Longtime Donald Trump ally Roger Stone, the subject of a gag order imposed by a federal judge less than two weeks ago, may have just violated it with an Instagram post.
Stone, who awaits trial on charges in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia election probe, on Sunday posted a “Roger Rabbit”-style photo illustration on his Instagram story suggesting he’d been framed. The judge assigned to his trial last month specifically forbade him from posting anything on Instagram about his case.
Photos remain visible for 24 hours on Instagram story before disappearing, though it appears Stone deleted it on his own. A screenshot of the image circulated Twitter:
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson imposed a gag order on Stone after he Instagrammed a photo of her head with crosshairs alongside it. Stone apologized and called it “an egregious mistake.“
The gag order bars Stone from commenting or writing about the case in any news media or social platform. Berman has said she’d consider jailing Stone for violations.
Stone also is in trouble with the judge for the imminent release of a book about the Mueller case. Berman on Friday ordered Stone’s lawyers to explain by Monday why they didn’t tell her about the book, which also may violate the gag order.
Stone said in an Instagram post in January this book would be called The Myth of Russian Collusion: The Inside Story of How Trump Really Won.
Stone, who served as an informal adviser to President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, is charged with witness tampering, obstruction of justice and lying to Congress as it relates to Mueller’s Russia probe. He has pleaded not guilty.