Roger Stone is about to go before a judge days after he posted a controversial picture of her

Trump ally Roger Stone is scheduled to appear before federal Judge Amy Berman Jackson on Thursday. Just days ago, he allegedly posted a photo of that same judge to his Instagram account with what looked like crosshairs hovering above her head.

What happened?

The now-deleted Instagram post from Monday called Jackson the judge at his "upcoming show trial" and said she couldn't be fair because she was an Obama appointee and had "incarcerated Paul Manafort." It also included the hashtag "#Fixisin" and implied that special counsel Robert Mueller had used "legal trickery" to put Jackson on the case because he knew how she would rule.

Stone later reportedly replaced the photo with a version that was cropped to remove the crosshairs and had slightly different text. Then he deleted it altogether.

Later that same day, he sent a letter of apology to the court that read:

Please inform the Court that the photograph and comment today was improper and should not have been posted. I had no intention of disrespecting the Court and humbly apologize to the Court for the transgression.

He insisted in another Instagram post that he did not create the offending post, but that it had been the work of a "volunteer" who mistakenly used the wrong "random" photo. Stone argued that once he realized what had happened, he "ordered it taken down because it was open to misinterpretation."

He also claimed that "any inference that this was meant to somehow threaten the judge or disrespect the court is categorically false."

In yet another Instagram post, he insisted, "What some say are cross hairs are in fact the logo of the organization that originally posted it something called corruption central. They use the logo in many photos."

His staff provided the Daily Caller with an uncropped version of the image showing the words "corruption central" in capital letters repeated across the background. Bloomberg reported that Stone had also said that the logo wasn't crosshairs at all, but rather was a Celtic and occult symbol.

What happens now?

On Wednesday, Jackson ordered Stone to come to court Thursday over the Instagram post debacle.

The judge could order Stone, who is currently out on a $250,000 signature bond, to be taken into custody if she views the photo as a threat.

She can also increase his existing gag order. Stone was already under orders not to speak publicly around the courthouse. Stone's attorneys also are restricted in how much they can discuss the case publicly.

According to CNN, Stone was charged by the Justice Department in late January for lying to congressional investigators about his efforts to communicate with WikiLeaks as he sought to help the Trump campaign damage Hillary Clinton in 2016. He also faces charges of obstruction and witness tampering. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.