Thread by @ZoeTillman

Hello from the DC courthouse, where Roger Stone has a motions hearing at 10am. What will the judge have to say about his compliance, or potential lack thereof, with her gag order? buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil… Stay tuned.

Also, a Stone summer sartorial update: Seersucker is in play.

Stone's motion hearing is underway — they'll be talking about Stone's motion to suppress evidence and a discovery motion re: redactions in CrowdStrike report provided by govt. Judge Amy Berman Jackson is on the bench.

Jackson says she "may or may not" get to the govt's motion to modify Stone's release conditions re: compliance with the gag order, sounds like it'll depend on how long args take on the other motions. Judge also says she plans to rule soon in writing on Stone's motions to dismiss.

Re: motion to suppress evidence seized, Jackson asks why SCOTUS precedent doesn't apply that says evidence is okay if taken in good faith. Stone atty Robert Buschel says they want a hearing on that, arguing if there was "reckless misrepresentation," there can't be good faith

Buschel is arguing that govt/warrant affiants should have known that it was false that WikiLeaks received hacked DNC materials from the Russians, which formed basis for warrants. Jackson asks how that's possible when the govt was relying on the US intel community report on this

Buschel acknowledges that the US intel report speaks to "high confidence" in assessment that Russians were involved in election interference, but he argues that's "double speak" and it means it's not a definite fact and could be wrong

But Jackson goes back to her original Q, asking what in the warrant applications — which say they rely on the US intel community assessment — were false, setting aside arguments about the underlying validity of the US intel community's assessment

Pressed by Jackson, Buschel says what they're arguing is it was reckless for the government, in seeking search warrant applications for Stone, to rely on the US intelligence community's report

Buschel recites their theories questioning the IC's assessment of Russia's involvement, but Jackson keeps coming back to what evidence they have that the FBI agent lied or made misrepresentations to a judge in *citing* the IC report — she does not appear convinced at all

Govt atty Aaron Zelinsky is up. Jackson asks if the govt plans to prove, or needs to prove, that Russia was involved in the DNC hack. Zelinsky says no — Stone isn't charged in the hack, the govt only needs to show that Stone lied about a matter related to an investigation

Zelinsky says the IC assessment was correct and points to "voluminous" evidence that came out of Mueller's investigation and indictment of Russian intel officers (see: buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…). Stone "is trying to backdoor a debunked conspiracy theory," he says

Zelinsky argues that even if Russia wasn't involved in the DNC hack, the warrants still contain info that Stone was in contact with an entity that claimed responsibility for the hack (Guccifer 2.0) and the entity that released the hacked info (WikiLeaks)

Zelinsky: "It is a sideshow and it is an attempt to throw smoke up on the underlying issues of this case" — the underlying issues being the false statements, witness tampering, and obstruction of justice that Stone is charged with

Re: Stone's motion to discover the unredacted CrowdStrike report, Stone's atty Bruce Rogow concedes govt represented they don't have it, so the motion is moot. Judge notes Stone could seek a subpoena to CrowdStrike, but his lawyer says they haven't sought one. So that's done.

We're now onto the govt's contention that Stone violated the judge's order restricting what he can say publicly about his case. For background, see: buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

The judges recites the history of what got us here, and notes that she's regularly granted Stone's motions to travel and speak, to associate with organizations he's wanted to associate with, and espouse various opinions. Also that Stone hasn't sought any change to the gag order

Jackson asks Rogow if her order was unclear. Rogow chuckles at first (the judge is not laughing) and says no, it was not unclear. He confirms Stone is 100% responsible for his Instagram account.

The judge asks if Stone sent a text message to BuzzFeed News (full disclosure: it was to me) saying Michael Cohen's testimony to Congress was not true. The judge hands Stone's lawyer this article: buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil… Rogow says Stone tells him he got his lawyer's permission

Rogow says he doesn't recall communicating with Stone about Stone's text to BuzzFeed News about Michael Cohen's testimony, which the judge notes came after she entered her order

The judge is asking Rogow about various Stone posts on Instagram, such as one suggesting Stone was framed (cnbc.com/2019/03/03/rog…) and one about Adam Schiff (newsweek.com/roger-stone-in…) — the judge read that one aloud: "If it's Schiff Flush it"

Judge is still listing Instagram posts. She asks about a 5/8 post about an order to see unredacted parts of the Mueller report. Rogow says he was just noting a public filing. Jackson asks if she said he could comment on public filings, and notes it was accompanied by commentary

A bit surreal to hear the judge read these posts aloud. From 5/8: "The Judge has ruled but @Politico gets most of the story wrong because they are biased elitist snot-nosed fake news shitheads who’s specialty is distortion by omitting key facts to create a false narrative."

Rogow says that, yes, Stone is using social media to communicate about what is happening in his case, but argues he's not doing so in a way that would "affect or infect" it. He says the judge's order was very broad, but admits he hasn't challenged it

Jackson asks about Stone's reposting of an article about his case, and Rogow says that shouldn't violate the order, to republish. Jackson questions that, asking: Isn't that the power of social media, the ability of something to be spread and go viral?

Rogow says Stone isn't doing anything that would impact the ability to get a fair trial. Jackson says that's not the question right now — the Q is whether Stone violated her order. The impact of a violation would affect what she should do about it, but not the underlying question

Jackson asks what she should do in light of everything she's presented that Stone has posted. Rogow says to let the hearing "speak for itself," and going forward Stone will have to vet what he wants to send out with counsel

Rogow is done. He concludes: "I undersand how one can look at them and come to a conclusion that, yes, they were either at the line or crossed the line. But Mr. Stone has tried to hew to that line." He says the lawyers will make sure this isn't an issue in the future

AUSA Jonathan Kravis is up. Jackson asks what he thinks she should do. Kravis says at least clarify the original order to be very specific, and he asks the judge to consider prohibiting Stone from using social media at all. He says they are *not* seeking a contempt finding

Rogow in his reply says he'd like the judge to consider doing away with the gag order entirely, and Jackson says he's welcome to put something in writing, but "you’ve got a tough road to go there." She's recessing until 12:30pm.

Roger Stone's hearing is back in session after a roughly hour-long recess, Judge Amy Berman Jackson is on the bench

Jackson says the clarity of her Feb. 21 order is "undisputed," but "it didn’t take a week before the defendant was emailing BuzzFeed calling a witness in this investigation a liar” (NB: It was a text message)

The judge then notes that Stone and his lawyers were arguing against a gag order in February at a time when they knew Stone was preparing to release an updated version of his book that addressed Mueller's investigation, and nobody told the judge about it

Jackson says the book flap didn't "augur well" for Stone's future compliace. She said the "Who framed Roger Stone post" nudged the line, and then made a series of statements/other Instagram posts that were clearly about his case and people in, incl. Michael Cohen and Adam Schiff

NOW: The judge has found that Roger Stone is in violation of his release conditions and her media contacts order

Jackson says Stone "plainly" is seeking attention, and potentially trying to prompt a reaction from the judge: "It seems he is determined to make himself the subject of the story."She will not hold contempt proceedings and will not revoke his bond, however

NOW: Finding a violation of her previous order, the judge has ordered that Roger Stone may no longer post on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter — at all.

BREAKING: Roger Stone has been ordered to stop posting on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter — on any subject — after a judge found he violated her previous order limiting what he could say publicly about his criminal case buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

Per a judge's order today, which expands an earlier gag order, Roger Stone cannot:
- Post anything on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter
- Make statements about his case or use any other platform to comment, although he can still fundraise for legal defense
buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

The judge didn't think it was necessary to get into the more serious territory of whether she should hold Stone in contempt, and didn't think she needed to revoke his bond altogether and put him in jail pending trial buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

But the judge made clear her disdain for what Stone had been up to, saying she once again was being forced to address behavior that "has more to do with middle school than with a court of law" (an apparent throwback to Paul Manafort) buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

To answer a Q bouncing around out there: The judge today only referenced Instagram, Facebook, and Instagram as the platforms Roger Stone can no longer post on. So he could use others, BUT he's still bound by the rest of the gag order re: what he can say buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

Here's the judge's full order barring Roger Stone from posting "on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook in any way on any subject, including but not limited to forwarding, liking, re-posting, or re-tweeting anyone else's statements, articles, posts, or tweets" buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

Two hours after the judge barred Roger Stone from posting on Instagram (buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…), his wife posted a photo of the two of them after the hearing — the judge placed limits on what family members/surrogates could say on his behalf, but there's a bit more gray area

After today's hearing, the judge issued another order granting Stone's latest request to travel, this time to Michigan, for unspecified "business opportunities." The judge noted today that she's granted all of his travel requests and given him leeway to do speaking engagements