Judge issues gag order in Roger Stone case

Feb. 15 (UPI) -- A federal judge in Washington, D.C., issued a gag order Friday in the case of political consultant Roger Stone as prosecutors said they had evidence he communicated directly with WikiLeaks.

District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said Stone and lawyers involved in the case must not speak about it publicly in situations in which it could "pose a substantial likelihood of material prejudice." She specifically indicated they could not talk about the case directly outside the courthouse.

Stone has reacted publicly to his Jan. 25 arrest and indictment for allegedly lying to the FBI, obstruction and witness tampering. He addressed a crowd gathered outside a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., court after his arrest and has spoken about the case on his InfoWars show.

Special counsel Robert Mueller accused Stone of lying about his contact with WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange during the 2016 presidential campaign. Stone reversed course after indicating he spoke with Assange in order to obtain information on Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Prosecutors filed court documents Friday indicating they have evidence of his communication with WikiLeaks.

In March 2017, Stone also acknowledged communicating with Democratic National Committee hacker Guccifer 2.0, which U.S. intelligence agencies believe is a handle used by Russian intelligence.

He answered questions from staffers of the House intelligence committee Sept. 26, 2017, saying he was unaware WikiLeaks planned to publish Clinton's emails. He said he only knew about it beforehand "by reading about it on Twitter."