Posted on 05/05/2018 5:13:50 AM PDT by reaganaut1
Special counsel Robert Mueller is used to getting kid-glove treatment. That changed Friday in a federal courtroom in Virginia, where Judge T.S. Ellis directed a blunt challenge to the Mueller team prosecuting former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort on charges of tax and bank fraud, some of which date back to 2005.
“I don’t see what relation this indictment has with what the special counsel is authorized to investigate. You don’t really care about Mr. Manafort’s bank fraud,” Judge Ellis told Michael Dreeben, who was representing Mr. Mueller in court. “What you really care about is what information Mr. Manafort could give you that would reflect on Mr. Trump or lead to his prosecution or impeachment.”
Judge Ellis won’t win a diplomacy-in-judging prize, but his sharp words expose a central problem with the evolution of the Mueller probe. Though he was appointed to investigate collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign in 2016, Mr. Mueller’s indictments thus far have concerned other matters—lying to the FBI, or in Mr. Manafort’s case actions relating to his business with Ukraine.
Mr. Manafort’s team wants Judge Ellis to throw out the charges on grounds they exceed Mr. Mueller’s original mandate. And the judge’s questions leave the Mueller team in a difficult position. Essentially Mr. Mueller’s prosecutors now have to argue that even if they violated the Justice Department’s rules, it shouldn’t matter.
Mr. Dreeben of Team Mueller responded that the indictment doesn’t exceed the special counsel’s mandate, but the judge wants to see specifically the full and unredacted August 2, 2017 memo from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein saying what Mr. Mueller could pursue. The judge put it this way: “What we don’t want in this country, we don’t want anyone with unfettered power.”
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Oh....and he has to bind his own wounds. With shoptowels. And Dollar General cellophane tape.
Why did the good judge give them two (2!) weeks to produce the scope doc? That’s 13 days too many — Alexandria is just across the river from DC.
Am I cynical to think it’s to give Rosenstein time to fabricate a legit scope doc in case his original, or even non-existent, scope doc is BS?
Ellis was the Judge who threw Jefferson in jail. I think the Wikidopes were simply too dumb to know the difference.
Amen!
Can Mueller appeal Judge Ellis's mandate/decision ? If so, where would the appeal go and who sits on that respective appeals court?
If Mueller can appeal and draws a liberal judge, Ellis will be overturned and then it's back to business as usual for the attempted coup.
Yes! It goes to the Fourth Circuit. And I'm sure Reichsführer Müeller has already drafted his appeal.
But I know nothing of the composition of the 4th. And ultimately, it would go to the SCOTUS anyway.
“Rosenstein will drop the charges against Manafort before releasing a true and unredacted copy of the mandate.”
He could try, but the judge has already requested it. If they do not turn it over, Manafort could persist on a dismissal.
He may get a dismissal with prejudice either way. The entire federal cabal of losers is nauseating....
We need a lot more like him, Ellis that is.
Any reason why he gives them two weeks? Does it take that long to walk it over the river from DC to Alexandria?
Judge better hope he’s clean as Mueller’s team will begin an investigation on him. Mueller won’t take being obstructed lying down.
“Why did the good judge give them two (2!) weeks to produce the scope doc? That’s 13 days too many”
Agree...it could be e-mailed in 5 minutes. Although unlikely, maybe there are some white hats watching Mueller’s bunch, to see how they ‘respond’. If they fabricate something, then there’s direct cause to arrest them.
Why can’t the dems just judge-shop this to issue a stay of this judge’s order?
Twenty years ago, could you have even imagined we'd be having these kinds of conversations in the USA?
“Twenty years ago, could you have even imagined we’d be having these kinds of conversations in the USA? “
Nope. 20 years ago, SOMEONE would have spoken up, if only to protect themselves. But since then we had them testing the waters with Clinton, seeing what they could get away with, then getting away with EVERYTHING, not just under Clinton, but, EVEN WORSE, under Bush, and his ‘new tone’.
So now, NO FEAR from them, so they figured they’d get off no matter what. And they still might be right, but I pray not.
In this case, that SOMEONE should be the Attorney General. But Jeff Sessions is out to lunch — unless he’s recused himself from that, too.
1. Why hasn’t a judge like this been available before now?
2. How did the swamp manage to let getting this judge on the case happen?
3. Key statement by the judge: The judge put it this way: “What we don’t want in this country, we don’t want anyone with unfettered power.”
4. Unfettered power is what has been going on for at least 8 of the last 10 years or so and much of the last two of the last 10 years.
Mulehead and all of his co-conspirators need to be quickly tracked down, tried and hung. It will never happen but it needs to happen. Maybe not in the same way that the hopeful assassins of Hitler were taken out but taken out just the same. In this case the crimes are being committed against the people and a duly and properly elected POTUS. The conspiracy they are looking for is in their hands and of their own construction. I’m sick of this crap. It needs to stop and we need to get on with MAGA.
Seeing them hung would make me happy but I would settle for convicted of something at least. That too, will never happen. We endured 8 years of lawlessness under barky and no charges will ever be preferred this will go the same way.
I was not a big Dan Bongino fan when he first came on the scene. Nothing against him, but just did not have much interest and yes, we know he was a federal agent. However, he has repeatedly made the best point of any pundit about this.
You investigate a crime and not a person. It really is a key point and one that this Judge seems to understand.
It is a perversion of justice when a huge investigation team dissects the life of any person with unlimited powers and budget. They can target your family, friends, co-workers, prior relations, etc etc. Who in their right mind would want to subject themselves to something like this? I am still very worried that Mueller will use the nuclear option and go after the President’s family and business.
That will quickly bring this whole thing to a head and it appears from my viewpoint that Mueller may go there. One thing I have said from the beginning.... Mueller is conflicted because of his relationship with Comey and his ties to the FBI. Rosenstein is conflicted because of his relationships, the FISA application signing, and his memo recommending that Comey (the apparent star witness for Mueller) be fired. In any other case brought before a court in the U.S. such conflicts would torpedo a case. It really is stunning to think that Sessions recused himself for the slightest conflict and handed over the investigation to a guy with massive conflicts from beginning to end.
Funny how they are all one tight little FBI circle.
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