Stone’s Lawyers Swear They Just Forgot About His Book At Gag Order Hearing

Roger Stone, a longtime adviser of Donald Trump,  is about to enter a waiting vehicle after exiting the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse at 4:10 p.m. on Thursday Feb. 21, 2019 in Washington D.C. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson had just  banned Stone from speaking publicly about his case.  Stone is facing charges from Special Counsel Robert Mueller that he lied to Congress and engaged in witness tampering. (Photo by Jeff Malet)
Roger Stone, a longtime adviser of Donald Trump, is about to enter a waiting vehicle after exiting the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse at 4:10 p.m. on Thursday Feb. 21, 2019 in Washington D.C. U.S. District ... Roger Stone, a longtime adviser of Donald Trump, is about to enter a waiting vehicle after exiting the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse at 4:10 p.m. on Thursday Feb. 21, 2019 in Washington D.C. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson had just banned Stone from speaking publicly about his case. Stone is facing charges from Special Counsel Robert Mueller that he lied to Congress and engaged in witness tampering. (Photo by Jeff Malet) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Roger Stone’s lawyers swear, scout’s honor, that they didn’t intend to hide their client’s book from the court and that they plain old forgot that an upcoming memoir lampooning the Mueller investigation was a good thing to mention at a hearing to determine whether or not Stone required a gag order.

According to a Monday Politico report, Stone attorney Bruce Rogow said in a filing that it wasn’t until he perused the book on a flight after the hearing did it occur to him that it may be problematic.

“Reading for the first time the New Introduction, while waiting for a plane back to Fort Lauderdale, brought the issue home and led to the Motion to Clarify,” wrote Ragow and others on Stone’s legal team. “There was/is no intention to hide anything. The new introduction, post February 21, 2019, presented a question we tried, obviously clumsily, to address. Having been scolded, we seek only to defend Mr. Stone and move ahead without further ado.”

Ragow’s wishes to move on may be hampered by a string of Stone’s emails in which he frets about a possible fuller gag order hampering the book’s release and promotion. U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson instituted an initial, limited gag order shortly after Stone’s indictment to keep him from speaking about the case on the courthouse’s campus.

Berman Jackson hauled Stone into her courtroom to discuss a more serious gag order after he posted a picture of her on Instagram last month with what appeared to be crosshairs in the corner.

Stone is due back in court Thursday.

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. Will Stone get a nice refund on his retainer?

  2. Gee judge, I didn’t really think I was drunk at the time.

  3. Oh, yeah. That’s gonna go over real big with Judge Berman Jackson. She ought to send Stone AND his lawyers to prison.

  4. What kind of lawyers are these? They should have used the “Rick James” excuse!

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

93 more replies

Participants

Avatar for paulw Avatar for douglashh Avatar for kwoodgr Avatar for old_curmudgeon Avatar for ncsteve Avatar for clunkertruck Avatar for Lacuna-Synecdoche Avatar for phillydave Avatar for rb639 Avatar for schmed Avatar for thomasmatthew Avatar for dommyluc Avatar for established_1781 Avatar for castor_troy Avatar for gardibolt Avatar for greysea Avatar for timorwig Avatar for godwit Avatar for jwbuho Avatar for xkenji Avatar for occamscoin Avatar for leeblzm Avatar for lal2911 Avatar for powwow

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: