Trump adviser Roger Stone, self-proclaimed 'dirty trickster,' guilty on all charges

By Sarah N. Lynch and Mark Hosenball

 

Roger Stone, former campaign adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, arrives for the continuation of his criminal trial on charges of lying to Congress, obstructing justice and witness tampering at U.S. District Court in Washington, U.S., November 15, 2019. REUTERS/Yara Nardi

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - 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.

 

Trump fumed after the conviction of Stone, a friend of his for decades.

 

"So they now convict Roger Stone of lying and want to jail him for many years to come," Trump wrote on Twitter, asking why it was not his adversaries including Clinton and "even Mueller himself? Didn't they lie?"

 

"A double standard like never seen before in the history of our Country?" Trump added.

 

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson set a sentencing date of Feb. 6. She rejected a prosecution bid to have Stone jailed until then. Six of the criminal counts each carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison and the seventh carries a maximum term of 20 years. Stone is likely to get far less time as a first-time non-violent offender.

 

Stone was one of several former Trump aides to have been charged in Mueller's investigation and one of only two not to plead guilty but rather go to trial.

 

The other was former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, Stone's one-time business partner in a lobbying firm who was convicted by a jury last year in Virginia of tax and bank fraud and is serving a prison sentence of 7-1/2 years.

 

Stone, who has labelled himself a "dirty trickster" and "agent provocateur" and famously has the face of former President Richard Nixon tattooed on his back, was charged with obstructing justice, witness tampering and lying to the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee during its investigation into Russian election interference.

 

That panel is now leading the impeachment inquiry.

 

'TIMELY MESSAGE'

 

Chuck Schumer, the top Senate Democrat, said Stone's conviction "sends a powerful and timely message to President Trump and all House and Senate witnesses - past, present, and future - that lying to Congress, witness tampering, and obstruction of Congress are crimes and those who commit crimes do so at their own peril."

 

Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski mocked Stone after the verdict, writing on Twitter: "Reunited and it feels so go (sic). Stone and Manafort to re-open new 'consulting' firm behind bars."

 

Stone and his lawyers, who remain under a court-imposed gag order, had no immediate comment. Prosecutors also did not comment.

 

Opening statements in the colourful trial came on Nov. 6. The trial featured references to the film "The Godfather Part II," an impression of Senator Bernie Sanders by a prosecution witness, and testimony by political heavyweights including former Trump campaign CEO Steve Bannon and former Trump deputy campaign chairman Rick Gates. Those witnesses said they believed Stone had inside information about when WikiLeaks might release more damaging emails about Clinton.

 

Prosecutors accused Stone of telling lawmakers five different lies related to WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange.

 

Some of those lies related to the existence of texts or emails. Others pertained to Stone's conversations with Trump campaign officials and a supposed "intermediary" with WikiLeaks in August 2016 whom Stone identified to lawmakers as being comedian Randy Credico.

 

At that time, prosecutors said, Stone was actually dispatching a conservative author named Jerome Corsi to, as one email stated, "get to Assange!"

 

Stone was also accused of tampering with a witness, Credico, when Credico was summoned to testify before Congress and speak with the FBI. In emails and texts, Stone told Credico among other things: "Prepare to die," "You're a rat. A stoolie," and "Stonewall it."

 

Prosecutor Jonathan Kravis asked the judge to detain Stone pending sentencing, saying that the night before, Alex Jones from the conspiracy theory website Infowars claimed Stone had sent him a message. On the show, Jones said he was passing along a pardon request to Trump from Stone.

 

Stone's verdict coincided with the second public hearing in the House impeachment inquiry focussing on Trump's dealings with Ukraine.

 

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Additional reporting by Mark Hosenball; Editing by Will Dunham)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-11-16

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There is a God! One down, about 40 more to go. Hopefully,

 

Trump will pardon him so that he himself can be charged with witness tampering / intimidation. Keep those tweets coming!

use tweets as they are open public channels - nothing to hide.

 

 

at least not communicating via secret emails 

 

 

Demos see Trump and his tiweets, as a domestic version of Julian Assange exposes !  

Good news!hope he gets a long sentence maybe he and manifort can be cellies you know get things ready for Donald and family!

The corrupt grab for power continues in America, 

the founders would all be shaking their heads in disbelief, 

on how the country has not progressed from the solid footing they left,

one side of democracy that is so filled with hypocrisy.

Truly makes me sick.

 

21 minutes ago, leeneeds said:

The corrupt grab for power continues in America, 

the founders would all be shaking their heads in disbelief, 

on how the country has not progressed from the solid footing they left,

one side of democracy that is so filled with hypocrisy.

Truly makes me sick.

 

Noted you dont care if someone breaks the law.

555

Sad to see such an interesting and intelligent man being railroaded by the corrupt Democraps.

Did someone say "witch hunt"?

If witch hunt implies hoax, what do you call it when they actually catch a real witch?

Today they caught another one.

 

 

Fabulous news, one more crook found guilty.

 

One more win for Mueller’s investigation.

 

One more of Trump’s ‘best people’ getting what he deserves.

 

At Stone’s age the sentence he is likely to receive amounts to life in prison.

 

And forget a Pardon, loyalty in Trump’s world is a one way bargain.

 

Also note, the prosecutor witness testimonies believed by the jury included statements that Trump was aware of contacts with Wikileaks, something that Trump denied in his written deposition to the Mueller inquiry.

 

It’s a tad late for Trump to go back and correct his statement.

 

Which raises a question, can a President even pardon a co conspirator?

 

 

Bye bye Roger, your miserable criminal

life is over.

For some reason the article didn't include Trump's tweet in its entirety. Here it is in all its glory:

 

Not sure about the sentencing here, probably towards the low end of the Federal guidelines? But it can't be preceived as being too light as lying to Congress and witness tampering are serious crimes. Maybe something between 24 and 48 months?

 

The president probably wouldn't want to pardon him, given that it would make him (pres.) look even more guilty, but heck, he's pardoning convicted military murderers so who knows?

 

stone does have ink (Nixon tat on his back) and assume the Aryan gang will protect him.

 

 

5 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

Not sure about the sentencing here, probably towards the low end of the Federal guidelines? But it can't be preceived as being too light as lying to Congress and witness tampering are serious crimes. Maybe something between 24 and 48 months?

 

The president probably wouldn't want to pardon him, given that it would make him (pres.) look even more guilty, but heck, he's pardoning convicted military murderers so who knows?

 

stone does have ink (Nixon tat on his back) and assume the Aryan gang will protect him.

 

 

Stone will stay out of prison on appeals until the next election after which Trump will pardon him.

9 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

And forget a Pardon, loyalty in Trump’s world is a one way bargain.

If the next election plays in DT's favor, on November 4, 2020 all these vermin will get their walking papers.  Hopefully this will be averted.

Stone's strategy will probably be to get sick before court appearances and play this out until Pardon Day.

(I also anticipate some kind of attempt by the Senate to try to stretch the impeachment trial to the Election Day goalpost.  Ridiculous?  Would you have thought Brexit would take this long?)

 

Now its Giuliani's turn in the court he can follow Stone.

13 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

For some reason the article didn't include Trump's tweet in its entirety. Here it is in all its glory:

 

If it weren't for double standards, Democrats would be totally berift of literally any standards at all. 

7 minutes ago, Boon Mee said:

If it weren't for double standards, Democrats would be totally berift of literally any standards at all. 

You mean like accusing Trump of being a criminal even though he hasn't been tried by a court of law? Looks more like imitation, actually.

16 minutes ago, bendejo said:

Stone's strategy will probably be to get sick

 

He already looks quite ill. Note the left side of his upper torso. Not sure what it is (stroke, Parkinsons...)?

 

He's going the way of Roy Cohn. 

 

 

Going there with bible in hand, sounds like the crusades to me.

That Nixon tattoo is enough to make any man who might wish to be "intimate" with Roger go limp....

How many of Trump's buddies have been convicted or copped a guilty plea?

Sure are lots of witches out there....

1 hour ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Clinton finds prison rape funny. Noted.

I’d say that is good advice unless roger is into that sort of thing lol

It should concern all fair-minded people that justice under the American rule of law system is neither blind nor distributed evenly among its citizens...

 

Not defending any Republicans...but am wondering how Dems keep their bad actors out of jail...

 

????

13 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

He already looks quite ill. Note the left side of his upper torso. Not sure what it is (stroke, Parkinsons...)?

He's one clever and brazen piece of work.  EVERYTHING he does is suspect.  Everything. An old man playing at sickness for the long con, often used and not unusual, but it still works.

 

 

12 minutes ago, Puchaiyank said:

It should concern all fair-minded people that justice under the American rule of law system is neither blind nor distributed evenly among its citizens...

 

Not defending any Republicans...but am wondering how Dems keep their bad actors out of jail...

 

????

I'm wondering if you're familiar with the concept of circular reasoning?

Now why is it that all the folks surrounding Trump are going to jail? Doesn't water seek its own level? All the president's men (and I'm sure some women, too) are going down. The Mueller report indicted and/or convicted 34 people, and that number will continue to grow.

2 hours ago, bristolboy said:

Stone will stay out of prison on appeals until the next election after which Trump will pardon him.

Sentencing is in February 2020 and Stone will get 5-10 years (likely eligible for parole after 5 years) - so no.

Until his sentencing, the court previously imposed "gag order" will mostly remain in place, especially when he seemed to have threatened the judge in a tweet(?) prior to his trial. If Stone violates that order at any time prior to sentencing, he will immediately be jailed.

What are the odds that Stone will violate the gag order before sentencing? I'd say 50/50.

10 minutes ago, Srikcir said:

What are the odds that Stone will violate the gag order before sentencing? I'd say 50/50.

That idiot can't help himself. It's really not a question of will he violate, it's more a question of when will he violate?

3 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

It’s photo shopped.

 

And less of these accusations of rape that hasn’t happened.

Ah his devout followers are the first to cry ‘fake news’ but they are it’s biggest consumers. 

What I learned from this article is jerk like Stone have a connection with jerk like A.Jones. So the ridiculous far-right conspiracy-theorist like Alex Jones could have close link with POTUS' close friend???? life is such a farce

4 hours ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Clinton finds prison rape funny. Noted.

Gullible Trump supporter believes photo in post #7 is genuine. Noted.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jul/11/hillary-clinton-pushes-nasty-woman-t-shirts-for-pl/

The above is the original undoctored photo.