Roger Stone attempted to explain why he did not bring to a federal judge’s attention that he was re-releasing a book with a new introduction bashing the Russia investigation at a Feb. 21 hearing where the judge ordered that he not comment on his case.
Stones legal team, in a court filing Monday afternoon, said that it “did not occur to counsel” at the hearing — or when submitting a court filing on Feb. 8 addressing the potential for a gag order — that they should then flag for the judge the issue of the re-release of the book, which was retitled “The Myth of Russian Collusion.”
According to a filings made public earlier Monday, Stone worked on the new edition — including, apparently, writing a new introduction — in January. The book was shipped out to retailers in early February and went officially on sale Feb. 19. Some retailers put it on sale early, and as of Feb. 16, 96 copies had been sold, according to the filing.
Judge Berman Jackson held a court hearing two days later on an Instagram post on Stone’s account that included an inflammatory caption and image of her with a crosshairs sign in the background. At the end of the hearing she issued the gag order and also explained extensively the various types of public commentary that Stone would now be banned from engaging in as part of his conditions for his release.
On Monday, Stone agued that injecting into that matter a discussion about the book was “not responsive” to her initial order announcing the Feb. 21 hearing.
“After the Court announced its ruling, the hearing came to a swift conclusion,” the court filing said.
Stone had filed under seal last week a request that the judge clarify that the re-release of the book wouldn’t violate the gag order. Berman Jackson on Friday ordered that he explain why he didn’t mention the book at the hearing, prompting the latest filing.
Last week’s request “was and remains a good faith effort to alert the Court to a portion of a publication which was written before Defendant’s arrest and is now offered for sale, during a time when the February 21, 2019 restrictions are in place,” Stone said in the Monday court filing.
Read the court filing below:
