Federal judge tightens gag order on Roger Stone after Instagram post News
© WikiMedia Robert Mueller (The White House from Washington, DC)
Federal judge tightens gag order on Roger Stone after Instagram post

A federal district judge tightened the gag order against Roger Stone and his attorneys on Thursday after an inappropriate Instagram post. The post contained a picture of District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson with crosshairs next to her head coupled with some incendiary text.

Stone took down the post, removed the crosshairs, and put it back up before taking it down for good. Stone submitted an apology to the court, but the judge stated his “apology rings quite hollow,” questioning if Stone has “learned any lesson at all.”

Stone argued that the first wave of publicity will subside and it will not affect the case. The judge disagreed, saying, “the publicity cannot possibly subside if it’s the defendant out there fanning the flames.”

She cited her duty to ensure that court staff can get to work safely in her decision to alter the gag order so that Stone and any of his surrogates cannot speak about the case in any capacity. Stone is still allowed to fundraise for his defense and deny the charges, but that is all.

The judge further threatened that any violation of this order will lead to revocation of the bond and detainment. She says that detainment would be necessary to help Stone resist the temptation of “cameras, phones, computers and microphones.”