Roger Stone Judge Won’t Let Defense Tie Case to Russian Hackers

Roger Stone was charged as part of the investigation of Russian interference with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, but jurors at his November trial won’t hear much about that probe after a federal judge barred his lawyers from basing their defense on what it failed to conclusively prove.

Stone, an ally of President Donald Trump, was accused of undermining a Congressional investigation into whether Russians stole information from Democratic Party computers to supply damaging information to WikiLeaks. His lawyers say any lies he told the panel weren’t important if the U.S. couldn’t prove the Russians were behind the hack.