Judge Amy Berman Jackson said Stone could remain free pending his sentencing in February, when he could face up to 20 years in prison. Stone and his lawyers had no immediate comment.

Minutes after the jury handed down its verdict, Trump tweeted that Stone's conviction was "a double standard like never seen before in the history of our Country," because his frequent nemeses, including Hillary Clinton, former FBI Director James Comey and "including even Mueller himself," have not been convicted.

"Didn't they lie?," Trump's tweet said.

Stone's trial featured multiple references to "The Godfather Part II," a Bernie Sanders impression, and testimony by political heavyweights including former Trump campaign CEO Steve Bannon and former Trump campaign deputy Rick Gates, each of whom said they believed Stone had inside information about when WikiLeaks might release more damaging emails about then-Republican candidate Trump's Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.

Prosecutors accused Stone of telling lawmakers five different lies related to WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange, which in 2016 dumped a series of damaging emails about Clinton that US intelligence officials and Special Counsel Robert Mueller later concluded had been stolen by Russian hackers.

Some of those lies relate to the existence of certain texts or emails, while others pertain to Stone's conversations with Trump campaign officials and a supposed "intermediary" with WikiLeaks in early August 2016 whom Stone identified to lawmakers as being comedian Randy Credico.

Prosecutors said Stone did not actually start talking to Credico about WikiLeaks until later that month, and the actual person to whom he was referring in testimony as an "intermediary" was conservative author Jerome Corsi whom Stone dispatched in an email to "Get to Assange!" and get the emails.

Corsi was not called as a witness in the trial.

Stone, a close Trump ally who famously has the face of former president Richard Nixon tattooed on his back, was also accused of tampering with a witness, Credico, when Credico was summoned to testify before Congress and speak with the FBI.

Both Stone and Credico, who took the stand in the case, have since said that Credico did not act as a WikiLeaks back channel.

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In emails and texts, the jury saw messages that Stone had sent Credico that included comments like "Prepare to die," "You're a rat. A stoolie," and "Stonewall it. Plead the Fifth. Anything to save the plan," in a reference to a famous Nixon Watergate quote.

He also repeatedly urged Credico to "do a Frank Pentangeli" - a reference to a "Godfather II" character who recants his congressional testimony against a mobster amid intimidation.

A lawyer for Stone dismissed the Pentangeli reference, saying Credico had done impressions of the character in the past, and said the "odious language" they used was just part of how they interacted.

Reuters