Good morning from the federal courthouse in DC, where Roger Stone has his final pre-trial conference at 10 am. Jury section begins Tuesday in his case, which centers around Mueller-era charges of lying to Congress, obstruction and witness tampering tied to its 2016 Russia probe. 
Stone and his entourage of lawyers and family entered the courthouse a few minutes ago. He’s been under a gag order since the summer - and notably has stuck to it - to not use social media to comment on his case.
Here's our coverage in @politico during the last pre-trial conference back in September, when we heard Steve Bannon's name mentioned for the first time as a potential witness. politico.com/story/2019/09/…
@politico Here are the key people for today's pre-trial Stone hearing: Judge Amy Berman Jackson presiding; Stone defense lawyers include Bruce Rogow, Grant Smith, Tara Campion & Robert Buschel; DOJ prosecution includes Jonathan Kravis, Michael Marando, Aaron Zelinsky and Adam Jed.
@politico "All rise!" - The last pre-trial hearing is underway.
@politico Judge Jackson: "I think we’re in excellent shape this morning to be prepared to move forward tomorrow.”
@politico Jackson says she hopes jury selection will be finished Tuesday, but the lawyers won't have to do opening statements tomorrow. If jury selection kicks into Wednesday she'll have them opening statements then.
@politico Jackson warns everyone that the mics at their tables are live and the journalists in the media room can hear what they're saying. We've overheard some interesting chatter before, mostly personal stuff about weather, kids, travel.
@politico Judge Jackson discussing with DOJ and Stone lawyers what's going to happen with the Godfather II clip during trial. Our story when she ruled in October: politico.com/news/2019/10/2…
@politico DOJ says it doesn't intend to introduce Godfather transcript at start of trial. But it does plan to have the FBI case agent who will testify talk about the context of the film scene and then wait until conclusion of its case when Credico gets cross-examined to decide next move.
@politico DOJ then will either move to enter the film transcript into the record or file a renewed motion to show the clip itself. Jackson says asking Credico what he understood the Godfather text messages to mean is OK.
@politico Stone lawyer Bruce Rogow objects. "I just think it's a terrible mistake," of letting the government give its interpretation of the Godfather clip. Jackson chides him, saying she gave everyone a chance to reach an agreement on a "vanilla transcript" but the talks broke down.
@politico Judge Jackson now going through trial rules. She warns lawyers not to bring up stuff she's already ruled out of order, like the underlying Russian hacking. “If you go there anyway, in your opening or in your questioning, I will stop you," she says.
@politico Government says its first witness in the Stone trial will be the FBI's former case agent.
@politico We are now going over various objections Stone and DOJ lawyers have to various proposed exhibits that will be shared w/ jury during the trial.
@politico The Roger Stone pre-trial conference has concluded. Jury selection begins at 9:30 am tomorrow.
