Roger Stone, former adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, leaves the E. Barrett Prettyman United States Court House May 30, 2019 in Washington, DC. Lawyers asked a judge to dismiss the charges of obstruction, lying and witness tampering against Stone that stem from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images
Roger Stone, a longtime associate of President Donald Trump’s, posted a “Wanted for Treason” image featuring photos of Trump critic and former CIA chief John Brennan on his social media accounts.
Stone, who has called himself a political dirty trickster, also blasted the catalyst for the counterintelligence inquiry that led to special counsel Robert Mueller‘s probe of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign, and ultimately to Stone’s own current prosecution for multiple alleged crimes.
The post made last week on Stone’s Facebook and Instagram accounts comes less than four months after the federal judge in his criminal case imposed a gag order on Stone, restricting his ability to comment publicly about his case and related issues.
The video story since has been removed.
Sam Vinograd, CNN’s national security analyst and a member National Security Council during the administration of President Barack Obama, on Twitter on Sunday reported that story to Instagram, which responded to her by saying the post had been taken down “because it violated our Community Guidelines.”
The gag order on the long-time Republican operative Stone came after he posted earlier this year, also on Instagram, a photo of his case’s judge, Amy Berman Jackson, next to the cross hairs of a rifle scope.
Jackson directly told Stone he was barred from speaking “publicly about the investigation or the case or any of the participants in the investigation or the case.”
The gag covers “posts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or any other form of social media,” as well as other forms of communication.
If Stone violates the order, Jackson could revoke his $250,000 release bond and send him to jail pending his trial on charges of lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstruction.
Those charges are related to his alleged efforts to have the document disclosure group WikiLeaks release emails stolen from Democrats by Russian intelligence agents, including the chairman of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton‘s campaign, during the 2016 campaign.
Stone, when asked for comment by CNBC, suggested his Sunday post does not violate Jackson’s gag order. “U are able to read the Judge’s order,” Stone wrote in an email. “The facts speak for themselves.”
His criminal defense attorney, Robert Buschel, did not immediately return a request for comment. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, which is prosecuting Stone, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Brennan, who served under President Barack Obama and is an NBC News contributor, had no immediate comment. CNBC is a sister company to NBC News.
Trump has also ripped Brennan by name.
