Roger Stone guilty of witness tampering, lying to Congress
Roger Stone, a long-time friend and ally of President Donald Trump, was found guilty of witness tampering and lying to Congress – Adding to the list of Trump advisors convicted of criminal charges from the Russia investigation.
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Roger Stone, a long-time friend and ally of US President Donald Trump, has been found guilty at his trial in federal court in Washington.
Stone was convicted of all seven counts in a federal indictment that accused him of lying to Congress, tampering with a witness and obstructing the House investigation into whether the Trump campaign co-ordinated with Russia to tip the 2016 election.
He is the sixth Trump aide or adviser to be convicted of charges brought as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
Stone has denied wrongdoing and consistently criticised the case against him as politically motivated.
He did not take the stand during the trial and his lawyers did not call any witnesses in his defence.
Stone, 67, showed no visible reaction as the verdict was read aloud, count by count.
He’s scheduled to be sentenced on February 6.
He could face up to 20 years.
Another former Trump campaign aide, Michael Caputo, was removed by the courtroom by security officers after he turned his back on the jury after the verdict was read.
Stone smirked at reporters as he left the courtroom, holding hands with his wife.
As he walked out of the courthouse, Stone was asked if he had any comment on the verdict and replied: “none whatsoever” before he hopped into a waiting SUV with his wife.
Trump tweeted minutes after the verdict, calling the conviction “a double standard like never seen before in the history of our Country,” because his frequent nemeses, including Hillary Clinton, former FBI Director James Comey and “including even Mueller himself,” have not been convicted.
“Didn’t they lie?”
In a trial that lasted about a week, witnesses highlighted how Trump campaign associates were eager to gather information about emails the U.S. says were hacked by Russia and then provided to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks. Steve Bannon, who served as the campaign’s chief executive, testified during the trial the trial that Stone had boasted about his ties to WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange, alerting them to pending new batches of damaging emails.
Campaign officials saw Stone as the “access point” to WikiLeaks, he said. After the verdict was read, prosecutors asked for Stone to be jailed as he awaits sentencing, arguing that he may have violated a judge’s order that prohibits him from communicating with the media about his case.
But Judge Amy Berman Jackson rejected that request and said Stone will be subject to same conditions he faced following his arrest, including the gag order. Throughout the trial, prosecutors used Stone’s own text messages and emails – some of which appeared to contradict his congressional testimony – to lay out their case that he lied to Congress and threatened a witness.
Stone did not testify, and his lawyers called no witnesses in his defence. On Tuesday, a top Trump campaign official, Rick Gates, who was a key cooperator in the Mueller probe, testified that Stone tried to contact Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, to “debrief” him about developments on the hacked emails. Prosecutors alleged Stone lied to Congress about his conversations about WikiLeaks with New York radio host and comedian Randy Credico – who scored an interview with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in 2016, when he was avoiding prosecution by sheltering in the Ecuadorean embassy in London – and conservative writer and conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi.
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.
Earlier testimony revealed that Stone, while appearing before the House Intelligence Committee, named Credico as his intermediary to Assange and pressured Credico not to contradict him.
So they now convict Roger Stone of lying and want to jail him for many years to come. Well, what about Crooked Hillary, Comey, Strzok, Page, McCabe, Brennan, Clapper, Shifty Schiff, Ohr & Nellie, Steele & all of the others, including even Mueller himself? Didn’t they lie?....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2019
....A double standard like never seen before in the history of our Country?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2019
After Credico was contacted by Congress, he reached out to Stone, who told him he should “stonewall it” and “plead the fifth,” he testified. Credico also testified during Stone’s trial that Stone repeatedly told him to “do a ‘Frank Pentangeli,”’ a reference to a character in “The Godfather: Part II” who lies before Congress.
Prosecutors said Stone also had threatened Credico’s therapy dog, Bianca, saying he was “going to take that dog away from you.”
US Ambassador’s chilling testimony
Former US Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch provided chilling detail in Trump impeachment hearings of the threat she felt upon suddenly being ousted from her post and learning President Donald Trump had denounced her in his July phone call with Ukraine’s president.
In that call, Mr Trump assailed her as “bad news” and said she was “going to go through some things.”
In an extraordinary moment, even in an administration filled with them, Mr Trump himself went after her again as she spoke, tweeting from the White House that everywhere she served had “turned bad.”
He emphasised that as president he had the “absolute right” to appoint his own ambassadors.
Rather than distract from the career diplomat’s sombre but powerful testimony, Mr Trump’s interference could provide more evidence against him in the probe.
“It’s very intimidating,” Ms Yovanovitch said when Mr Trump’s new tweet was shown on a screen in the hearing room. “I can’t speak to what the president is trying to do, but I think the effect is to be intimidated.”
Witness intimidation is a crime, no matter who does it. Full stop.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) November 15, 2019
Democrats strongly agreed.
“I want you to know that some of us here take witness intimidation very, very seriously,” said Rep. Adam Schiff, Intelligence Committee chairman who displayed Mr Trump’s attack.
Ms Yovanovitch replied “I can’t speak to what the president is trying to do, but I think the effect is to be intimidating.”
Democrats and Republicans alike slammed the president for tweeting about Ms Yovanovitch.
“The president is smearing the anti-corruption ambassador as she testifies against him,” said Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell. “This lie is an effort to discredit her and chill others who may have the courage to testify against him. This is open-and-shut consciousness of guilt. He keeps acting guilty.”
Republican, Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, said Mr Trump’s live tweeting at the ambassador was wrong.
“I don’t think the president should have done that,” she said.
Fox News, which consistently supports Trump, was critical of his Twitter attack on Friday, with anchors and guests saying Yovanovitch was a credible witness and the tweets were ill-advised. “
“There is no way to put lipstick on this porcine situation,” said Ken Starr, a conservative commentator and the special prosecutor in the investigation that led to impeachment charges against Democratic president Bill Clinton in 1998.
TRANSCRIPT OF TRUMP’S FIRST UKRAINE CALL RELEASED
It came as the White House released the summary transcript of an April congratulatory call with Ukraine President-elect Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the latest salvo in the White House struggle to blunt Democrats’ contention that Mr Trump abused his power in calling on a foreign leader to involve himself in the US presidential election.
The move by the White House is certain to be framed by Democrats as an attempt to muddy the waters of the House impeachment inquiry into whether the president improperly pressured the Eastern European leader to launch an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2019
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2019
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2019
The 16-minute call, which the president placed from Air Force One flying back to Washington after a weekend at his Florida resort, makes no mention of Mr Biden or corruption, though it is filled with flattery from the new Ukrainian leader and invitations from Mr Zelenskiy for Mr Trump to visit Kiev.
“You are, as I said, a great example. We are hoping we can expand on our job as you did. You will always, also, be a great example for so many,” said Mr Zelenskiy according to the memo. “I know how busy you are but if it’s possible for you to come to the inauguration ceremony, that would be a great, great thing for you to do to be with us on that day.”
MARIE YOVANOVITCH TESTIMONY
During the second day of public hearings in the impeachment inquiry, Ms Yovanovitch described a “smear campaign” against her by Mr Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and others, including the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., before her firing.
She told the politicians her sudden removal had played into the hands of “shady interests the world over” with dangerous intentions toward the United States.
She recalled that as she had read the White House’s rough transcript of Mr Trump’s conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, another person said, “The colour drained from my face.”
She said quietly, “Even now words fail me.”
Her removal is one of several events at the centre of the impeachment effort.
“These events should concern everyone in this room,” the diplomat testified in opening remarks. “Shady interests the world over have learned how little it takes to remove an American ambassador who does not give them what they want.”
The daughter of immigrants who fled the former Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, she described a 33-year career, including three tours as an ambassador to some of the world’s tougher postings, before arriving in Ukraine in 2016.
She was forced out in May 2019.
Everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad. She started off in Somalia, how did that go? Then fast forward to Ukraine, where the new Ukrainian President spoke unfavorably about her in my second phone call with him. It is a U.S. President’s absolute right to appoint ambassadors.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2019
She denied the accusations against her, including that she favoured Democrat Hillary Clinton over Mr Trump in the 2016 election and that she circulated a “Do Not Prosecute” list to former top prosecutor in Ukraine, Sergiy Lutsenko, which she called a “fabrication.”
Mr Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the panel, opened the day’s hearing saying she was “too tough on corruption for some, and her principled stance made her enemies.”
It became clear, he said, “President Trump wanted her gone.”
The top Republican on the panel, Rep. Devin Nunes of California, bemoaned the hearings as a “daylong TV spectacle.”
Mr Nunes complained that Democrats are relying on hearsay testimony from witnesses who only know of Mr Trump’s actions second-hand.
He also pressed to hear from the still anonymous government whistleblower who first alerted officials about President Donald Trump’s phone call with Ukraine that is in question.
“These hearings should not be occurring at all,” he said.
Just as the hearing was opening, the White House released its rough transcript of an earlier call Mr Trump had with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that was largely congratulatory.
Mr Nunes read that transcript aloud.
In it, Mr Trump mentioned his experience with the Miss Universe pageant in Ukraine and invited Mr Zelenskiy to the White House.
He closed with, “See you very soon.” Y
Ms ovanovitch, a career diplomat, who has served both Republican and Democratic presidents, relayed her striking story of being told to “watch my back” and then being suddenly recalled by Mr Trump in a swiftly developing series of events that sounded alarms about a White House shadow foreign policy.
In particular, Ms Yovanovitch and others have described Mr Giuliani, Mr Trump’s lawyer, as leading an “irregular channel” outside the diplomatic mainstream of US-Ukraine relations. Asked during an earlier, closed-door deposition if anyone at the State Department who was alerted to Mr Giuliani’s role tried to stop him, she testified, “I don’t think they felt they could.”
The White House has instructed officials not to comply with the probe, and most have been issued subpoenas to appear.
Later Friday, the panel in closed-door session will hear from David Holmes, a political adviser in Kiev, who overheard Mr Trump asking about the investigations the day after the July conversation with Zelenskiy.
Mr Holmes was at dinner with Gordon Sondland, when the Ambassador to the European Union called up Mr Trump.
The conversation was apparently loud enough to be heard.
Mr Trump says he doesn’t know about that call.
The AP has reported a second US Embassy official also overheard it. Y
Ms ovanovitch and other officials now testifying publicly are providing accounts that Democrats are relying on to make the case that the president’s behaviour was impeachable. With the start of a second day of hearings to consider removal of America’s 45th president, Democrats and Republicans were both hardening their messages to voters.
Americans are deeply entrenched in two camps over impeachment, resulting in a mounting political battle that will further test the nation in one of the most polarising eras of modern times.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says Mr Trump’s actions toward Ukraine amount to “bribery.” Mr Trump repeatedly assails the proceedings as a “hoax” and a “sham” and says he did nothing wrong.
The impeachment inquiry focuses on Mr Trump’s July phone call with Mr Zelenskiy that first came to attention when an anonymous government whistleblower filed a complaint.
This Saturday, the eyes of history are looking at the people of Louisiana. If you want to defend your values, your jobs, and your freedom, then you need to REPLACE Radical Liberal John Bel Edwards with a true Louisiana Patriot: @EddieRispone! #GeauxVote pic.twitter.com/odAuD5DFPB
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2019
In the phone conversation, Mr Trump asked for a “favour,” according to an account provided by the White House.
He wanted an investigation of Democrats and 2020 rival Joe Biden.
Later it was revealed that the administration was withholding military aid from Ukraine at the time.event in Baton Rouge.
“We want to do for Louisiana what Trump has done for the nation.”
WHY AN OUSTED AMBASSADOR TESTIFIED
Marie Yovanovitch, the former US ambassador to Ukraine was targeted by the president’s allies in a “smear” campaign now central to the inquiry.
The career diplomat, who served both Republican and Democratic presidents, is now testifying publicly in the historic House hearings that Democrats are now relying on to make the case that the president’s behaviour is impeachable.
In particular, Ms Yovanovitch and others have described Rudy Giuliani, Mr Trump’s personal lawyer, as leading what one called an “irregular channel” outside the diplomatic mainstream of US-Ukraine relations.
Asked during her closed-door deposition if anyone at the State Department who was alerted to Mr Giuliani’s role tried to stop him, she testified, “I don’t think they felt they could.”
With the second day of historic hearings to consider removal of America’s 45th president, Democrats and Republicans are hardening their messages to voters as they try to saw public opinion.
Americans are deeply entrenched in two camps over impeachment, resulting in a mounting political battle that will further test the nation in one of the most polarising eras of modern times.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi brushed aside the Latin phrase “quid pro quo” that Democrats have been using to describe Mr Trump’s actions with a more colloquial one: Bribery.
“Quid pro quo: Bribery,” Ms Pelosi said about Mr Trump’s July 25 phone call in which he asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for a favour.
In the phone conversation, Mr Trump asked for a “favour,” according to an account provided by the White House.
He wanted an investigation of Democrats and 2020 rival Joe Biden. Later it was revealed that the administration was also withholding military aid from Ukraine.
“The bribe is to grant or withhold military assistance in return for a public statement of a fake investigation into the elections,” Ms Pelosi said. “That’s bribery.” It’s also spelled out in the Constitution as one of the possible grounds for impeachment — “treason, bribery or other and high crimes and misdemeanours.”
TRUMP MAN ROGER STONE GUILTY OF ALL SEVEN CHARGES
Originally published as Roger Stone guilty of witness tampering, lying to Congress