Friday, November 15, 2019

Jury Finds Roger Stone Guilty

Jury Finds Roger Stone Guilty

November 15th, 2019
A federal jury in Washington, D.C., on Friday found Roger Stone guilty on seven counts in a case stemming from the special counsel’s investigation.
The jury, which deliberated for two days, found Stone guilty on five counts of making false statements to the House Intelligence Committee in September 2017, one count of obstructing an official proceeding, and one count of witness tampering.
Stone, a longtime friend of President Trump’s, was indicted on Jan. 24. He faces a maximum of 50 years in prison, but is likely to receive a far lighter sentence when he is sentenced in February.
Investigators with the special counsel as well as the House Intelligence Committee investigated whether Stone was a conduit between the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks, which released Democrats’ emails hacked by Russia. (RELATED: How The Star Witness In Roger Stone Trial Proved ‘Difficult’ For Prosecutors)
Prosecutors relied on three main witnesses to make the case that Stone lied to Congress in order to protect President Donald Trump.
Former White House strategist Steven Bannon testified that the Trump campaign believed Stone was an “access point” to WikiLeaks. Rick Gates, who served on the Trump campaign, testified that he was present during phone calls that Trump had with Stone regarding the future release of WikiLeaks information.
 
Roger Stone, a former advisor to President Donald Trump, exits the Federal Courthouse on January 25, 2019 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Prosecutors alleged that Stone lied to the House Intelligence Committee by denying that he spoke with anyone on the Trump campaign regarding WikiLeaks.
Prosecutors did not produce evidence that Stone had any contact with WikiLeaks or its founder, Julian Assange.
The special counsel’s team determined that no Trump associates took part in the hacking and dissemination of Democrats’ emails. The report did say members of the campaign were eager for WikiLeaks to release material because they thought it would help Trump.
The witness tampering and obstruction charges dealt mostly with Stone’s interactions with Randy Credico, a left-wing comedian and radio host who was in contact with Stone during the campaign.
Stone reluctantly identified Credico as a source for tips about WikiLeaks’ plans to release information damaging to the Clinton campaign.
Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.



Posted by at