Roger Stone must shut up about Robert Mueller and the Russia investigation.

That was the mandate from a federal judge on Thursday, who slapped a gag order on the longtime Donald Trump associate just days after he posted a threatening message about her on social media.


“No, Mr. Stone, I’m not giving you another chance. I have serious doubts about whether you’ve learned any lesson at all,” U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson said near the end of a surreal 90-minute hearing, which was called in the wake of Stone’s Instagram post on Monday that featured an image of the judge with what looked like gunsight crosshairs in the corner.

Under Jackson’s new order, Stone can’t make any public comments of any kind about the charges he’s facing from the special counsel, which include lying to Congress and witness tampering. He’s also banned from social media posts or speaking through surrogates about his case.

Stone, however, is still allowed to raise money for his legal defense fund and explain in simple terms that he has pleaded not guilty. The 66-year-old self-described GOP dirty trickster can also continue to speak on any topic other than the Russia investigation he’s now mired in.

“You appear to need clear boundaries. So there they are,” said Jackson, who warned Stone that any additional missteps could lead to his being jailed or placed under house arrest.

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The judge’s reprimand came after Stone took the unusual step of testifying on the witness stand to offer his second apology of the week to the judge.


“I recognize that I let the court down,” Stone said. “I let you down. I let myself down. I let my family down. I let my attorneys down. I can only say I’m sorry. It was a momentary lapse in judgment. Perhaps I talk too much.”

“I am kicking myself over my own stupidity, but not more than my wife is kicking me,” he added.

Stone was already under a partial gag order that allowed him to continue discussing his case so long as he wasn’t in or near the D.C. courthouse.


But since Jackson’s decision last week, Stone has been anything but quiet. Besides his Instagram post, he has appeared on the conspiracy-theory site InfoWars and given multiple statements to media outlets to explain the flap and also take issue with their reporting about it.

From the witness stand Thursday, Stone insisted that he didn’t realize the crosshairs were in the photo until a reporter contacted him. He also explained that the crosshairs were actually a Celtic cross “occult symbol” but that he didn’t know that until after it was posted.

Under questioning by Jackson about what the symbol meant, Stone replied: “I don’t know, Your Honor. I’m not into the occult.”

Jackson didn’t buy any of Stone’s explanations. She repeatedly interrupted him while he was on the witness stand to ask questions, and her hand gestures and tone suggested incredulity at many of his responses. When she issued her opinion, Jackson said his apology “rings quite hollow.” She also suggested that Stone would be responsible if his post caused others to act in threatening or harmful ways.

“There’s nothing ambiguous about crosshairs,” she said.

Mueller’s grand jury indicted Stone last month, charging him with misleading House Intelligence Committee investigators about his attempts to communicate with WikiLeaks during the election. The seven-count indictment also accused Stone of intimidating Randy Credico, a liberal radio host who is another witness in the Russia investigation.

On the witness stand Thursday, Stone said he was being treated for “emotional stress,” including from hearing TV commentators talk about how he’d be raped if he were convicted and sent to prison. “This is a stressful situation for me and my family,” he said.

Stone also noted that his income from consulting “has dried up and is virtually nonexistent.” He said he had drained his savings account and had turned to social media to hawk shirts that say “Roger Stone did nothing wrong!” as well as signed rocks, dubbed a “Roger” stone paperweight.


While Stone looked dapper as usual — he wore a double-breasted gray suit with a blue striped shirt and navy tie — he also seemed subdued and there were signs that the testimony was testing his composure. As the judge bore down on him, he sounded somewhat rattled and his breathing became so heavy that it was clearly audible via the microphone.

In an attempt to explain the Instagram post, Stone told the court that he was not technologically savvy and frequently relied on a group of about five volunteers and staff to post on his social media accounts. He testified that he didn’t select the image of the judge and didn’t review it closely before it posted.

Under questioning from Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Kravis, for example, Stone struggled to explain who had access to his social media accounts and phone and who specifically posted the image of Jackson.

Stone testified that it was a volunteer who selected the image but that he hadn’t yet figured out who it was. “Nobody will own up to it,” he said.

“My house is like a headquarters. I have many volunteers,” Stone explained.

Jackson interjected: “I thought you said you had five.”

“Five is a lot of coming and going,” Stone replied.

As she ruled, Jackson faulted Stone for what she called his “evolving” explanation for the post. She noted that he initially told her that he “did not review” the photo before it went out and did not select it. Minutes later, he said he “didn’t review it properly.”


During cross-examination by Kravis, Stone offered up that he’d been sent two or three images by a volunteer and picked one.

“You had a choice?” the judge asked incredulously.

After slamming Stone for his actions, Jackson said it was her job “to make sure this trial does not devolve into a circus.”

The judge said Stone’s decades of work as a public relations expert belied his claim that he didn’t really know what he was doing when he put the post on Instagram. “Roger Stone fully understands the power of words and the power of symbols,” Jackson said.

She also seemed to agree with Kravis that Stone’s repeated interviews defending the post contradicted his claim on the witness stand that as soon as he got the first media inquiry about the message, he realized the gravity of the mistake he’d made.

Stone’s lawyer, Bruce Rogow, argued during the hearing that his client’s post did not violate the court’s initial limited gag order or the terms of Stone’s release. But the defense attorney also conceded that it was a terrible idea. “It is indefensible,” he said.

“I agree with you there,” the judge shot back.

As the case developed, legal experts had expected Jackson to gag Stone at the outset, given his outspoken style, his willingness to do media interviews and a prolific social media presence.


Jackson, an appointee of President Barack Obama, also hasn’t responded well to anything in her courtroom that she perceives as showboating.

She slapped a gag order on Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman, as well as Manafort’s attorneys and his then co-defendant, Rick Gates, within weeks of their initial October 2017 indictment. She later jailed Manafort, a former Stone business partner, over allegations of witness tampering.

Thursday’s hearing came amid signs that Mueller’s office might wind down its operation as soon as next week. Indeed, Kravis, who is not on Mueller’s staff, took the lead questioning Stone. However, a Mueller deputy, Jeannie Rhee, was also quite active during the session, repeatedly passing Kravis notes torn from a yellow pad and consulting with him as he cross-examined Stone.

Stone’s appearance also had a heavy presence of courtroom security officers and federal marshals. At least three people were removed from the courtroom during the hearing, apparently because they were heard to laugh at some of Stone’s more colorful remarks.

As the judge lambasted Stone, he mostly rested his head against one of his hands, although at one moment he turned and looked back at the marshals who would have taken him into custody if the judge ordered it.

When Jackson issued the new gag order, Stone leaned back against his chair and rested his head on his fingertips.

Stone exited the courthouse without his lawyers, joined by one of the volunteers he named during the hearing, Jacob Engels, who wore a sky-blue suit and black aviators. Engels, a member of the extremist group Proud Boys, would not answer whether he had posted the photo on Stone’s Instagram account.

Stone left in a black SUV surrounded by protesters who were far tamer than those at his past hearings. Rather than speakers blasting the Soviet anthem and cries of “treason,” Stone’s exit Thursday featured a tepid call of “Boo, Roger Stone” and a sign that read “This is a sign.”