They said that Special Counsel Robert Mueller had the nudes, but Mueller had nothing to say.
The legal team for accused Russian troll farm Concord Management and Consulting LLC raised some eyebrows last week by casually mentioning — at the end of a lengthy court filing rant, no less — that Mueller has “collected a nude selfie” of someone. Concord’s attorney Eric Dubelier did not wish to elaborate on the detail at the time, and Team Mueller has completely ignored it, a New Year’s Eve filing revealed.
Basically, what has been going on here is an ongoing dispute about what evidence should be allowed in discovery. Concord’s attorney keeps arguing that Mueller has been undertaking a “first-of-its-kind, make-believe case” by attempting to prosecute Concord for a crime without Concord being able to review non-classified evidence against them and “fugitive co-defendant, Yevgeniy Prigozhin.”
As Law&Crime previously reported, the core of Concord’s filing from last Thursday is an argument that Mueller is unlawfully keeping “millions of pages of non-classified discovery” materials away from the defendant and attempting “whisper” secrets to the court in ex parte (one party only) discussions. In questioning the Mueller argument that the national security of the United States is at stake, Dubelier brought up the aforementioned “nude selfie,” asking, “Could the manner in which he collected a nude selfie really threaten the national security of the United States?”
Now to the present day. Mueller combatted this argument by, once again, citing the national security concerns of the United States. “[T]here exists ‘good cause,'” he said, “to consider and impose restrictions on the dissemination of discovery (particularly restrictions pertaining to the fugitive co-defendant, Yevgeniy Prigozhin) to ‘protect the important national security, law enforcement, and privacy interests at issue in this case.'”
Given that this is the case, Mueller contended, a private discussion with the judge about the evidence is supported by case law. Mueller revealed that he is seeking a limited discussion with the Court in private on the matter of “certain classified information in connection with its forthcoming opposition to Concord’s Motion for Approval to Disclose Discovery.”
Mueller argued that Concord isn’t entitled to the information, saying there are more grounds than before for a private chat with the judge about this.
“Indeed, given that the Government’s proposed addendum to its forthcoming public filing would contain classified information, the grounds for considering that information ex parte are only stronger than before,” he said. “And, given that the information is classified, and that disclosure of the information could cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security, an ex parte submission is the only means by which the Government can provide the information to the Court.”
“For these reasons, and those presented in the Government’s initial filing, the Court should grant the Government’s motion and permit the ex parte submission of a classified addendum to the Government’s forthcoming opposition to Concord’s motion,” he concluded.
Mueller Responds to Concord… by on Scribd
Colin Kalmbacher contributed to this report.
[Image via Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images]
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