President Trump’s long-time advisor Roger Stone was infamously arrested by 29 FBI agents and U.S. Marshals last month in a pre-dawn raid on his Florida home which was aired live on national cable television by CNN.
Since then, the Department of Justice has been severely criticized for an expensive and brutal and needless show of force in a non-violent case in which Stone was represented by counsel known to the government; was not armed; does not own a gun; was not a flight risk; and was not a danger to society.
The federal magistrate judge, before whom his captors brought him shortly after his arrest, apparently agreed with the critics of the government’s Gestapo-like behavior as the judge required only Mr. Stone’s written promise to show up in court as bail – no cash, no bond, no property required.
Since his release, Stone has been defending himself aggressively in the media. Last week, those aggressive defenses were criticized somewhat by the trial judge in his case. She has threatened to impose a gag order in the case.
