Stone loses social media privileges
Judge said longtime Trump adviser’s behavior was more appropriate for middle school than court.
A federal judge on Tuesday cut off Roger Stone from his political oxygen — social media sites Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
On the plus side, for Stone — a resident of Fort Lauderdale and longtime confidant of President Donald Trump — is that the judge didn’t find revoke his bail and send him to jail while he awaits trial.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who is presiding over the criminal case against Stone in Washington, D.C., said his behavior was more appropriate for middle school than legal proceedings.
Among his notable posts: A picture of Jackson on Instagram with an image that to many looks like the crosshairs of a gun next to her head. He later took it down and apologized in a filing with the court.
Mother Jones reported prosecutors cited 11 instances of Stone seeming to violate Jackson’s order by commenting on the case.
In court Tuesday, Jackson went through Stone’s posts one-by-one with his attorney, Bruce Rogow, one of Fort Lauderdale’s most prominent lawyers.
Rogow argued that Stone was using social media to communicate to others what is happening in the case, “but not doing it in a way to infect or affect what the whole underlying reason is for the court order” — to ensure an impartial jury and a fair trial.
But the judge ruled that Stone repeatedly flouted her gag order. “You’ve shown me that you’re unwilling to stop talking about the investigation, which means that you’re unwilling to conform your conduct to the orders of the court,” the judge said.
Politico reported that the judge said Stone’s explanations required his attorney “to twist himself into a pretzel.”
Stone, a longtime adviser to President Donald Trump, is charged with witness tampering, obstruction of justice and making false statements in a case originally brought by Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating issues connected with Russian attempts to meddle in the 2016 presidential election.
He was arrested in a dramatic, pre-dawn raid at his previous Fort Lauderdale home on Jan. 25.
His trial is scheduled to start Nov. 5.
Though Jackson found Stone’s pushed, and broken, the boundaries set for him before trial, Stone has sometimes followed the rules.
Last month, appearing before 1,000-plus people at the Palm Beach County Trump 45 Club, he avoided violating the judge’s order.
“Let me address in a careful way my own situation,” he said. “Here’s what I can tell you: I have pled not guilty and I will be vindicated on every single count.”
The declaration brought sustained applause, whistles and shouts of approval. But it was less than the usual full-strength, unadulterated, no-holds-barred Stone.