Apr 30, 2020 - Politics & Policy

Roger Stone moves to appeal conviction and denial of new trial

Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

Former Trump associate Roger Stone filed Thursday a notice of appeal for his conviction on charges of obstruction of justice, lying to Congress and witness tampering as well as the denial of his motion for a new trial.

Why it matters: Stone was the seventh person to be convicted in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of the 2016 election, and his case has been closely watched by President Trump, who tweeted earlier Thursday that Stone faced "hatred & bias."

The big picture: Stone was sentenced to 40 months in prison, though he has yet to serve any time behind bars.

He lied to Congress about his efforts to learn more about when WikiLeaks would publish damaging emails about Hillary Clinton in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election.
He told "Axios on HBO" earlier this year that he was still proud of his efforts to elect Trump, but stopped short of sharing any regrets on the matter due to a court gag order in place at the time.

Go deeper: Roger Stone found guilty on all counts

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Fadel Allassan

Updated 7 mins ago - Politics & Policy

Trump lashes out at governors, calls for National Guard to "dominate" streets

President Trump berated the nation’s governors in a video teleconference call Monday, calling many of them "weak" and demanding tougher crackdowns on the protests that erupted throughout the country following the killing of George Floyd, according to audio of the call.

The latest: White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said at a briefing Monday that Trump's call for law enforcement to "dominate" protesters referred to "dominating the streets" with a robust National Guard presence in order to maintain the peace.

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Fadel Allassan

2 hours ago - World

Kremlin says Trump discussed inviting Russia to G7 in call with Putin

President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin at their bilateral meeting at the G20 Osaka Summit 2019, in Osaka, Japan in 2019. Photo: Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images

President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on Monday about Trump's plans to expand September's G7 meeting in Washington to include Russia, according to the Russian government's readout of the call.

The big picture: The phone call between the two leaders, which the Kremlin says was initiated by Trump, comes amid six consecutive days of mass unrest in the U.S. over police brutality and racial inequality. The White House confirmed the call took place and said a readout was forthcoming.

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Scott Rosenberg, Ina Fried

2 hours ago - Technology

Facebook employees stage "virtual walkout"

Screenshot of an image some Facebook employees are adding to their internal profiles, with or without the hashtag, to protest company policy.

"Dozens" of Facebook employees staged a "virtual walkout" Monday over the company's decision not to take action against President Trump's provocative messages in the face of nationwide protests against police violence, the New York Times reports.

Why it matters: While Twitter added fact-check labels and hid the president's most inflammatory tweet — "when the looting starts, the shooting starts" — Facebook has said Trump's statements do not violate its policies and that the platform aims to promote free speech.

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