Good rainy morning from the federal courthouse in Washington. A couple cable TV cameras are on stakeout for the Roger Stone hearings on his motion for a new trial. Things get started at 1:30 pm before Judge Jackson - a public hearing on whether the 2 pm hearing should be open. 
We're about 10 minutes from the start of the first of two Roger Stone hearings - this one is in open court whether the next one should be public. Stone is at the defense table surrounded by his legal team: Robert Buschel, Seth Ginsberg, Grant Smith, Tara Campion & Bruce Rogow.
The second hearing is on Stone's motion for a new trial. While the filing is under seal we know from the title of the document and comments from the president and many others that it's about the conduct of the jury foreperson.
"All rise!" - Here we go.
US attorneys here are J.P. Cooney & John Crabb Jr.
Jackson says she agrees "100 percent with the general principle" of Stone getting a public hearing on the second trial motion via his 6th Amendment rights.
Jackson explaining how there's a 1st Amendment test she must consider when opening up a sealed hearing, noting that there needs to be counter veiling interest strong enough to override public interest in holding an open hearing.
Jackson references President Trump's comments about the Stone jury and other media commentators including Tucker Carlson who have taken issue with the jury in the Stone trial.
Jackson warns: "The risk of harassment and intimidation of any jurors who may testify in the hearing later today is extremely high."
Jackson rules she will grant Stone's motion to open up some of the hearing but nothing involving any jurors who may be called in to testify here.
Jackson said earlier that the attempts to identify the jury was “completely antithetical to the entire system of justice. “
Jackson rules she is going to close the courtroom in a moment for the hearing on the new trial BUT audio will still be made available in the overflow room and for the media listening via closed circuit. Video is about to be turned off.
A transcript of the second hearing will not be sealed but Jackson says it will include redactions before it's made publicly available t ensure any personal identifying information can be blacked out.
Jackson said she's aware two of the jurors have identified themselves publicly but given "extraordinary events" including POTUS tweets, threats to Stone jury, etc., she is taking these steps.
We are in a recess. The next hearing on Stone's motion for a new trial is about to begin - with only audio available to the public.
Hearing is underway. Judge Jackson grilling the US attorney about what information was available to the Stone defense team from the jury questionnaire and when.
John Crabb Jr. explains he was the supervisor for the US attorney team that no longer is on the Stone case but he was personally with Jonathan Kravis when he got notice from the court that the jury questionnaires were available.
Former Stone prosecutor Michael Mirando -- one of the four who resigned from the case two weeks ago -- is here at the courthouse and Judge Jackson just said he may need to testify in the hearing.
Sorry, I was busy writing my story there so no live tweeting there for a bit. Mirando did indeed quickly testify about his handling of the jury questionnaire.
Judge Jackson just grilled Buschel over how deep Stone's jury consultants & lawyers dug into the at-issue potential juror during the voir dire process. Asked if they'd googled the person, Buschel replied. "Unfortunately, they didn't do that in this circumstance."
“It doesn't appear those answers are in fact truthful," Stone lawyer Seth Ginsberg says of several answers re. opinions/beliefs re. FBI and Mueller given in the juror questionnaire by the at-issue Stone juror.
Ginsberg adds of the jury foreperson's responses: "The answers are at best misleading.” Asked if she intentionally misled the court, Ginsberg replies, "At this stage, I don't know."
Jackson asking Ginsberg about the jury foreperson's response to this question. The woman left the y/n part blank, Jackson said, but wrote in the open-ended longer section she couldn't remember. "Honestly, not sure," the at-issue juror wrote.
Judge Jackson brings up the Stone motion she's already rejected asking for her recusal, telling Ginsberg his language was "New York style." She added, "I didn't feel personally insulted" but notes it may have undercut his arguments.
Ginsberg & Judge Jackson now going through the jury foreperson's past tweets about Trump, Stone, Mueller, etc.
Here's our initial @politico story on today's Stone hearing - w/ @joshgerstein - politico.com/news/2020/02/2…
@politico @joshgerstein Ginsberg arguing that the jury foreperson knew Stone was part of the Trump campaign as evidence of her bias since she also posted against the president. Interesting timing as the president publicly argues (as recent as a few mins ago) Stone wasn't part of his campaign.
@politico @joshgerstein Jackson ?s whether jury foreperson who posted about Stone had the opinions Stone's lawyers say she has. “She might have just liked the headline. Who knows?" Jackson asks. Ginsberg replies that the juror included the comment: "Brought to you by the lock her up peanut gallery."
Ginsberg cites a series of tweets by the jury foreperson from Jan 25, 2019, on the day of Stone's arrest through Aug 25, 2019 -- three weeks before jury selection -- to make his argument the woman didn't answer the jury questionnaire about her social media posts truthfully.
Sharp exchange just now between Judge Jackson and Seth Ginsberg when talking about how Stone lawyer Robert Buschel handled the voir dire process to question the at-issue juror.
Ginsberg said Jackson "stopped" Buschel from asking the at-issue juror questions during voir dire. The judge snapped back: "He did not ask any more questions. I did not stop him." Ginsberg backs up. "I misspoke. That was my mistake. I apologize"
Judge Jackson rules in favor of Stone's lawyer on his motion seeking to question the juror.
Jackson also said she would not be making her ruling on the merits of the Stone motion right now.
Ginsberg said he thinks the at-issue juror didn't follow the court's instructions to not read news about Roger Stone during the trial. Judge Jackson pressing him for more info about why he concludes that.
Judge Jackson just said she directed the entire Stone jury to be in the courthouse today for the hearing. She said that one had travel plans, one was ill and there are 11 who are here.
Jackson is going to bring in two Stone jurors now but she'll start with the questioning. She tells the Stone lawyers she's not "going to let you go on a fishing expedition." The lawyers will be held in contempt, Jackson warns, if they ID any of the jurors.
Short update - We are still in a recess here before the jury questioning begins.
"All rise!" - Here we go again.
"Juror A" is now here. It's a male. But Judge Jackson walks the person through the rules here in terms of not mentioning anyone by name.
Jackson asks Juror A whether any other juror tried to discuss the case with him? No. Did anyone bring news accounts into jury deliberations? No.
Juror A explains how they picked a foreperson. One person raised hand to volunteer. Then several seconds of silence. Juror A volunteered himself so there'd be a debate. Then another juror nominated a 3rd person. And then a 4th person nominated. They took a secret ballot.
Asked if the foreperson played a role to sway others, Juror A responds, "I never had a feeling that she was attempting any of that."
Juror A, asked about how the jury worked together, "We got along well." Asked if anyone was urging speedy deliberations, he replied, "There was a little bit of impatience a couple times during deliberations. As a group, we were able to slow ourselves down."
Stone lawyers and US attorneys pass when Judge Jackson asks is they have any questions for Juror A. They pass.
Judge Jackson stops in the course of questioning Juror A. She notes it's been a long day and they forgot to swear the juror in. So they do that.
"Juror B" is now on the stand. The woman is now describing the same secret ballot process of how they picked the foreperson.
Judge Jackson asks if the jury considered each count separately. “Each person just said what they had to say about each count," Juror B replied.
Juror B says the jury was ready to vote on one of the felony counts but the foreperson insisted they examine the evidence "a little more."
Juror B has been excused. Stone and US attorneys pass on asking questions.
Jackson rules she won't call any more jurors in to deal with Stone's allegation about misconduct during jury deliberations.
The jury foreperson is being called in now to deal with Stone's request for a hearing on whether she gave inaccurate information about how she responded to the jury questionnaire.
The issue centers around how the foreperson answered this particular question from the jury questionnaire filled out prior to the trial. Note: This is the blank version that is on the public docket.
Jackson on explaining why the jury foreperson is coming in to answer questions: "I want to be sure the court of appeals has the full record."
Jury foreperson being sworn in now.
Judge Jackson did excuse the rest of the jurors who were called in today.
Jackson questioning jury foreperson on her use of Facebook, Twitter and the privacy settings she was using -- stretching from last September through February.
Jury foreperson says her settings on FB and Twitter were public in Sept 2019. After the trial ended on Nov. 15 she shut down her social media posts for two weeks. When she came back on after Thanksgiving she switched to 'friends only' for her settings.
Asked by Judge Jackson if she deleted any social media posts between September when she filled out the jury questionnaire and voir dire on Nov. 5, the jury foreperson replied, "Absolutely not."
The jury foreperson explains that prior to shutting down for two weeks there in November 2019 that her Facebook posts were linked directly to her Twitter feed.
The jury foreperson testifies she followed the court's instructions and didn't read anything connected to the trial while it was happening.
"No, absolutely not," the jury foreperson responds when asked if she looked at Twitter during the Stone trial.
Judge Jackson mentions some people try to get out of jury duty when filling out the jury questionnaire. Others try to get on a jury. "Were you trying to end up one place or the other?" The jury foreperson replies, "No.”
Jury foreperson being asked about her Jan 25, 2019, tweet sharing an NPR article about the Stone arrest and her comment, "Brought to you by the lock her up peanut gallery." She explains she posted that on Twitter, not Facebook.
"Did you read the whole thing before posting?" Judge Jackson asks of the NPR article. She replies, "I don't remember. Probably, though."
The jury foreperson confirms she did write the 'Brought to you by the lock her up peanut gallery' comment.
Asked if she was downplaying her past posts about Stone in the jury ?s, the foreperson replies, "No, absolutely not. Which is why I answered the way. I was trying to be honest. I was not sure. I posted and tweet a lot of stuff. I absolutely was not trying to downplay anything."
And now Stone lawyer Seth Ginsberg is questioning the jury foreperson.
We have a Chuck D-Public Enemy reference here.
This is in reference to a post from the jury foreperson back on Nov. 2, 2018 critical of Trump.
Judge Jackson stops Ginsberg's questioning. Asking him why he's asking about tweets from prior to Stone's arrest. Ginsberg replies that he's trying to move quickly through them. "It does paint a certain picture," the Stone lawyer says,.
Ginsberg tries again, asking about a Nov 2018 tweet from the jury foreperson that says "Chuck D tried to tell us." He asks, "What does 'Chuck D tried to tell us' mean to you?'" She replies it's about the lack of racial justice.
Judge Jackson asks what else the jury foreperson posts about on social media besides politics. She replies that she will post about work, friends and her bus rides in the morning.
Ginsberg ticking through a series of posts that the Stone team has found from her FB/Twitter feeds critical of Trump starting in Feb 2019, asking her to confirm she posted each one. The foreperson says yes to each.
Asked what she knew about Stone before the trial, the jury foreperson replies her thinking was that he'd been arrested for the Russia probe. "I knew nothing about him other than that," she said.
Jury foreperson confirms she did post about the Trump impeachment and the focus on "quid pro quo" during the trial.
Ginsberg asking the jury foreperson to explain the fist bump emojis she used in a 3:14 AM post from Nov. 15, early of the morning before the guilty verdict. Asked by the Stone lawyer if it was a sign of 'solidarity,' she confirms that it was.
Ginsberg asks the jury foreperson to explain her answer again in the jury questionnaire about why she replied that she couldn't recall writing or posting anything more than sharing "an article" about HPSCI or the Mueller probe.
She replies, "That was the honest answer on Sept 12. It is why I didn't check yes or no because I didn't want to appear deceptive. I was giving the best answer I could." She said she read that specific question to mean she should reply "in terms of Roger Stone."
Coming up on the 1-hour mark for the questioning of the jury foreperson.
Stone lawyers are finished with the questions. US attorney has no questions. And with that the jury foreperson is excused.
And with that the hearing is over. Jackson: "I'll take the matter under advisement. Thank you everybody for staying."
The jury foreperson also said before she was excused that she stands by her response to how she answered the question with respect to her past posts, insisting she was thinking about it in the context of Roger Stone.
And here’s the finale from this 8-plus hour thread. Our last reflow of today’s hearing in @politico W/ @joshgerstein politico.com/news/2020/02/2…
