Bannon to testify in Roger Stone’s trial

Stephen Bannon, President Trump’s former campaign CEO and senior White House strategist, will testify in Roger Stone’s trial on charges of witness tampering, obstruction and making false statements.

Jurors were informed Wednesday that Bannon would appear in court to explain his interactions with Stone late in the 2016 election season, after the longtime Trump ally connected with Bannon to exchange information on stolen emails from the Democratic National Committee.{mosads}

“I do know how to win this but it ain’t pretty,” a message from Stone to Bannon at the time said.

Richard Gates, a former senior Trump campaign aide, is also expected to testify. 

In their opening statement, federal prosecutors accused Stone of lying to congressional investigators about his connections with both WikiLeaks and the Trump campaign in order to defend the president. 

“The evidence in this case will show that Roger Stone lied to the House Intelligence Committee because the truth looked bad — the truth looked bad for the Trump campaign and the truth looked bad for Donald Trump,” Aaron Zelinsky said. 

Stone has pleaded not guilty to seven counts related to his September 2017 testimony in front of the House Intelligence Committee.

Stone was arrested by FBI officials in January as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s election interference, which included the theft and leaking of the Democratic emails.