Greeted by a swarm of cameras, supporters and protesters, Roger Stone arrived at the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C. for his first court appearance in the capital city after he was indicted last week by a federal grand jury for allegedly lying about his interactions with Wikileaks and the Trump campaign.
Stone exited a black SUV and walked through a tunnel of cameras, protesters and supporters around 10:15 a.m. ET. Dressed in an atypically plain single-breasted dark suit, navy tie and pastel pocket square, Stone smiled and waved as he walked the few feet between the curb and the courthouse door. Stone was flanked by police officers who had arrived about 15 minutes before as a large crowd gathered to watch Stone’s entrance.
When he got out of his car, he was met with dueling chants of “lock him up” and “roger stone did nothing wrong” pic.twitter.com/X0V87coeYM
— Caitlin MacNeal (@caitlinmacneal) January 29, 2019
He was greeted by dueling chants of “Lock him up” and “Roger Stone did nothing wrong.” If Stone did say anything as he approached the courthouse, it was not audible over the crowd.
Even after Stone disappeared inside, the group of his supporters remained holding up signs and yelling, “Roger Stone did nothing wrong” on repeat.
His supporters kept chanting even after he went inside pic.twitter.com/8pqVB1T5Jf
— Caitlin MacNeal (@caitlinmacneal) January 29, 2019
Before Stone arrived, a crowd of about 70 people, mostly camera crews and journalists, gathered outside the main entrance to the courthouse. About 15 minutes before Stone arrived, a handful of supporters arrived carrying “Roger Stone Did Nothing Wrong” signs, and a few Stone protesters gathered as well, some with signs simply reading “Treason.”
When a few police officers arrived ahead of Stone’s entrance, they asked the crowd to make more space on the sidewalk. It was then that the handful of Stone supporters began butting heads with the camera crews. When members of the media who had been waiting outside the courthouse for a while to get their cameras in position asked Stone’s fan club to move out of their line of vision, Stone’s supporters pushed back and remained toward the front of the crowd.
