White House hopeful Joseph R. Biden subtly responded Saturday to Roger Stone becoming the latest member of President Trump’s election campaign to be convicted of federal crimes.
The Democratic front-runner and former vice president seemed to react on Twitter to Stone, Mr. Trump’s former campaign adviser, being found guilty of seven counts Friday.
Mr. Biden’s account on the platform posted a photograph of the 2020 candidate wearing sunglasses and smiling alongside former President President Barack Obama.
“Two elections. Zero criminal convictions,” Mr. Biden’s account captioned the photo.
Without mentioning either Mr. Trump or Stone by name, Mr. Biden’s tweet appeared to make reference to the latter becoming the latest addition in a growing list of people tied to the president to be convicted or found guilty of federal crimes. It was shared by other Twitter users, or retweeted, more than 5,000 times within three hours of being posted.
Stone, a 67-year-old longtime Republican strategist and consultant, was found guilty by a federal jury Friday morning on seven counts of obstruction, witness tampering and perjury. He is scheduled to be sentenced in February.
Announced amid impeachment proceedings unfolding on Capitol Hill, the verdict rendered against Stone made him at least the sixth person closely tied to the president to be convicted or plead guilty to crimes since Mr. Trump entered the White House less than three years earlier. Others in the category include Michael Cohen, Mr. Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, and a handful of other former members of the president’s 2016 election campaign: Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, Michael T. Flynn and George Papadopoulos.
Mr. Biden, 76, served two terms as vice president under Mr. Obama and has been for months among front-runners seeking the Democratic nomination to run against Mr. Trump in 2020.
Mr. Trump’s re-election campaign did not immediately return a request for comment about Mr. Biden’s tweet, and he had not yet to respond publicly as of a few hours later.
Stone has known Mr. Trump for around 30 years and was among the first advisers to join his presidential campaign. He was found guilty of charges brought in connection with interfering in the government’s investigation into Russian involvement in the 2016 elections.
A court order prohibits Stone from commenting on matters involving his case, and his judge said during Friday’s hearing that the gag order stands while he awaits sentencing.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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