Stone, my hunch, has the goods on Trump, thus he is
protected
Update on Roger Stone (Politico):
Trump on Thursday (Feb 20,
2020) strongly hinted that Roger Stone would not end up serving the 40-month
prison sentence just handed down by a federal judge, saying his former longtime
political adviser “has a very good chance of exoneration.”
But all the while
Trump has railed against the DOJ during a prison graduation ceremony in Las
Vegas, he added that he would not grant Stone, the now-convicted GOP operative,
a pardon at the moment because he wanted to “…let the process play out,” which
includes an apparent allusion to Stone’s petition for a new trial now pending
before that same court.
Stone had been convicted and sentenced to more than three years in prison on charges
of (1) lying to FBI investigators, (2) obstructing Congress, and (3) witness
intimidation and threatening – which immediately raised questions about whether the
president will pardon his former confidant for what he’s decried as “a
miscarriage of justice.”
But Stone is seeking a new
trial on the grounds that one of the jurors had a preconceived bias — a
decision that U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson is expected to
address in the coming weeks.
Trump's comments Thursday
were his most extensive yet on whether he would pardon Stone, a subject he has
dodged even as he's complained relentlessly about Stone's unfair treatment.
Earlier update on all this Bloomberg via MSN here:
U.S. District Judge Amy
Berman Jackson in Washington on Thursday denied Stone’s request she dismiss the
case for a litany of reasons she found unpersuasive.
The Cases Stone Tried to
Make: In a minor victory for Stone, Jackson said his lawyers could see some parts
of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016
presidential election that pertain to him and had been blacked out from public
view to wit:
Stone is accused of (1) serving
as a link between Trump’s campaign and WikiLeaks’ release of DNC emails stolen
by state-sponsored Russian hackers to embarrass Trump’s opponent, Hillary
Clinton, (2) lying to Congress, and (3) tampering with witness.
Stone’s defense team argued his
indictment was invalid partly because the question of his lying to a House
committee probing possible Russian election interference hadn’t been formally
referred to the DOJ for prosecution. They also asserted that the Mueller’s S/C office
must have learned of it through improper means. Stone’s attorneys further argued
the information was essential to their client’s defense.
Judge Jackson said they can
have it with the caveat they can’t share it with “anyone outside the defense
team or use it for any purpose outside of Mr. Stone’s defense of this matter.”
She also barred Stone from social media for criticisms he’d posted of the
prosecution and the Mueller probe, to prevent his tainting a pool of potential
jurors.
FYI: Stone, 66, was the last to be indicted during Mueller’s probe.
Judge Jackson concluded in
her 56-page decision: “There is no precedent that would authorize the dismissal
of an indictment based on pure conjecture, nor has the defendant pointed to any
authority that holds that an alleged violation of internal House committee
rules could invalidate an indictment returned by a grand jury.”
She added “… the motion to
toss out the case failed to note that Stone had brought attention to his House
testimony himself by publicly releasing his written remarks before the hearing and
by holding a press conference — while still on Capitol Hill — immediately afterwards.”
Original story follows from here vis-à-vis Stone’s stunts
and antics:
Stone, the long-time Republican
strategist and close associate of has been indicted on charges stemming from S/C
Mueller’s Russia investigation. Stone went after Federal Judge Amy Berman
Jackson who is presiding over his case on Instagram, publishing her picture
(see in the linked story above) and next to what appeared to be an image of
crosshairs and begging for money from his followers.
That photo of Judge Jackson appears to have originated from
an anti-Semitic conspiracy blog and then posted via a twitter screenshot
featuring the words “Corruption Central” and an image of what appear to be
crosshairs next to her head.
At the end of his post, Stone urged his followers
to “help me fight for my life” at a donation page set up in his name.
In a message that was posted,
lambasted, deleted, edited, reposted, and re-deleted over the course of a few
hours, Stone claimed: “Deep State hitman Robert
Mueller assigned him Judge Amy Berman Jackson through legal trickery.”
Stone’s attorneys later in the day filed a “Notice of
Apology” from Stone to the judge, writing: “Please inform the Court that
the photograph and comment today was improper and should not have been posted.”
Stone wrote in a signed letter in the document adding: “I had no
intention of disrespecting the Court and humbly apologize to the Court for the
transgression.”
My 2 cents: Judge Jackson gave Stone 40 months in prison and Trump says:
“Exoneration is not out of the question, I’m still watching this play out.”
Just ready to help an old friend, right?
Um … I note that Trump didn’t help his former personal lawyer, Michael
Cohen who had been with him for over 10 years, get a Trump break, but wait. That’s
right: Cohen turned on Trump during his Congressional testimony, and we all
know by now: If anyone turns on Trump for telling the truth, or anything else,
well, they get hammered by him. They get no any break, nothing whatsoever.
The evidence is clear: Trump favors helping people loyal, even those
convicted of crimes but who stick with him. Pitiful.
Thanks for stopping by.
No comments:
Post a Comment