Russia and the Trump campaign.

Following a weeklong trial last November, a Washington jury took found Stone guilty on all seven felony counts he faced: five of making false statements to Congress, one of obstruction of Congress, and one of witness tampering with both the House Intelligence Committee inquiry and special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe.

In a sentencing filing Monday, prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington argued that Stone’s conduct was exceptionally sinister because of the importance of those investigations and the danger of overseas influence on U.S. elections.

“Foreign election interference is the ‘most deadly adversar[y] of republican government,’” prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington wrote, quoting Alexander Hamilton’s Federalist Paper No. 68. “Investigations into election interference concern our national security, the integrity of our democratic processes, and the enforcement of our nation’s criminal laws. These are issues of paramount concern to every citizen of the United States. Obstructing such critical investigations thus strikes at the very heart of our American democracy.” (Read more from “Prosecutors Seek 7 to 9 Years in Prison for Roger Stone” HERE)

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Media, Federal Government Tougher on Roger Stone Than Child Molester Jeffrey Epstein. Why?

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Roger Stone was convicted in federal court last week on seven felony charges stemming from the since-closed Russia collusion investigation. Stone’s main crime was lying to Congress about who he had or had not spoken to about Russia.

By the time Stone’s trial began in Washington the larger scandal that ensnared him had long been debunked. Nobody was talking about WikiLeaks anymore; nobody cared. And yet prosecutors continued zealously as if it were still 2017. For lying about something that is now officially irrelevant, they argued that Roger Stone should spend up to 50 years in prison, effectively the rest of his natural life.

Now, at the very moment prosecutors were making that case, that Stone’s misstatements ought to be a death penalty offense, Congressman Adam Schiff was busy lying to the rest of us about new things, some of which actually mattered. Schiff didn’t seem worried about his lying. He knew he would never be prosecuted for it. In Washington dishonestly is strictly a one-way offense.

Yet despite the obvious irony of all of this, Roger Stone was convicted anyway. And official Washington cheered. “Rot in hell!” they screamed on Twitter, oblivious to karma, which, by the way, is real.

What’s interesting about the response to Stone’s case, both from federal prosecutors and from the conventional opinion-makers on television, is how much harsher and more outraged it was than anything that greeted convicted child molester Jeffrey Epstein. Do you think ABC’s George Stephanopoulos would even consider having dinner at Roger Stone’s house? Well, of course not. That would be immoral. (Read more from “Media, Federal Government Tougher on Roger Stone Than Child Molester Jeffrey Epstein. Why?” HERE)

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Roger Stone Found Guilty on All Charges

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President Donald Trump’s longtime adviser Roger Stone was convicted on all charges on Friday by a federal court jury that found the veteran Republican operative and self-proclaimed “dirty trickster” guilty on seven counts of lying to the U.S. Congress, obstruction and witness tampering.

During the trial, prosecutors pressed their case that Stone lied to lawmakers about his outreach to WikiLeaks – the website that disclosed many hacked Democratic emails ahead of the 2016 U.S. election that proved embarrassing to Trump’s Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton – to protect Trump from looking bad.

The verdict, in a trial arising from former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation that detailed extensive Russian interference in that election, is not only a blow to Stone but renews scrutiny on Trump’s actions as a candidate even as he endures an impeachment inquiry that threatens his presidency.

Before the verdict was announced, Stone, 67, arrived at the courthouse clad in a pinstripe suit, blue tie with white dots, white handkerchief in his pocket, arm in arm with his wife, sunglasses in one hand, a small red copy of the Bible in the other and a smile on his face.

When the verdict was read, Stone faced the jury of nine women and three men, and showed no outward signs of emotion as he was pronounced guilty. (Read more from “Roger Stone Found Guilty on All Charges” HERE)

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Jury Selection Begins in Trial of Roger Stone

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Jury selection began Tuesday in the trial of Roger Stone, a longtime Republican provocateur and former confidant of President Donald Trump, who faces charges related to his alleged efforts to exploit the Russian-hacked Hillary Clinton emails for political gain.

The trial in Washington promises to revive the specter of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation as the impeachment inquiry against Trump proceeds in the House. . .

Stone’s indictment in January was an offshoot of Mueller’s investigation. Stone is accused of lying to lawmakers about WikiLeaks, tampering with witnesses and obstructing a House intelligence committee probe into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to tip the 2016 election. (Read more from “Jury Selection Begins in Trial of Roger Stone” HERE)

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Federal Judge Issues Gag Order on Roger Stone and His Attorneys

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On Friday, a federal judge issued a partial gag order on former Donald Trump associate Roger Stone as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

District of Columbia Federal Judge Amy Berman Jackson issued an order Friday requiring Stone to “refrain from making statements to the media or in public settings that pose substantial likelihood of material prejudice to this case,” Fox News reports.

“There will be no additional restrictions imposed on the defendant’s public statements or appearances at this time, although this order may be amended in the future…if necessary,” Jackson’s order states. “This order should not be interpreted as modifying or superseding the condition of the defendant’s release that absolutely prohibits him from communicating with any witness in the case, either directly or indirectly. Nor does this order permit the defendant to intimidate or threaten any witness, or to engage or attempt to engage in any conduct in violation of [U.S. Code.]”

Jackson added that while it’s not the court’s job to tell Stone if making public statements is in his best interest, the court notes that “one factor that will be considered in the evaluation of any future request for relief based on pretrial publicity will be the extent to which the publicity was engendered by the defendant himself.”

Those involved with the case, including witnesses and council, were also ordered by Jackson to “refrain” from making statements near the courthouse to media or the public that may “influence any juror, potential juror, judge, witness or the court officer or interfere with the administration of justice.” (Read more from “Federal Judge Issues Gag Order on Roger Stone and His Attorneys” HERE)

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Roger Stone Faces a Gag Order. He Has a Plan to Resist It.

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By Politico. . .The federal judge in Stone’s case, Amy Berman Jackson, has already hushed a coterie of others caught in special counsel Robert Mueller’s dragnet, including Paul Manafort, Rick Gates and their attorneys. They were quieted after one of the lawyers told reporters that Mueller’s case was “ridiculous.” . . .

If Stone is gagged, his contingency plan is already in place. He’s got a well-known First Amendment attorney on his legal team who represented the rap group 2 Live Crew against obscenity charges in the early 1990s. And Stone has designated a pair of close friends as spokesmen in the event he and his lawyers are told to stop talking. . .

Since his arrest last Friday, Stone has been on a media blitz. He gave his first interview to the conspiracy theory website InfoWars and then addressed reporters outside the federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale. He’s discussed his legal defense plans during a series of interviews with the major television and cable networks, as well as in impromptu press conferences outside his South Florida home. Anyone on Stone’s email list got a message Monday with the subject line “Let’s talk about my arrest” and a plea for “emergency” contributions to help pay his mounting legal bills. . .

During Stone’s arraignment hearing on Tuesday, magistrate judge Deborah Robinson opened with a warning that he’d be wise to not speak about the charges in the indictment. “Any statements you make may be used against you,” she said.

(Read more from “Roger Stone Faces a Gag Order. He Has a Plan to Resist It.” HERE)

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Roger Stone warns Trump’s presidency is in peril

By Fox 13. . .The political trickster said Tuesday, a day he pleaded not guilty to seven charges laid by special counsel Robert Mueller, that Trump’s presidency is in mortal peril because the Russia investigation amounts to a “speeding bullet heading for his head.”

Stone’s comment, to “Breitbart News Daily” on Sirius XM radio, added to soaring anticipation, fueled by a remark by acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker on Monday, that the probe could soon end with Mueller’s final report.

And it raised the question of whether Trump’s repeated claim of “no collusion” fired off in scores of tweets and comments to the press, is a sufficiently broad defense to the existential threat that Stone perceives from Mueller’s work. (Read more from “Roger Stone warns Trump’s presidency is in peril” HERE)

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Roger Stone’s Dishonesty Might Save Him

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Early this morning, a group of 29 heavily armed FBI officers carried out a pre-dawn raid to apprehend the foppish 66-year-old Republican political consultant Roger Stone at the request of special counsel Robert Mueller. At last our streets are safe, or at least they were before Stone was immediately released on $250,000 bond. CNN, apparently tipped off to the raid, lurked outside Stone’s Florida home to capture video of the arrest.

Perhaps Roger Stone appreciated the FBI’s cheap political stunt. No operative in recent memory has earned and encouraged a greater reputation for political dark arts than Stone. A longtime friend and political advisor to President Trump, Stone played his first dirty trick in grade school and boasts that he hasn’t stopped since. Here are just a handful of Roger Stone’s greatest hits:

Third Graders For Kennedy: Though he currently sports a tattoo of Richard Nixon on his back, in 1960 eight-year-old Roger Stone supported John F. Kennedy for president. When his Connecticut grade school asked students to choose the next president, Stone recalls that he stood at the end of the cafeteria line and told every student that Richard Nixon wanted school on Saturdays. Kennedy won in a landslide. . .

Now Roger Stone stands accused of obstructing a congressional inquiry and of witness tampering. Mueller’s indictment alleges that Stone informed senior Trump campaign aides as early as June or July of 2016 that he knew WikiLeaks had obtained documents damaging to Hillary Clinton. By then, however, the hacked emails had already been released to the public. In August, Stone claimed to have been in contact with WikiLeaks; in September of 2017, he denied any direct contact with the organization.

WikiLeaks agrees with this latter characterization. “Stone is playing slovenly Democrat-aligned journalists like a fiddle, brilliantly inserting himself, as is his habit to raise his public profile and market his books,” according to a Wikileaks spokesman, who observed that Stone “was pushed out of the Trump team a long time ago for just this time of opportunism.” The most convincing evidence that Stone did not collude on behalf of the Trump campaign with any foreign actors is that he bragged about having done so. Roger Stone’s dishonesty may save him—perhaps his dirtiest trick yet. (Read more from “Roger Stone’s Dishonesty Might Save Him” HERE)

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