Washington
Stone was indicted last week and accused of lying about his efforts to gather information concerning hacked Democratic Party emails. The indictment alleges Stone sought that information before the election at the direction of an unidentified senior Trump campaign official. He faces charges of lying, obstruction and witness tampering.
When asked on Tuesday whether he would consider pardoning Stone, Trump told The Washington Post, “I have not given it any thought.”
Stone, wearing a dark blue suit, appeared at a brief hearing before U.S. Magistrate Deborah Robinson, and lawyer Robert Buschel formally entered his plea.
“A plea of not guilty is entered,” Robinson said in response.
As Stone walked into the courthouse on Tuesday morning, some onlookers chanted “lock him up!” while others screamed their support for him and the president. After he went inside the courthouse, some of those people engaged in profanity-laced arguments about the case.
Prosecutors charge that in 2016, Stone repeatedly sought information about plans to release the hacked emails. By itself, those actions may not constitute a crime, but authorities say Stone lied to Congress when asked about those efforts. U.S. officials say the hacked emails were taken by Russian intelligence officials and then shared with the global anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, whose founder, Julian Assange, made them public.
On Monday, acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker suggested that Stone’s indictment may be one of the last major steps in Mueller’s investigation, saying that he has been fully briefed on the special counsel’s work and that the probe is “close to being completed.”
In the courtroom on Tuesday, prosecutors said the Stone case would be tried jointly by Mueller’s office and the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. They asked for no change to the terms of Stone’s release set by a Florida judge on Friday. He was released on $250,000 bond, and the judge limited his movement to South Florida, Washington and New York City. Stone also is barred from possessing or applying for a passport.
The judge agreed with those conditions and scheduled the next court hearing for Feb. 1.