A federal judge banned Roger Stone from speaking publicly about his case today, after hauling him back to court to answer for an Instagram post attacking her.
“Publicity cannot subside if it’s the defendant that’s fanning the flames,” district Judge Amy Berman Jackson said Thursday.
Before her ruling, Jackson said she didn’t find the former Trump adviser’s defense credible, and that he “couldn’t keep his story straight on the stand” when she allowed him the opportunity to explain his decision to post an image of her on social media with what appeared to be the crosshairs of a gun near her head.
The photo, posted to Stone’s Instagram account earlier this week, was accompanied by a caption in which he suggested Jackson was politically biased, slammed Robert Mueller’s Russia probe and sought donations for his legal defense.
“I am hurtfully sorry for my own stupidity. I am kicking myself, not as much as my wife is kicking me,” Stone told the court. He called the Instagram post “a momentary lapse of judgement” before saying that the photo was selected by someone who works for him, which he estimated was about “five or six people.”
Stone said he was broke and struggling from the stress of the prosecution.
Roger Stone has been a close Trump ally since the 1980’s.
“I heard political commentators talking about the likelihood that I’ll be raped in prison. It’s been a stressful situation. I’m having a hard time putting food on the table and making rent,” he said.
Stone later said his post wasn’t meant to be threatening and deleted it.
Jackson, who is presiding over his prosecution, responded by scheduling a hearing today to discuss “why the media contact order entered in this case and/or his conditions of release should not be modified or revoked in light of the posts on his Instagram account.”
The judge’s options included revoking his bail.
Stone’s attorneys argued Thursday that Stone did not violate the limited gag order or the conditions of his release, and attempted to assure Jackson that Stone would not repeat his mistake.
“Sometimes a person learns a lesson, especially when a person is unrestrained in his speaking. It’s indefensible,” Stone attorney Bruce Rogow said.