Trump associate Roger Stone convicted of lying to Congress

Roger Stone, a longtime friend and associate of Donald Trump, has been found guilty of lying to Congress about his contacts with WikiLeaks as it dumped stolen Democratic emails during the 2016 US presidential election.

The Republican political operative and provocateur was convicted by a jury on Friday on all seven counts of obstruction, making false statements and witness tampering. Mr Stone’s case was the last brought by Robert Mueller, the special counsel, before he closed his investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 election.

The trial of Mr Stone included testimony from Steve Bannon, the rightwing activist who was previously Mr Trump’s top political strategist, and drew fresh attention to the Trump campaign’s efforts to capitalise on the release of Democratic emails stolen by the Russians.

Mr Bannon testified that he considered Mr Stone an “access point” to WikiLeaks, while Rick Gates, the former Trump campaign deputy chairman, told the jury he had overheard a phone call in which Mr Trump received information about WikiLeaks directly from Mr Stone.

Prosecutors said during the trial that Mr Stone had lied to the House intelligence committee about conversations concerning WikiLeaks with two alleged intermediaries and with Trump campaign officials to protect Mr Trump from political embarrassment.

“Roger Stone lied to the House intelligence committee because the truth looked bad. The truth looked bad for the Trump campaign, and the truth looked bad for Donald Trump,” said Aaron Zelinksy, a justice department prosecutor, in his opening remarks.

The case did not answer a central question: whether Mr Stone really did have secret information about what WikiLeaks planned to do during the campaign, and, if so, where he got it from. Mr Mueller closed his probe without establishing any criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russians.

On Friday, Mr Trump reacted to Mr Stone’s conviction by tweeting a list of names of Democrats and former Department of Justice and intelligence officials, claiming they too had lied. “A double standard like never seen before in the history of our Country?” he tweeted.

Mr Stone is the sixth friend, adviser or campaign aide of Mr Trump convicted of crimes relating to the 2016 election.

Friday’s jury verdict caps a colourful career of rough politics that stretches back to when Mr Stone worked on Richard Nixon’s 1972 campaign.

The 67-year-old, a self-described “dirty trickster” with a tattoo of Nixon on his back, faces a maximum of 20 years in jail when sentenced by Amy Berman Jackson, the judge overseeing his case. Federal judges often give sentences well below the statutory maximum in white collar cases.

Judge Jackson on Friday denied the government’s request to take Mr Stone into custody and set his sentencing for February 6.