Roger Stone found guilty of lying to Congress

Roger Stone, a longtime friend and ally of President Donald Trump, was on Friday found guilty in federal trial on all counts including lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstructing a Congressional committee proceeding.

A federal jury of nine women and three men found Stone, 67, guilty on all seven counts resulting from his September 2017 testimony to a House intelligence committee investigating alleged Russia meddling into the 2016 U.S. election.

The verdict after a week-long trial convicted Stone of lying to Congress and tampering with a witness about his efforts to learn about the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks' release of hacked Democratic emails so as to damage Trump's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Prosecutors said Stone tried to thwart the House Intelligence Committee's probe and conceal reams of evidence from investigators in a bid to protect the president and his campaign.

Stone briefed the Trump campaign about whatever he had picked up about WikiLeaks' plans "every chance he got," Jonathan Kravis, a lead prosecutor, said.

"So they now convict Roger Stone of lying and want to jail him for many years to come. Well, what about Crooked Hillary, Comey, Strzok, Page, McCabe, Brennan, Clapper, Shifty Schiff, Ohr & Nellie, Steele & all of the others, including even Mueller himself? Didn't they lie?" Trump tweeted minutes after the verdict was announced.

"A double standard like never seen before in the history of our Country?" the president claimed on the Twitter.

Stone, a veteran political operative and former campaign adviser to Trump, left Trump's campaign in 2015 but continued to back Trump for the presidency. He was arrested by the FBI in a raid at his Florida home in January and pleaded not guilty days after.

Stone is the latest Trump ally to be found guilty of crimes. The charges stemmed from former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe into alleged Russia's interference in the U.S. 2016 presidential election.

Federal Judge Amy Jackson released Stone on Friday on his own recognizance until sentencing, which is now slated for Feb. 6, 2020.