U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson scheduled several hearings for Tuesday in Roger Stone’s criminal case, but the hearing regarding the jury forewoman’s alleged bias is currently scheduled to be sealed from the public, according to a motion filed Monday afternoon.
Jackson’s order on Monday also revealed for the first time that Stone’s defense team will argue to make the hearing public. Those arguments will take place prior to the scheduled hearing and will be open to the public.
Stone’s defense team filed a motion seeking a new trial based on the alleged misconduct of of jury forewoman Tomeka Hart. Hart, whose social media posts were anti-Trump and who allegedly also posted negative comments on Facebook about Roger Stone prior to serving on the jury, is an attorney who formerly served on the Memphis school board. She had an unsuccessful attempt to run for the Democratic nomination in Tennessee’s 9th District in 2012.
Hart spoke out on Facebook on Feb. 14, in her attempt to defend the prosecution after Attorney General William Barr intervened in Stone’s case when prosecutors recommend a maximum sentence of 9 years. The four prosecutors in Stone’s case quit after the DOJ intervened.
Hart said on her Facebook posts, according to The Daily Memphian: “I have kept my silence for months. Initially, it was for my safety. Then, I decided to remain silent out of fear of politicizing the matter…But I can’t keep quiet any longer. I want to stand up for Aaron Zelinsky, Adam Jed, Michael Marando, and Jonathan Kravis – the prosecutors on the Roger Stone trial. It pains me to see the DOJ now interfere with the hard work of the prosecutors. They acted with the utmost intelligence, integrity, and respect for our system of justice. For that, I wanted to speak up for them and ask you to join me in thanking them for their service.”
As for Zelinsky, information has recently surfaced that questions another major previous case he was involved in regarding the Trump investigation.
In a recent report by Lee Smith, Zelinsky, who also was one of the lead prosecutors in the case against George Papadopolous and signed his sentencing memo in August 2018, accusing the former Trump aide of lying and hindering fellow prosecutors, is now in hot water.
According to Freedom of Information Act documents obtained by Smith, and reported in Just The News “new FBI 302 reports detailing agents’ interviews with Papadopoulos show that he had in fact supplied information that would have enabled investigators to challenge or potentially detain or arrest Mifsud while he was in the United States.”
It appears that the Department of Justice will have a lot of work on their hands and it also appears that Jackson will have a rough Tuesday morning. Prior to the closed door hearing Jackson will hear arguments from Stone’s lawyers, as well as a number of media outlets, who want the hearing on the juror’s alleged bias to be open to the public.
Jackson, who is an Obama appointee, sentenced Stone last week to more than three years in prison. She said Stone’s alleged actions impeded the FBI’s investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential race. Stone is receiving an extraordinary jail sentence considering the the bureau’s probe into President Donald Trump’s campaign was based on a litany of lies and a dossier compiled by a former British spy that used Russian disinformation to target Trump. Numerous FBI officials, to include former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, as well as former FBI Director James Comey, lied under oath to investigators and leaked information to the media, as reported.
Jackson is expected to review the motion regarding the juror in a sealed hearing in a Washington courtroom at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, that is unless Stone’s lawyers or the media get her to change her mind.