HAIL MARY: Stone Moves To Have Judge Disqualified

Politico reports:

President Donald Trump’s longtime ally Roger Stone, sentenced to 40 months in prison this week for impeding the congressional investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, moved Friday to disqualify the judge in his case, claiming her remarks at his sentencing rendered her unable to fairly rule on his bid for a new trial.

Stone’s lawyers say, in particular, that Judge Amy Berman Jackson’s decision to assert that jurors in the case “served with integrity” strikes at the heart of Stone’s motion for a new trial, which they indicated is largely based on whether at least one juror was inappropriately biased against him.

Stone’s latest motion appears to be a last-ditch, longshot bid to forestall his imminent prison sentence. But it will also likely reach the receptive ears of the president, who has repeatedly amplified criticism of Jackson and repeated false claims about the nature of the charges against Stone.