Walton’s comments came at a hearing where the Electronic Privacy Information Center, which filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit for the Mueller compendium, was pressing for a less-redacted version of it to be released by Jan. 17.

Justice Department officials cited Jackson’s gag order as one basis for withholding some of the material, but EPIC lawyer Alan Butler said she was focused on statements Stone was making at the courthouse entrances, not on release of government documents.

“It’s not what Judge Jackson had in mind in her order,” Butler said.

That suggestion prompted Walton to revealed that he’d spoken with Jackson about her directive.

“I discussed it with her. ... She drew it as narrowly as she thought she had to,” he said, without elaborating further.

Jackson framed her initial order as an attempt to preserve Stone’s fair-trial rights, but she later tightened it a couple times, expressing concern that Stone’s activities on social media — including a controversial post of a photo of her along with what appeared to be a target — could be seen as threatening by witnesses or jurors.

Butler said those concerns have dissipated now that the trial is over, but Walton noted that Stone hasn’t been sentenced yet and will likely appeal.

“It’s not inconceivable an appellate court could reverse,” prompting a new trial, the judge said. “It seems to me that’s a legitimate concern.”

Justice Department attorney Courtney Enlow said that even without the gag order, her agency would be justified in withholding the Stone-related information until any appeal he files is complete. She said legal precedent supports that position, although it could put all investigative information in many cases off limits to the public for years after a trial ends.

Enlow also said the Justice Department’s main FOIA office has only “half a dozen folks” to process requests and it would be unfair to other requesters to be constantly reprocessing the Mueller report. She did say that those officials plan to make another pass through the report after Stone is sentenced, currently scheduled for Feb. 6, and his defense files any appeal, but she did not commit to any additional disclosure.

In a brief order a few hours after the hearing concluded Wednesday, Walton turned down EPIC’s request, but he did note Justice’s pledge to reconsider its redactions after the next developments in the Stone case.

Jackson left the gag order in place after the guilty verdicts against Stone were returned last month. One longtime friend of Stone, Michael Caputo, wrote to the judge last week, asking her to relax the order. Caputo said his family and Stone’s would like to spend Christmas together, but, in an apparent attempt to comply with the order, Stone’s attorneys forbade Stone from speaking with him.

Jackson made Caputo’s request public on Monday, but has yet to act on it.

Over the summer, Stone and members of his family filed an appeal challenging the gag order. However, D.C. Circuit judges turned that effort down in October, about two weeks before Stone’s trial began.

