Federal judge rebukes Trump over Roger Stone jury comments

By DARREN SAMUELSOHN and JOSH GERSTEIN02/25/2020 03:18 PM ESTLink CopiedA federal judge swung back at Donald Trump on Tuesday over his heated criticism of the Roger Stone case, warning that the president’s commentary about his longtime associate’s conviction had helped fuel threats to the jury.U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson cited Trump’s public comments and Twitter posts, as well as an accompanying campaign from the president’s conservative media allies to identify and critique the jury, as one of the reasons for her decision to clamp down on public access to a hearing on Stone’s request for a new trial.Advertisement“Any attempt to invade the privacy of the jurors or to harass or intimidate them is completely antithetical to our entire system of justice,” Jackson said before issuing a ruling that cleared the courtroom of any public spectators. Stone's defense did not move to excuse her at that time, although it's unclear if they requested her dismissal at an earlier stage of the case.After Hart stepped forward to defend the prosecutors, conservative writers and activists noted that while she said in court that she didn't recall anything specific about Stone beyond a vague connection to Donald Trump's campaign and "the Russia probe," she had actually retweeted a message about Stone shortly after his arrest at gunpoint at his Florida home last January.The tweet, from Democratic strategist and former South Carolina legislator Bakari Sellers, contrasted the outcry over the large show of force during Stone's arrest with responses to the shootings of eight African-American men by police in recent years. Think about that.Trump has suggested on Twitter and in public speeches in recent days that he believes Hart was biased and that Stone deserves a new trial or to have the case dropped altogether.During the jury selection process, known as voir dire, Hart was referred to not by name but a 4-digit juror number. A court filing from the defense Friday said the judge had not yet decided whether to interview any jurors in connection with the new-trial motion.Stone's lawyers also sought to have Jackson recuse herself from the pending motion, but she rejected that move Sunday in a stinging decision that rebuked the defense for using the court's docket to accuse her publicly of bias.Trump has also sent several tweets accusing Jackson of bias--defying a public request from Attorney General Bill Barr that he stop making public statements about pending cases and the judges handling them.On Tuesday morning, as Trump was traveling in India, his account retweeted a four-day old Fox News web post in which a former Democratic Party lawyer, David Schoen, asserted that Jackson’s excoriation of Stone at his sentencing Thursday showed that her bias had infected his whole trial.Link Copied © 2020 POLITICO LLC