Judge Amy Berman Jackson said she didn't wish to waste much time talking about the re-release of a book Stone published in 2017, which could have been considered a violation of his partial gag order.
ADVERTISEMENTA trial date for Roger Stone was set Thursday for November, and the judge presiding of the case said she expects it will last two weeks.
Judge Amy Berman Jackson said she didn't wish to waste much time talking about the re-release of a book Stone published in 2017, which could have been considered a violation of his partial gag order. The judge said she was taking the circumstances "under advisement."
During Thursday's hearing, she set his trial date for Nov. 5, 2019.
Stone, a former adviser to President Donald Trump, was arrested by the FBI in January. He faces seven charges arising from the special counsel's investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, including five counts of making false statements, one count of obstruction and one count of witness tampering. Stone has denied all charges.
Stone, who appeared to court Thursday wearing thick-rimmed round glasses, a gray double-breasted suit, a navy tie and a pocket square, is due back for another status hearing on April 30.
Jackson banned Stone from speaking publicly about his case in February after he posted a picture on Instagramof the judge with crosshairs next to her head.
She later asked Stone's attorneys why, given the gag order, they had waited to mention the republication of a book he published in 2017, called "The Making of the President 2016: How Donald Trump Orchestrated a Revolution."
The book is now titled "The Myth of Russian Collusion" and published anew with what the cover describes as "an explosive new introduction" by Stone.
"He was aware at the time the order was issued that there was a publication," Jackson said Thursday. "They tried to get on top of the issue thereafter."
Stone's attorneys had argued that he should be allowed to publish the new iteration of the book because it was written before his arrest. They also said, "not a single word" of the book was created after the gag order was imposed.
The new introduction to the book in which Stone says, "I now find myself on Crooked Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller's hit list ... because the Deep State liberals want to silence me and pressure me to testify against my good friend," was published online two days before the gag order, according to Amazon.com and Google Books.