A judge has expressed “disgust” at US President Donald Trump’s former adviser Roger Stone, as she sentenced him to 40 months in prison.
Stone, 67, was found guilty in November on seven counts of lying to Congress, obstruction and witness tampering.
The judge said Stone threatened her, but Mr Trump said he should be cleared.
He is the sixth Trump aide convicted on charges linked to a justice department inquiry that found Russian attempts to boost Mr Trump’s 2016 campaign.
What was Stone convicted of?
Stone was found guilty of lying to the House Intelligence Committee about his attempts to contact Wikileaks, the website that released damaging emails about Mr Trump’s 2016 Democratic election rival Hillary Clinton.
US intelligence officials have concluded the messages were stolen by Russian hackers.
Stone will serve two years’ probation after his custodial sentence. He has also been fined $20,000 (£15,500) and must serve 250 hours of community service.
He will not have to report to prison until the judge rules on a pending defence appeal.
Stone’s sentence fell short of an initial seven- to nine-year recommendation from prosecutors.
What did the judge say?
Speaking in her Washington DC court on Thursday, Judge Amy Berman Jackson said Stone had engaged in “threatening and intimidating conduct” towards her.
She said Stone “knew exactly what he was doing” when he posted an image on social media last year of a gun’s crosshairs next to her head.
Stone had claimed he thought the crosshairs were a Celtic cross.
“This is intolerable to the rule of justice,” she said. “The court cannot just sit idly by and say ‘that’s just Roger being Roger.'”
Judge Jackson also said Stone “was not prosecuted for standing up for the president, he was prosecuted for covering up for the president”.
She continued: “The dismay and disgust at the defendant’s belligerence should transcend party.”
“At his core, Mr Stone is an insecure person who craves and recklessly pursues attention.”
She said the politics surrounding the case did not inform her ultimate decision.
“The truth still exists. The truth still matters,” she said.
