Roger Stone Is Found Guilty of lying to Congress to protect Trump campaign

Roger Stone, an ally of President Donald Trump, was found guilty Friday of lying to Congress and obstructing its investigation into Russia in order to protect Trump and his presidential campaign.

Roger Stone, a veteran Republican political operative and longtime confidant of Donald Trump, was found guilty by a federal jury in Washington, D.C. on Friday in his false statements and obstruction trial.

Prosecutors portrayed Stone, 67, as a serial liar who tried to bully witnesses into not cooperating with authorities. They charged Stone, a confidant of President Donald Trump, with making false statements, obstruction and witness tampering in a case that was an offshoot of special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.

The government built its case over the past week with testimony from a friend of Mr. Stone and two former Trump campaign officials, buttressed by hundreds of exhibits that exposed Mr. Stone’s disdain for congressional and criminal investigators. Confronted with his lies under oath by one associate, prosecutors said, Mr. Stone wrote back: “No one cares.” They asked the jurors to deliver a verdict proving him wrong.

The verdict makes Stone the sixth former Trump adviser to be convicted of or plead guilty to charges stemming from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. The special counsel indicted Stone in January, before completing his work, and Stone’s trial was the highest-profile loose end remaining from the probe.

The verdict, reached by a jury of nine women and three men, comes in the middle of an impeachment inquiry fueled by allegations that Trump sought to have another country interfere in the 2020 presidential election.

Stone was arrested in January at his home in Florida on charges brought by former special counsel Robert Mueller as part of the Russia investigation.

Unfolding in a courtroom just blocks from the impeachment hearing room on Capitol Hill, the case resurrected a narrative that dogged Mr. Trump’s presidency until the two-year investigation by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, ended last spring. Mr. Stone was accused of lying to the same House intelligence panel that is now leading the impeachment inquiry.

Trump took to Twitter shortly after the verdict was announced. He decried a "double standard" in the criminal justice system and said former law enforcement officials, including former Special Counsel Robert Mueller, lied.

WikiLeaks ultimately did release the emails during the campaign, which became a major talking point of the election that Donald Trump went on to win. During the six-day trial, the government presented emails and text messages to try to prove its case that Stone lied to Congress to hide his efforts to contact WikiLeaks — including by telling lawmakers that he had no records concerning hacked emails or the anti-secrecy group.

Defense attorneys urged jurors to focus on Stone's state of mind, arguing he did not willfully mislead Congress. The claim that Stone lied to protect the Trump campaign was "absolutely false," Bruce Rogow told jurors.

Mueller's office also brought charges against more than two dozen Russian nationals and three Russian entities.