Jury finds Roger Stone guilty on all counts
Trump associate Roger Stone faced a seven-count indictment that he lied to lawmakers about his contact with WikiLeaks, tampered with witnesses and obstructed a House probe; reaction from Fox News contributor Andy McCarthy, former assistant U.S. attorney.
Federal prosecutors are asking a judge to sentence former Trump confidant and GOP operative Roger Stone to between 87 and 108 months in prison after being found guilty last year on seven counts of obstruction, witness tampering and making false statements to Congress on charges that stemmed from former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
“Roger Stone obstructed Congress’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, lied under oath, and tampered with a witness,” federal prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum. “And when his crimes were revealed by the indictment in this case, he displayed contempt for this Court and the rule of law. For that, he should be punished in accord with the advisory guidelines.”
Federal Judge Amy Jackson is slated to decide on how much time Stone spends behind bars during his sentencing on Feb. 20.
Stone was found guilty in November of providing false statements to the House Intelligence Committee about communications having to do with WikiLeaks, obstructing a congressional investigation of Russian interference during the 2016 presidential election, and witness tampering.
Jackson released the boisterous political operative on his own recognizance after his conviction but kept the gag order she imposed on him earlier this year, and stated that he was still bound by that order as a condition of his release.
Federal prosecutors argued that Stone intentionally lied about his use of intermediaries to get information about WikiLeaks’ possession and release of hacked Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton campaign emails. They also said Stone hid the truth to protect the Trump campaign.
Stone’s defense, however, maintained that Stone did not have an actual inside connection with WikiLeaks. They also argued that there was reasonable doubt that Stone lied to congressional lawmakers.
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Another defense Stone’s team put forward was that there was no way he could have lied about intermediaries between himself and WikiLeaks because there were no intermediaries. Radio host Randy Credico and author Jerome Corsi, who had allegedly been Stone’s go-betweens, never actually communicated with WikiLeaks, the defense said, even if Stone thought they had.
During the 2016 campaign, Stone had mentioned in interviews and public appearances that he was in contact with Assange through a trusted intermediary and hinted at inside knowledge of WikiLeaks' plans. But he started pressing Credico to broker a contact, and Credico testified that he told Stone to work through his own intermediary.
Meanwhile, the witness tampering allegations were based on communications between Stone and Credico, where Stone allegedly told him to “do a Frank Pentangeli,” a reference to “The Godfather Part II,” where a mob adviser testifying before Congress was expected to reveal crimes committed by the Corleone family, only to then claim ignorance once he was under oath.
Stone’s defense dismissed the “Godfather” talk as an ongoing topic of conversation between friends. They also portrayed Credico as the one who “played” Stone by lying about his ties to WikiLeaks.
Stone was indicted in January as part of Mueller's investigation into Russian actions during the 2016 campaign.
Fox News’ Brooke Singman and Ronn Blitzer contributed to this report.
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