Roger Stone in court: Trump associate pleads not guilty before judge in Mueller investigation hearing
Donald Trump's former campaign adviser Roger Stone has appeared before a federal judge in Washington on charges that he lied to Congress and engaged in witness tampering.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges before leaving the Washington courthouse and jumping into a black SUV that drove him away.
Before and during the hearing, a crowd of supporters and critics surrounded te courthouse steps and doors.
Some in attendance included the far-right group the Proud Boys, who have supported Mr Stone and the president amid controversy in recent years.
Mr Stone was arrested by federal agents in his Florida home on Friday, and later in the day held a defiant press conference in which he promised to fight the charges against him.
During that press conference, Mr Stone vowed that he would never be compelled to lie about his interractions with Mr Trump.
Mr Stone is a longtime adviser and confidant of Mr Trumps, and is known for having made contact with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange during the 2016 campaign. WikiLeaks was involved in the release of stolen emails from the campaign of HIllary Clinton.
Mr Stone will return to court on Friday.
Read along below for our updates on Mr Stone's day in court
Roger Stone faces a Tuesday morning arraignment in Washington and is expected to plead not guilty to charges that he lied to lawmakers, engaged in witness tampering and obstructed a congressional investigation into possible coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign.
Speaking on Friday after his arrest, Stone said the special counsel’s Russia investigation was “politically motivated” and vowed to fight the charges, saying he was “falsely accused” of making false statements to the house intelligence committee. He said any error he made in his testimony wasn’t intentional. “I am troubled by the political motivations of the prosecutors,” he added. “I look forward to being fully and completely vindicated.”
Mr Stone has said that he would not falsely testify against Mr Trump, but indicated over the weekend that he might cooperate with the Mueller investigation if his lawyers see fit.
Mr Stone has been making the media rounds since his indictment on Friday, and has built up something of a conspiracy to explain his arrest.
On Fox, for instance, Mr Stone said in an interview with Sean Hannity that he believes the charges against him were intended to "silence" him, and that the investigation is intended to get high level government indictments against the Trump administration (and to somehow end up with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi as president).
Mr Stone has seemed pretty confident that he will walk away from the indictments he faces unscathed.
He is known for having been very close to the president, leading some to wonder if Mr Trump might simply pardon his longtime associate. It would not seem completely out of character for the president, who has reportedly mused about his pardon powers in the past.
Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, however, has refused to comment.
Mr Stone has arrived at the federal courthouse where he is set to appear before a federal judge.
The accused arrived in a black SUV, and is expected to plead not guilty. He has repeatedly said that he has no intention of pleading out of the charges.
When he arrived at the courthouse on Tuesday, Mr Stone was wearing an all-blue suit and tie, and waved at a small crowd of supporters. He ignored the other protesters chanting "Lock him up".
Twitter“"Had they contacted my attorneys, I would've voluntarily turned myself in. I would've been able to wear a suit and tie for my mugshot. It would've looked a lot better." Earlier this morning, Roger Stone spoke to reporters outside his home in Fort Lauderdale. https://t.co/WKFXPlWZJG”
Twitter“Thank you, Sarah Huckabee S. for always telling the absolute 100% verified truthiness about my total innocence! Roger Stone was just a low-level BFF that I hardly knew for more than 40 years who I accidentally called at 3AM 40+ times to not discuss Wikileaks! NIXON WAS INNOCENT! https://t.co/oouS1qa37V”
