Jury convicts Roger Stone, exaide to President Trump.
WASHINGTON — Roger Stone, a longtime friend and ally of President Trump, was found guilty Friday of witness tampering and lying to Congress about his pursuit of Russianhacked emails damaging to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 election bid.
Stone was convicted of all seven counts in a federal indictment that also accused him of obstructing the House investigation into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to tip the 2016 election. He is the sixth Trump aide or adviser to be convicted of charges brought as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
Stone denied wrongdoing and criticized the case against him as politically motivated. He did not take the stand during the trial, and his lawyers did not call any witnesses in his defense.
Stone, 67, showed no visible reaction as the verdict was read. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 6 and could face up to 20 years.
As he walked out of the courthouse, Stone was asked if he had any comment on the verdict and replied: “none whatsoever” before he hopped into a waiting SUV with his wife.
Trump tweeted minutes after the verdict, calling the conviction “a double standard like never seen before in the history of our Country,” because his frequent nemeses, including Hillary Clinton, former FBI Director James Comey and “including even Mueller himself,” have not been convicted. “Didn’t they lie?”
In a trial that lasted about a week, witnesses highlighted how Trump campaign associates were eager to gather information about emails the U.S. says were hacked by Russia and then provided to the antisecrecy website WikiLeaks.
Steve Bannon, who served as the campaign’s chief executive, testified during the trial that Stone had boasted about his ties to WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange, alerting them to pending new batches of damaging emails. Campaign officials saw Stone as the “access point” to WikiLeaks, he said.
After the verdict was read, prosecutors asked for Stone to be jailed as he awaits sentencing, arguing that he may have violated a judge’s order that prohibits him from communicating with the media about his case. But Judge Amy Berman Jackson rejected that request and said Stone will be subject to same conditions he faced following his arrest, including the gag order.
Throughout the trial, prosecutors used Stone’s own text messages and emails — some of which appeared to contradict his congressional testimony — to lay out their case that he lied to Congress and threatened a witness.