Roger Stone, under gag order, rebuffed questions on case in ‘testy’ Axios interview: source

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Speculation of a pardon as Roger Stone gets 40 months in prison

Reaction from former DOJ official Francey Hakes.

The news site Axios is teasing an upcoming interview it conducted with former Trump adviser Roger Stone, but a source tells Fox News that Stone repeatedly rebuffed questions about his criminal case because of the court-imposed gag order against him.

On Friday, the site tweeted that its show Axios on HBO “returns Sunday … with an interview with Roger Stone.” It posted a clip of Stone saying: "The only fear I have is not being right with God."

ROGER STONE JURY FOREWOMAN QUESTIONED IN COURT OVER ACCUSATIONS OF ANTI-TRUMP BIAS

But a source who was present for the interview stated the gag order was not violated, as Stone refused to answer questions about his case: "It got testy."

This person said the interview was arranged to be about the parallels between the 1972 election and the 2020 election. But the interviewer “tried to sandbag” Stone with questions about his case and trial, which he declined to answer, the source said.

Axios, though, denied that description of how the interview went.

“The characterization of the interview is incorrect," Axios spokeswoman Megan Swiatkowski said in an email. "Watch the show at 6 p.m. ET/PT on March 1 on all HBO platforms.”

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Stone was sentenced to more than three years in prison last week. Stone, a longtime adviser to Trump before he was elected president, was convicted in November on seven counts of obstruction, witness tampering and making false statements to Congress on charges that stemmed from former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

Stone has denied wrongdoing. He remains under a gag order imposed by U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson as she considers motions in his case. Stone’s legal team has requested a new trial amid claims of bias being leveled against the jury forewoman, who it emerged had a history of Democratic Party activism and anti-Trump, left-wing social media posts.

There's been speculation that Trump could eventually pardon Stone.