Roger Stone. Photo: Mark Makela/Getty Images
A jury found longtime Trump associate Roger Stone found guilty on seven counts that include obstruction, giving false statements to a House committee and witness tampering on Friday, following the conclusion of a federal trial on charges related to the Mueller investigation.
Context: Stone, 67, was indicted in January. He lied to Congress about his efforts to learn more about when WikiLeaks would publish damaging emails about 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
- The lies centered on the existence of certain texts and emails, Stone's conversations with Trump campaign officials, and the use of WikiLeaks intermediary that Stone named as comedian Randy Credico.
The big picture: Prosecutors alleged in closing arguments that Stone lied to congressional investigators because he "knew that if this information came out it would look really bad for his longtime associate Donald Trump," the New York Times reports.
- CNN notes that the most significant revelation from Stone's trial was "the extent to which Stone was in touch with Trump directly and other campaign officials, and how they eagerly anticipated WikiLeaks' releases of hacked Democratic emails in 2016."
- Those communications also allegedly involved a July 2016 phone conversation between Stone and Trump in which the two discussed future WikiLeaks email dumps, former deputy campaign manager Rick gates testified.
Go deeper: Prosecutors accuse Roger Stone of violating gag order with social media posts