Roger Stone Roger Stone

The criminal defense team for longtime President Donald Trump ally Roger J. Stone Jr. argued he shouldn't be held in contempt for violating a gag order with Instagram posts about his case because “his lonely voice presents no threat to a fair trial.”

In a response filed Thursday, Stone's lawyers called the government's motion asking U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington to hold a hearing a ”disproportionate response” to Stone exercising his First Amendment rights — within the confines of her gag order.

Stone tagged The New York Times, Washington Post, CNN and other national media outlets in his June 18 and 19 social media posts, which included screenshots of stories about his case, referred to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation as the “Russia Hoax,” alleged government corruption and reported on his defense claims that the FBI refused to share emails from CNN from the day he was arrested at his Fort Lauderdale home before dawn.

In one post, Stone wrote, “The truth is emerging. #NoCollusion.”

Federal prosecutors called that a “fanning of the flames” that risked turning the trial ”into a circus” and could even taint how prospective jurors look at evidence in his case.

Related story: Roger Stone 'Continues to Fan the Flames' Despite Gag Order, Prosecutors Say

Stone's attorneys challenged that argument, suggesting the government might be afraid of what was in the articles Stone shared.

“The government's focus on three Stone posts exhibits a willful blindness to the tens of thousands of hostile-to-Stone articles which have been authored by others about the 'investigation' and Stone's 'case,' ” the defense said.

The filing lists articles, cartoons, TV shows and radio shows that it claims prejudiced Stone, including Steve Martin's parody of him on “ Saturday Night Live,” and calls the government's motion ”oxymoronic.”

“The 2,402 'likes' of the June 18-19 Stone postings are but a speck compared to the torrent of publicity, commentary and commotion generated by persons, publications and politicians over which, and over whom, Stone has no control,” according to the response submitted by Fort Lauderdale attorney Chandler Routman, a member of the District of Columbia Bar.

Fort Lauderdale attorneys Bruce Rogow and Tara Campion represent Stone with Grant Smith of StrategySmith and Robert Buschel of Buschel & Gibbons.

L. Peter Farkas of Halloran Farkas + Kittila in Washington also is on the defense team.

Jackson previously warned Stone about social media posts. In February, the judge barred him from speaking publicly about this case, the special counsel investigation and anyone associated with them. The order stemmed from an Instagram post of Stone's depicting Jackson's head next to what looked like the cross-hairs of a gun.

Stone's January indictment accused him of obstructing justice, witness tampering and lying to congressional investigators looking into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

 

Read the court filing: [falcon-embed src="embed_1"]

 

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