Federal judge threatens to END Roger Stone's non-stop media tour

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The pre-trial proceeding should not be a "public relations campaign", Judge Amy Berman Jackson said, adding that she's anxious that Stone treating the pre-trial process "like a book tour" could taint a potential jury at a future trial. The judge asked both sides to file briefs by February 8 on the possible gag order.

Jackson said it was her obligation to make sure he gets one and warned that Stone's public statements about the case could be used against him.

Stone can discuss "foreign relations, immigration or Tom Brady" as much as he wants, the judge said.

Arrested in Florida on January 25, Stone pleaded not guilty on Tuesday in Washington.

U.S. President Donald Trump's longtime confidant Roger Stone was arrested this week as part of Robert Mueller's Russian Federation investigation.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson is "considering" imposing a gag order in Roger Stone's case after the spotlight-seeking Trump ally spent the week since his indictment on "the talk show circuit".

Trump spoke hours before Stone appeared in federal court in Washington, D.C. "I wish Roger would just say less".

The judge said she was not contemplating limiting Stone's public commentary on other matters unrelated to the subjects of the case. Ahead of a scheduled court appearance on Friday, Stone denounced Mueller's investigation as an effort "to undo the results of the 2016 election".

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Stone, also a former Nixon campaign staffer, was arrested by more than two dozen heavily-armed Federal Bureau of Investigation agents earlier this week, on charges of obstruction and lying to Congress.

Stone is free on a $250,000 personal recognisance bond on the condition that he not possess or apply for a passport and not travel outside southern Florida, the Washington area and New York City.

Jackson previously imposed a similar gag order on Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who was convicted by a Virginia jury a year ago of financial wrongdoing charges brought by Mueller and pleaded guilty to other charges in Washington.

The indictment accused Stone of telling unidentified members of Trump's 2016 campaign team that he had advance knowledge of plans by the WikiLeaks website to release damaging emails about Trump's Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.

Stone made the rounds on television last weekend and held a news conference Thursday at a Washington hotel, where he said he was prepared to tell the truth to Mueller but he had no derogatory information about Trump, his longtime friend.

"I am not accused of Russian collusion, I am not accused of collaboration with WikiLeaks, I am not accused of conspiracy", Stone said.

Stone said he did not even know for sure which Trump campaign officials were being referenced in the indictment and that he was never directed by the campaign to learn about future releases by WikiLeaks.

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