Stone deletes photo of judge presiding over case

Days after a federal judge imposed a limited gag order on him, Trump confidant Roger Stone posted a photograph of that judge to his Instagram page and included her name, a closeup of her face and what appeared to be the crosshairs of a gun sight near her head.

Stone deleted the picture soon after, then reposted it without the crosshairs before deleting the second post.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson is presiding over Stone’s criminal trial in which he has pleaded not guilty to charges of lying about his efforts to gather information about hacked 2016 Democratic Party emails that were published by WikiLeaks.

Jackson imposed the gag order Friday, telling Stone that he could not make statements to the media about his case near the federal courthouse in Washington, but imposing no other restrictions on his ability to make public comments.

The judge put greater constraints on attorneys and potential witnesses, telling them not to make statements that could prejudice jurors.

In the text accompanying the first post, Stone referred to special counsel Robert Mueller, who brought the case against him. “Through legal trickery Deep State hitman Robert Mueller has guaranteed that my upcoming show trial is before Judge Amy Berman Jackson,” wrote Stone, and added that Jackson is “an Obama appointed judge” and the “(hash)fixisin.”

The U.S. Marshals Service, which provides security to federal judges, did not respond to a request for comment.

In a text message to The Washington Post on Monday, Stone said the photograph of Jackson had been posted by a “volunteer” who helps him with his social media accounts.

“The photo has been misinterpreted, and in no way did I mean to threaten the judge or disrespect the court.” Stone wrote. “(It) is a random photo selected from the internet and was posted at my direction. Because it was open to misinterpretation, I have ordered it taken down.”

Stone also disputed that the original post included crosshairs