Roger Stone found guilty on all counts

Washington — President Trump’s former campaign adviser, Roger Stone, was found guilty by a jury on Friday of all seven charges that he faced.

He was charged with lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstruction. He faces up to 50 years in prison — the witness tampering charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years, while the maximum for each of the other six charges is five years.

The prosecution portrayed him as a liar trying to protect himself and help then-candidate Donald Trump win the 2016 presidential race at any cost.

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“Roger Stone does not get to pick and choose which facts he thinks are important and lie about the rest of them,” said prosecutor Jonathan Kravis in the closing arguments of the trial that ended a week earlier than expected.

Stone was accused of collaborating with WikiLeaks to release Democrats’ emails that were hacked by Russia in order to damage Hillary Clinton, Mr. Trump’s 2016 opponent — and of lying about it. He was also found guilty of tampering with a witness, radio personality Randy Credico, pressing him not to cooperate with a congressional investigation that involved Stone.

Prosecutors presented evidence throughout the trial that Stone tried to get information from WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, specifically asking for details about the hacked emails that WikiLeaks published in order to influence the 2016 election.

The defense team tried to convince the jury that Stone lacked corrupt intent in his words and actions and never actually had access to WikiLeaks.

Several high-profile witnesses were called to testify, including former deputy Trump campaign manager Rick Gates and Steve Bannon, former Trump campaign chief executive and former White House senior counselor. 

Stone himself, however, chose not to take the stand. 

Roger Stone arrives for the second day of his trial on November 6, 2019 in Washington, D.C. Getty Images

On the first day of his trial — before he left early because he said he had food poisoning — a person outside of the courtroom yelled, “You’ll get to see Manafort soon,” referring to the former Trump campaign chairman who was sentenced by the judge in this trial to more than six years in prison.

Amber Ali and Clare Hymes contributed reporting.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Categories: National, US & World News

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