Roger Stone's lawyers submitted a response Monday to Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who asked about the rerelease and promotion of Stone's book critical of the Mueller investigation after she had imposed a gag order forbidding him from publicly discussing his case.
CNN:
"There was/is no intention to hide anything," the lawyers wrote. "Having been scolded, we seek only to defend Mr. Stone and move ahead without further ado."
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The description Stone's defense team provided to Jackson on Monday makes clear that Stone promoted his book following his arrest. And email disclosures Stone's legal team made Monday show, in real time, the clashing of Stone's delicate approach to court with his relentless pursuit of publicity. Even in the days after his indictment, his publisher and others booked him on television news shows with book sales in mind.
Stone's lawyers explained they did not acknowledge the book's publication at a court hearing about his gag order because it would have been "a bit awkward" to mention the impending book re-release when they apologized to Jackson for Stone posting a threatening photo about her online. That hearing, on February 21, led Jackson to tell Stone he could no longer speak publicly about his case, the court and Mueller.
Emails included as exhibits in the full filing show Stone's lawyers were aware of the book and the problems it could cause.
"The mere publication of the new portions of the book could land Roger in jail for contempt of the judge's order," one defense attorney, Grant Smith, wrote in an email in late February to the book's publisher. Smith also handles publicity for Stone.
Stone first brought up the book's publication to his lawyers following the gag order hearing on February 21, his lawyers wrote Monday.
That evening, another Stone defense attorney Bruce Rogow emailed others on the legal team suggesting they ask the publisher to black out some pages of the book.
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Stone's lawyers said he drafted the introduction for the paperback release of the book before his indictment. An email shows Stone wrote it on January 13, and a version of it became available to online vendors soon after. He was indicted 11 days later on January 24, then arrested by the FBI the following morning.
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Stone was widely known to be under investigation before he was charged with obstruction, witness tampering and lying to Congress in Mueller's probe in late January.
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Stone followed up with the publisher about the book's rollout plans in mid-February, the same weekend he made the inflammatory Instagram post about Jackson.
"Recognize that the judge may issue a gag order any day now and while we will appeal it that could take a while," Stone wrote on February 15. "I also have to be wary of media outlets I want to interview me but don't really want to talk about the book. These are weird times."
That same afternoon, Jackson placed a gag order on Stone's attorneys and restricted some of his public speech about the case, in and around the courthouse.
After Jackson issued that order, Stone posted about Jackson on Instagram. His post included a photo of her with crosshairs behind her head. He removed the post and his attorneys then had him apologize to Jackson.
Stone posted six times on Instagram to promote the book, up to the day of his apology.
Jackson called him into court in DC on February 21, and tightened the gag order that day so he could not speak about his case or Mueller at all.
Jackson said last week that the book's continued release was in violation of the gag order, and demanded Stone give the details his lawyers provided Monday night.
She has told him there may be consequences, but hasn't yet said what the consequences are.
Full filing with exhibits included
Roger Stone's lawyers seek to move past judge's gag order concerns (CNN)