Mueller moves to muscle out Manafort’s lawyers from grilling prosecutors

The Washington Times ^ | May 16, 2018 | Rowan Scarborough

[jazusamo]

Special Counsel Robert Mueller is trying to head off the Paul Manafort defense team from questioning his prosecutors over press leaks.

Mr. Mueller filed papers in U.S. District Court in Virginia opposing a request from Manafort attorney Kevin Downing to hold an investigative hearing into the rash of press reports on Mr. Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign manager.

Mr. Downing cited 10 stories, sourced to unnamed people who implicated Mr. Manafort in possible criminal activity. He contends the information came from grand jury testimony, which would be illegal for a prosecutor to leak.

In a footnote to his filing, Mr. Mueller’s lead prosecutor, Andrew Weissmann, makes a preemptive argument before District Court Judge T. S. Ellis III. If the judge does allow a hearing, Mr. Downing should not be allowed to question special counsel prosecutors or other Justice Department lawyers.

“To the extent Manafort contemplates testimony by Department of Justice attorneys, he would have to overcome the rule that testimony from prosecutors trying criminal cases is ‘disfavored,’” Mr. Weissmann’s brief says, citing previous court rulings.

Mr. Weissmann was in the Justice Department as chief of its fraud division before Mr. Mueller recruited him in May 2017.

Judge Ellis has set a May 25 hearing date.

[Liz]

"I gave $29 million to the Clinton Foundation and all I got was access to Howdy Doody."

Viktor Pinchuk and Chelsea Clinton in Kiev, Ukraine.

[KC_Conspirator]

Discovery. I am sick and tired of this Torquemada trampling over citizens rights.

[YogicCowboy]

Our unelected Federal bureaucracies are an organized crime cartel operating by Flout of Law instead of Rule of Law.