Stone Gets Lawyers at Last Minute for D.C. Arraignment Hearing

(Bloomberg) -- Roger Stone got a new lawyer, with paperwork also allowing his Florida attorneys to represent him filed less than half an hour before his scheduled 11 a.m. arraignment in Washington federal court.

Stone's criminal case got off to a chaotic start, after his Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based lawyers failed to make a 9 a.m. deadline to file appropriate paperwork to appear on his behalf.

The trouble began Monday when U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson rebuked them for not filing the paperwork needed to appear in federal court in Washington correctly. Without it, lawyers Grant Smith and Robert Buschel wouldn't be able to represent the longtime confidant to President Donald Trump, Robinson said in a brief order.

Then, after Stone had already entered the courthouse for his arraignment, Peter Farkas of Washington filed a notice of appearance, stating he too would be the permanent counsel of record on behalf of Stone.

He also vouched for Smith and Buschel, as required by local rules. They then filed motions requesting permission to appear before the judge and the judge granted the requests.

And now the hearing is just about ready to go.

Read More: Roger Stone, Now Accused, Invokes Rule No. 81: ‘Admit Nothing'

To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Harris in Washington at aharris16@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Joe Schneider

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