Stone apologizes to a federal judge for publishing a photo of her with a line of sight

A few days after a federal judge gagged Roger Stone for talking about the special council's investigation in Russia at the US court in Washington, the Republican strategist and provocateur released Monday a photo of the judge with the line of sight background.

"Thanks to the legal trickery, Deep State hitter Robert Mueller has ensured that my next lawsuit will be held before judge Amy Berman Jackson, a judge appointed by Obama who rejected Benghazi's charges again Hillary Clinton and incarcerated Paul Manafort before his conviction for any crime. #fixisin. Help me fight for my life at @ StoneDefenseFund.com, "Stone wrote in the Instagram post, which has since been removed.

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Stone then made an official apology to Jackson, but not until several hours during which he posted – and deleted – a slightly muted version of the original and attempted to downplay the symbolism.

"Please inform the Court that the photo and comments of today were incorrect and that they should not have been posted," said Mr. Stone in a file signed by him. himself and his lawyers. "I had no intention of disrespecting the court and presenting my humble apologies to the court for the transgression."

The record indicated that Stone acknowledged that the position was "unsuitable" and "suppressed" it. Stone's Instagram message described Mueller as part of the "deep state" and expressed his own innocence.

Stone, whom the special council accused of lying to Congress and hindered the investigation by Russia, appeared to react to Order of Jackson Friday in which she stated that she had "no follow-up" in giving her objection that the case should have been randomly assigned to a judge instead of being specifically reserved for her.

Mueller's team viewed Stone's case as linked to another in front of Jackson, involving 11 Russian military officials accused of hacking the Democratic Party's computer systems to sabotage the 2016 elections. The two cases have common mandates. search and common evidence, said the Special Council Office in its initial pleadings accompanying the Stone indictment.

On the same day that Jackson and his lawyer were gagged, counsel for the special advocate suggested in a document that they may have discovered "Stone's communications" with Wikileaks, who leaked the stolen Democratic emails. before the 2016 elections.

Jackson's photo illustration seems to be taken on a plot site that contains pictures of judges and politicians with a line of sight in the background and the words "central corruption" at their side.

Stone's initial posting to Instagram was later replaced by a similar photo and label, but without the line of sight. The second message has also been deleted. Stone told The Washington Post that the photo was not posted by him, but by a "volunteer" who participated in social media.

"A photo of Judge Jackson posted on my Instagram was misrepresented," said Stone wrote in a later statement on Instagram. "It was a random picture on the Internet. Any inference that it was meant to threaten the judge or the court of disrespect in one way or another is categorically wrong.

Stone re-posted half an hour later on Instagram, further defending his original message.

"What some say is a line of fire, it's actually the logo of the organization that originally published it, what is called central corruption. They use the logo in many pictures, "Stone wrote.

In response to the messages, Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) Wrote on Twitter: "This image is turning around. The real Roger Stone – criminally threatening a federal judge. Another Trump partner is showing contempt for the rule of law and the urgent need for accountability. "

If a judge interprets the photo as a threat from Stone, he could end up in custody, because threatening a federal judge is a federal crime, according to several notable lawyers who commented on Twitter.

"It's both very disturbing and remarkably stupid on Stone's part," tweeted Randall Eliason, Professor, George Washington University School of Law. "Twitter has already suspended his account and that could lead him into custody."

Steve Vladeck, a professor at the University of Texas Law School, who is linked to the status, wrote on Twitter: "This is not, do not agree."

Darren Samuelsohn contributed to this report.