President Trump issued a series of tweets Tuesday morning making the case for complete dismissal of the entire Roger Stone case — and worked in an all-caps threat about potential lawsuits in the process.
Trump’s social media posts come amid chaos with the Stone case that started last week when the four federal prosecutors working to get Stone behind bars all walked away from the case after they were strongly rebuked by the Department of Justice for leveling an “exorbitant and unwarranted” sentencing recommendation of seven to nine years in prison. The overly punitive sentencing, Stone’s defenders argue, are particularly egregious because his charges are simply process crimes stemming from an investigation into a Robert Mueller-debunked theory that the Trump campaign was “colluding” with Russia.
After the Justice Department-rebuffed prosecutors walked off the case, new revelations about the identity and political affiliations of the jury foreperson has prompted Stone to demand a retrial, a request Judge Amy Berman Jackson, whom Trump has repeatedly criticized, is discussing Tuesday along with the Justice Department’s revised sentencing recommendations.
Trump began his argument for dismissing the case against his longtime associate by quoting Fox News analyst Andrew Napolitano.
“Judge Jackson now has a request for a new trial based on the unambiguous [and] self outed bias of the foreperson of the jury, [who’s] also a lawyer, by the way. ‘Madam foreperson, your a lawyer, you have a duty, an affirmative obligation, to reveal to us when we selected you the existence of these tweets in which you were so harshly negative about the President [and] the people who support him. Don’t you think we wanted to know that before we put you on this jury.’ Pretty obvious he should (get a new trial). I think almost any judge in the Country would order a new trial, I’m not so sure about Judge Jackson, I don’t know,” Trump wrote in a tweet thread, citing Napolitano and “Fox and Friends.”
As reported by Fox News last week, former Memphis City Schools Board President Tomeka Hart revealed Wednesday that she was the foreperson of the jury that convicted Stone last year. Soon after the revelation, “her history of Democratic activism and a string of her anti-Trump, left-wing social media posts came to light.” Fox News reports:
Hart even posted specifically about the Stone case before she was selected to sit on the jury, as she retweeted an argument mocking those who considered Stone’s dramatic arrest in a predawn raid by a federal tactical team to be excessive force. She also suggested President Trump and his supporters are racist and praised the investigation conducted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, which ultimately led to Stone’s prosecution.
After pushing out the Napolitano quote, Trump unloaded on the whole case, which he argued is based on a fully debunked conspiracy theory.
“These were Mueller prosecutors, and the whole Mueller investigation was illegally set up based on a phony and now fully discredited Fake Dossier, lying and forging documents to the FISA Court, and many other things,” he wrote. “Everything having to do with this fraudulent investigation is badly tainted and, in my opinion, should be thrown out. Even Mueller’s statement to Congress that he did not see me to become the FBI Director (again), has been proven false. The whole deal was a total SCAM.”
“If I wasn’t President, I’d be suing everyone all over the place,” Trump wrote, adding emphatically: “BUT MAYBE I STILL WILL. WITCH HUNT!”
“Judge Jackson now has a request for a new trial based on the unambiguous & self outed bias of the foreperson of the jury, whose also a lawyer, by the way. ‘Madam foreperson, your a lawyer, you have a duty, an affirmative obligation, to reveal to us when we selected you the…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 18, 2020
…..would order a new trial, I’m not so sure about Judge Jackson, I don’t know.” @Judgenap (Andrew Napolitano) @foxandfriends
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 18, 2020
These were Mueller prosecutors, and the whole Mueller investigation was illegally set up based on a phony and now fully discredited Fake Dossier, lying and forging documents to the FISA Court, and many other things. Everything having to do with this fraudulent investigation is…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 18, 2020
….BUT MAYBE I STILL WILL. WITCH HUNT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 18, 2020
Along with the revelations about Hart’s identity and biases last week was more information about Judge Jackson’s handling of other jurors, as summed up by Fox News:
Meanwhile, it emerged that U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson had denied a defense request to strike a potential juror who was Obama-era press official with admitted anti-Trump views — and whose husband worked at the same Justice Department division that handled the probe leading to Stone’s arrest. And, another Stone juror, Seth Cousins, donated to former Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke and other progressive causes, federal election records reviewed by Fox News show.
As reported by CNN, Jackson will hear Tuesday from both Stone’s defense team and the Justice Department. “Stone is still scheduled to be sentenced on Thursday for seven charges of obstruction, lying to Congress and witness tampering, but has asked for a new trial,” CNN explains.