NEW YORK _ The federal judge who last week sentenced Republican operative Roger Stone to three years and four months in prison for lying to Congress and witness-tampering harshly criticized claims by President Donald Trump and others that members of the jury who convicted Stone were biased against him.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson called the claims false and said they were potentially endangering the jurors.
Jackson said there is a "significant and specific" risk to the jurors' safety due to the intense media coverage of the case and false reports about the jury. Among reports she cited were those from Fox News's Tucker Carlson.
The judge made the comments at the start of a hearing on whether to grant Stone a new trial. Stone's latest request was made under seal, but he claimed in a previous motion that a juror was a biased.
"The jury has even been publicly criticized by the President of the United States," she said.
Jackson denied Stone's request to open the hearing to the public, but she said the audio from the hearing would be available in a room reserved for the press, as well as an overflow courtroom for the public. She barred the lawyers and prosecutors from mentioning the jurors' names or juror numbers during the hearing.
