Roger Stone, former Trump campaign adviser, found guilty on all charges
Washington — President Trump's former campaign adviser, Roger Stone, was found guilty by a jury on Friday of all seven charges that he faced. He was charged with lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstruction.
Stone faces up to 50 years in prison — the witness tampering charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years, while the maximum for each of the other six charges is five years.
The prosecution portrayed him as a liar trying to protect himself and help then-candidate Donald Trump win the 2016 presidential race at any cost.
"Roger Stone does not get to pick and choose which facts he thinks are important and lie about the rest of them," said prosecutor Jonathan Kravis in the closing arguments of the trial that ended a week earlier than expected.
Stone was accused of collaborating with WikiLeaks to release Democrats' emails that were hacked by Russia in order to damage Hillary Clinton, Mr. Trump's 2016 opponent — and of lying about it. He was also found guilty of tampering with a witness, radio personality Randy Credico, pressing him not to cooperate with a congressional investigation that involved Stone.
Prosecutors presented evidence throughout the trial that Stone tried to get information from WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, specifically asking for details about the hacked emails that WikiLeaks published in order to influence the 2016 election.
The defense team tried to convince the jury that Stone lacked corrupt intent in his words and actions and never actually had access to WikiLeaks.
Mr. Trump tweeted his disapproval of the jury's decision.
"So they now convict Roger Stone of lying and want to jail him for many years to come. Well, what about Crooked Hillary, Comey, Strzok, Page, McCabe, Brennan, Clapper, Shifty Schiff, Ohr & Nellie, Steele & all of the others, including even Mueller himself? Didn't they lie?"
Several high-profile witnesses were called to testify, including former deputy Trump campaign manager Rick Gates and Steve Bannon, former Trump campaign chief executive and former White House senior counselor.
Stone himself, however, chose not to take the stand.
The jury was made up of nine women and three men — some of whom have been involved in politics and government themselves. One juror ran for Congress in her home state of Tennessee and has a law degree; another works for the Internal Revenue Service as a civil tax attorney.
On the first day of his trial — before he left early because he said he had food poisoning — a person outside of the courtroom yelled, "You'll get to see Manafort soon," referring to the former Trump campaign chairman who was sentenced by the judge in this trial to more than six years in prison.
Amber Ali and Clare Hymes contributed reporting.