President Trump on Tuesday ripped into the “totally biased” jury forewoman and judge in the trial of longtime ally Roger Stone — just as Stone was requesting a new trial at a hearing in Washington, D.C.
“There has rarely been a juror so tainted as the forewoman in the Roger Stone case. Look at her background. She never revealed her hatred of ‘Trump’ and Stone. She was totally biased, as is the judge. Roger wasn’t even working on my campaign,” Trump tweeted. “Miscarriage of justice. Sad to watch!”
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Trump’s comment came as Stone, who was sentenced to more than three years in prison last week for making false statements to investigators during the Russia probe, was requesting a new trial after alleging political bias from the jury forewoman.
The request for a new trial, as well as Trump’s tweet, is connected to forewoman Tomeka Hart, who it emerged had a history of Democratic Party activism and anti-Trump, left-wing social media posts.
Hart posted specifically about the Stone case before she was selected to sit on the jury, as she retweeted an argument mocking those who considered Stone’s dramatic arrest in a predawn raid by a federal tactical team to be excessive force. She also suggested Trump and his supporters are racist and praised the investigation conducted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, which ultimately led to Stone’s prosecution.
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U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who had taken a tough stance on Stone during the trial, scheduled a closed-door hearing regarding the request based on his accusations of juror misconduct.
Jackson mentioned Trump’s prior tweeting as the hearing began.
“This is indisputably a widely publicized case. Composition of the jury has already been criticized,” she said. “The President of the United States has already used his Twitter to talk about the foreperson, saying she had bias. He also repeated that at a televised rally that the foreperson was jumping up and down at the guilty verdict.”
Jackson on Sunday dismissed Stone’s motion that she recuse herself from the case. While Jackson could rule on Stone’s motion for a new trial Tuesday, it seemed more likely to be her style to think about it and make a ruling later on.
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When Stone was sentenced last week, Jackson said the nine years initially sought by prosecutors was excessive, but her sentence was far more than the probation sought by his defense.
The sentence has raised speculation that President Trump will eventually pardon Stone. Trump said at an event in Las Vegas last week that he wants to see the process play out. He also backed Stone seeking a new trial, calling the jury “tainted.”
“I’d love to see Roger exonerated, and I’d love to see it happen,” Trump had said.
Fox News’ Brooke Singman, Bill Mears and Gregg Re contributed to this report.