Roger Stone Found Guilty of Lying to Congress

Roger Stone has been found guilty of lying to Congress and of obstructing the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Stone lied as part of an effort to protect President Donald Trump and his campaign. The trial had been highly publicized.

The jury of nine women and three men reached its verdict after eight hours of deliberations. The conviction is remarkable given that Stone has been a long-time political operative, going back as far as the presidency of Richard M. Nixon. He was convicted on all seven counts.

Stone, 67, was charged with repeatedly lying to Congress about his efforts to obtain Hillary Clinton’s emails from WikiLeaks. The link between WikiLeaks and the 2016 Trump campaign has been a source of much speculation since the election.

Stone is also accused of inducing another congressional witness to lie under oath or not testify. Prosecutors argued that Stone’s actions were designed to protect the President and his 2016 campaign.

There were some interesting revelations in the trial, which as at times theatrical. Evidence suggested that Trump himself was involved in the effort to obtain emails hacked from the Democratic National Committee – something that raises doubts about Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s conclusions and Trump’s written answers in that probe.