Jerome Corsi, a witness in the government’s case against Roger Stone, was reprimanded by the presiding judge Thursday for treating the criminal proceedings “like a free for all.”
Judge Amy Berman Jackson issued a minute order from a federal court in D.C. demanding that a motion filed Wednesday by Mr. Corsi, a conservative author and conspiracy theorist, “be stricken from the record.”
“The would-be movant is not a party to this action, and the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure do not permit intervention in a criminal case, so there is no legal basis to grant him permission to file his motion,” the judge wrote.
Mr. Corsi declined to comment on the judge’s ruling when reached by The Washington Times later Thursday.
Entered in the court docket for the government’s case against Mr. Stone, a former adviser to President Trump, the rejected motion asked Judge Jackson to bring the defendant into court to be questioned about a couple of cars Mr. Corsi spotted parked near his New Jersey residence this week.
“They both lingered there for no apparent reason as if they were watching us and threatening us,” Mr. Corsi said about the drivers. “I ask this Court respectfully to issue an order to show cause and to set an evidentiary hearing in order that Defendant Stone can be questioned about these and other ongoing actions to intimidate, coerce and threaten me and my legal counsel.”
“I am concerned for my safety and the safety of my family, in addition to the safety of my attorney,” Mr. Corsi wrote in a court filing accompanied by photographs of each of the cars.
Rebuffing his plea Thursday, Judge Jackson chided Mr. Corsi for making his case in Mr. Stone’s court docket.
“Any legitimate reports alleging threats or tampering with witnesses, or violations by the defendant of the order that he not contact the movant, should be made promptly to the prosecution or appropriate law enforcement authorities; the Court’s docket is not the appropriate vehicle to bring matters to their attention.
“Since the pleadings were entered on the docket because counsel misrepresented the nature of the filings, it is hereby ORDERED that they be stricken from the record,” the judge wrote. “Finally, the Court observes that while there may be individuals with an interest in this matter, a criminal proceeding is not a free for all.”
Mr. Stone, 66, was arrested last month and charged with seven counts brought by the special counsel’s office in connection with the government’s investigation into the 2016 election. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges, though a recently imposed gag-order currently prohibits him from publically discussing the case.
A major proponent of the baseless “birther” theory that supposed former President Barack Obama was abroad, Mr. Corsi, 72, previously worked alongside Mr. Stone through Infowars, the outlet operated by right-wing media personality Alex Jones. He has identified himself as “Person 1” in the special counsel’s indictment charging Mr. Stone, and he has claimed to have spent roughly 40 hours speaking to federal investigators probing the 2016 race.
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s office is investigating matters surrounding Mr. Trump’s election, including the theft and disclosure of Democratic Party emails released near the end of the race by outlets including the WikiLeaks website. Federal intelligence officials have determined that Russian hackers sourced the emails as part of a state-sponsored campaign targeting the 2016 elections and Mr. Trump’s opponent, former Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, and the Department of Justice has filed criminal charges against several Russian military officers allegedly implicated in the effort, among others.
Prosecutors have charged that Mr. Stone lied to members of the House Intelligence Committee when he was interviewed as part of that panel’s probe into allegations of Russian election meddling because he omitted that he discussed the WikiLeaks disclosures with “Person 1” about attempting to obtain them in advance of their publication.
Both Mr. Stone and Mr. Corsi have denied wrongdoing.
Peter Carr, a spokesperson for the special counsel’s office, declined to comment.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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