Judge rejects Mueller's request for delay in Russian troll farm case

Politico ^ | May 5th, 2018 | By JOSH GERSTEIN

[Mariner]

A federal judge has rejected special counsel Robert Mueller’s request to delay the first court hearing in a criminal case charging three Russian companies and 13 Russian citizens with using social media and other means to foment strife among Americans in advance of the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

In a brief order Saturday evening, U.S. District Court Judge Dabney Friedrich offered no explanation for her decision to deny a request prosecutors made Friday to put off the scheduled Wednesday arraignment for Concord Management and Consulting, one of the three firms charged in the case.

The 13 people charged in the high-profile indictment in February are considered unlikely to ever appear in a U.S. court. The three businesses accused of facilitating the alleged Russian troll farm operation — the Internet Research Agency, Concord Management, and Concord Catering — were also expected to simply ignore the American criminal proceedings.

Last month, however, a pair of Washington-area lawyers suddenly surfaced in the case, notifying the court that they represent Concord Management. POLITICO reported at the time that the move appeared to be a bid to force Mueller’s team to turn over relevant evidence to the Russian firm and perhaps even to bait prosecutors into an embarrassing dismissal in order to avoid disclosing sensitive information.

[iontheball]

Mueller's “pettifoggery.” I like that new term for blowing smoke or having nothing more than smoke and mirrors in the case. It's amazing how these self-aggrandizing FBI/DOJ experts are getting caught in their totally manufactured charade against the President. Judge Ellis in the Manafort hearing nailed it when he explained that the SC’s game is to chase peripheral 'no counts,' not to get at the truth, but to squeeze them to the point where they will 'compose' false accusations against the President.

[bray]

He thinks he is god and can do whatever he wants to whoever he wants. These things will be thrown out once they find out how the warrants were obtained.

[bgill]

High five, Judge.

[laplata]

You’re correct, Liz. Basically, Mueller is done for.

This coup is totally and equivocally unacceptable and must be dealt with in such a brutal and just way that no one will ever attempt such a thing again.

[trebb]

Mueller never expected any of them to respond, much less demand proof of what he charged - he thought he would get a chance to bloviate and spread more lies w/o interference...

[Ann Archy]

This coup is NOT over....there is only ONE Judge Ellis, but there are 100’s of Rosensteins and Muellers out to DESTROY Trump!

[Defiant]

Q has not said word one about court decisions. It would be impossible for anyone to know what is going to happen in the courts on the legal issues involved.