Roger Stone on trial

Only minutes after the first potential juror took the witness stand, Roger Stone abruptly left the courtroom, apparently ill. Moments later, a spectator started moaning and collapsed.

Everyone from the judge to the spectators — which included alt-right media activist Milo Yiannopoulos — was left baffled.

  Politico

Sounds like a stunt to me.

Stone is fighting charges he lied to Congress and obstructed its 2016 Russia investigation, and Tuesday was slated for jury selection.

But Stone never made it through the day. After a lunch break, he went to the courtroom lectern and said he wanted the proceedings to continue without him.

“I have, apparently, some food poisoning,” Stone told District Judge Amy Berman Jackson. “I don’t want to waste the court’s time or the time of the jurors.”

Sure.

After making sure he understood his “absolute constitutional right” to be present for all parts of his trial, Jackson agreed to continue with one-by-one-questioning of potential jurors, which seemed likely to continue through Tuesday and perhaps into Wednesday.

“You will be well represented in your absence,” the judge said. “I hope you get the rest and attention you need and that you are feeling better tomorrow.”

Did anyone ask if that spectator ate what Stone ate?

Stone’s unexpected departure came after a tumultuous morning, with two rapid-fire events forcing a 45-minute delay right off the bat, after the questioning of only the first of 80 potential jurors.

And that first juror was an only-in-Washington character, a former Obama-era press secretary for the Office of Management and Budget whose husband still works at the Justice Department division that played a role in the Russia probe that ultimately snagged Stone. She acknowledged having negative views of President Donald Trump and said she had followed the media coverage of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

Still, the woman said she did not have strong views about Stone, and Jackson denied a request from Stone’s lawyers to strike the woman as a potential juror.

It was after that exchange that the proceedings on the second floor of the federal courthouse in Washington got strange. First, Stone got up and asked his wife to join him as he left the courtroom. With the defendant absent, the packed room got quiet while the judge appeared confused.

Stone realized he was going to need some serious "help".

Then a spectator sitting in the back row moaned loudly and collapsed. Jackson adjourned the proceedings and cleared the courtroom while medical personnel and Stone’s daughter, a trauma nurse, attended to the sick man.

Oh, Jesus, a cheap TV drama. Stone's daughter attended to the sick man. Nothing suspicious there.

After about 15 minutes, the man walked out of the courtroom on his own and the fire department took him out of the building on a stretcher.

Court personnel wearing rubber gloves arrived and started cleaning the area in the courtroom where the man fell ill, as well as in the hallway outside the courtroom.

The man did not fall ill. Can we not recognize a show when we see one? All we need to ask is whether there'll be a second shoe to drop or if attention-grabbing or diversion was all Stone was after.

The proceedings resumed with Stone back at the defense table, though he appeared visibly shaken and a bit ashen. Three more potential jurors were deemed qualified.

At one point, Stone was resting his head on one of his hands.

[...]

Stone seemed to be steadying himself as he walked through the courthouse arm-in-arm with his wife and daughter. As soon as the midday recess was called, the trio and one of Stone's lawyers proceeded directly to the ground floor and entered the courthouse's health unit.

[...]

At one point, a maintenance worker entered the men’s restroom nearest the courtroom and announced she’d been told she was needed to clean up an “accident.” At another point, other personnel arrived and began vacuuming a patch of carpet nearby.

Even before the health issues arose, the Stone trial had all the makings of a Washington circus. Outside the courthouse, protesters chanted "Roger Stone did nothing wrong!" as the longtime Trump associate went inside.

[...]

As jury selection slowly unfolded, Stone’s defense appeared to be objecting to the seating of any government employees — a stance that could significantly complicate selecting a jury in the nation’s capital.

[...]

Jackson said she did not think that it was right to assume jurors who work for the federal government are “antithetical” to Trump.

“At this point, Donald Trump is the chief executive of the federal government for whom these individuals work,” the judge said.

Jackson also rebuffed the defense’s suggestion that anyone hostile to Trump or supportive of his political opponents not be accepted as a juror.

“He is not charged with supporting Donald Trump for president. That is a lawful thing to do,” the judge said as she declared that simply having served in the Obama administration would not be considered disqualifying.

[...]

A Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer also questioned for the jury mentioned on her questionnaire that she’d voted for Hillary Clinton. Stone’s attorneys tried to have her dismissed over that fact, but Jackson said her vote alone wouldn’t be enough to have her stricken from the pool.

Jackson said she’s seeking to come up with a pool of about 32 potential jurors. After that group is selected, prosecutors and Stone’s defense each will have a chance to strike individuals from the pool at their discretion.

[...]

Jackson told the group that whoever gets picked can expect the trial to last two to three weeks and that they should be prepared to be on duty through Thanksgiving week.

But Jackson said the jurors would not have to come to court the Wednesday before the holiday unless they agreed to it.

“Turkey will be enjoyed,” she said.

If you can enjoy the turkey on trial.

UPDATE 10:00am:

The jury has been seated.