Furious judge Amy Berman Jackson tightens gag on Trump adviser Roger Stone, who posted photo of her next to crosshairs
- Amy Berman Jackson said Roger Stone’s apology for the photo ‘rings hollow’ and he will be jailed if he keeps talking publicly about his case
- Stone has pleaded not guilty to lying to Congress, obstruction and witness tampering, as part of Robert Mueller’s Russia collusion investigation
A visibly angry judge on Thursday ordered US President Donald Trump’s former political adviser Roger Stone to stop speaking publicly about US Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s criminal case against him or else he will be sent to jail pending trial.
In a tense court hearing on Thursday, US Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the US District Court for the District of Columbia said that Stone’s apology and explanations for why he posted a photo of her next to the image of the crosshairs of a gun on his Instagram account were not credible.
The posting included Stone’s description of Berman as an “Obama appointed Judge” presiding over his “show trial” and the hashtag #fixisin.
“Thank you, but the apology rings quite hollow,” Berman told Stone.
“What all of this means, Mr Stone, is that any violation of this order will be a basis for revoking your bond and detaining you pending trial. So I want to be clear – today I gave you a second chance. But this is not baseball. There will not be a third chance.”
Stone has pleaded not guilty to charges of making false statements to Congress, obstruction and witness tampering as part of Mueller’s investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 US election. Mueller is also investigating possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Moscow officials.
Trump denies collusion and Russia denies US allegations it interfered to undermine the American democratic process.
Jackson ordered Stone to appear in court after he posted an image on his Instagram account earlier this week with the crosshairs image next to her photo and a message that railed against both Mueller and the judge.
The image appeared just days after Jackson had imposed a narrow media gag order in the case.
Stone later took the image down and apologised, but afterwards he gave an interview on conspiracy website Infowars defending the post.
At Thursday’s hearing, Stone took the stand and pleaded with Jackson to accept his apology.
“I abused the order,” Stone said. “I am kicking myself over my own stupidity.”
Lawyers for Stone declined to comment as they left the courthouse.
