Despite being under a court-imposed gag order, Roger Stone apparently has a new book coming out. Awesome! And the judge in his case ain’t happy.
A new order from U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson asks Stone to explain why this wasn’t brought to her attention previously, and admonishes his lawyer over his previous reassurances to the court.
Here’s a sampling from the (very long and very snarky) minute order:
It is FURTHER ORDERED that defendant shall file an additional submission by March 4, 2019 identifying the specific date of the “imminent general rel[e]ase” of the book referred to on page 2 of the motion and explaining why this matter — which was known to the defendant — was not brought to the Court’s attention in connection with defendant’s February 8, 2019 response [28] concerning the entry of an order under Local Criminal Rule 57.7(b) and (c), or at any point during the February 21, 2019 hearing on the February 19 order to show cause, particularly given counsel’s suggestion that an appropriate order should provide: “[H]e should not be talking about this Court. He should not be talking about the special prosecutor…. There are a lot of reasons why somebody may feel like they should be talking about things like that. But you and I know, as officers of the court,…this is not appropriate. And that, if we’re going to have an order, that’s what I ask the Court to do.” Tr. of Feb. 21, 2019 Hr’g [43] at 41-42; see also id. at 42. (“What I’m saying is if Your Honor is asking me to craft an order, that that is what the order should say: This Court should not be criticized by Mr. Stone. The government should not be impugned by Mr. Stone. The integrity of this case should not be impugned by Mr. Stone….[T]hat is the kind of nature of an order that I would suggest the Court should craft….”). Signed by Judge Amy Berman Jackson on 3/1/19.
