Remember last February when Special Prosecutor Mueller unveiled the indictment of 13 Russians and 3 Russian companies for attempted interference in the 2016 election? Mueller and the Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein who "oversees" that probe put forward the indictment and the media lapped it up. Of course, all 13 of the people were in Russia, not the USA so there were no arrests. The companies were also in Russia and it seemed likely that both the people and the companies would just ignore the charges. Mueller and Rosenstein got to put forward a highly visible "indictment" without ever having to provide proof of anything, and no one would be the wiser.
Well now that has flipped over badly for them. One of the Russian companies has hired American lawyers who filed an appearance in the case, demanded to enter a plea and also demanded that the Mueller team provide them with the evidence that supports the charges. Entering a plea is part of any criminal case, no matter the charge. American law also is clear that the prosecutor has to turn over copies of the evidence including summaries of testimony to any defendant; let me say that again to ANY DEFENDANT. To be clear, the requests from the Russian company through its attorneys is nothing more than the standard procedure followed in every criminal case brought in the USA.
The problem is that the Mueller team doesn't want to turn over the evidence. In fact, they don't even want to allow the Russian company to enter a plea. Mueller on Friday asked the court to put off Wednesday's scheduled arraignment indefinitely until it can be determined if the Russian company was properly served. Any lawyer familiar with federal procedure who reads this will understand just how ridiculous that request is. The Russian company has lawyers who have appeared in court in response to the charges. They haven't moved to quash the charges on the grounds of defective service. They haven't appeared for the special purpose of challenging jurisdiction. The federal judge would see no reason to put off arraignment to litigate service of process when the issue is raised only by the prosecutor. It would put everything backwards. The validity of service is an issue the defendant might raise, but the prosecution NEVER does.
What is going on is obvious. The Russian company is going to force the Mueller team to put forward its supposed proof of interference with the 2016 elections. And Mueller is going to have to do that quickly since the Russians are entitled to a speedy trial under US law. So, to be clear, Mueller can no longer rely on his photo-op announcement of indictments of the Russians; he is going to have to actually produce EVIDENCE. Most likely, Mueller doesn't have much of that. Indeed, if Mueller produces the evidence for the lawyers for the Russian defendant, my guess is that somehow we will shortly thereafter see stories in the media about what evidence Mueller actually has and about how paltry and incomplete it really is. Of course, the leaks will just come from "knowledgeable sources" or "reliable sources" so we won't know for certain what the source is. The stories (which will likely break on Fox News) will demonstrate, however, that the Mueller team really has not found much of anything. It will be a public relations nightmare for Mueller and anti-Trumpers.
The alternative for team Mueller is not much better. They can dismiss the indictment of the Russian company so that there will be no need to turn over the evidence. Of course, that is a clear admission that they didn't have a basis to indict the company in the first place.
The judge in the case heard the request from the Special Prosecutor's team on Friday and had the expected reaction. He denied it. On Wednesday, the arraignment will proceed unless the indictment gets withdrawn first. If that doesn't happen, what will likely follow is a later dismissal of the charges due to prosecutorial misconduct in failing to turn over the evidence to the defendant. That would be much worse. Team Mueller has a big decision to make.
Well now that has flipped over badly for them. One of the Russian companies has hired American lawyers who filed an appearance in the case, demanded to enter a plea and also demanded that the Mueller team provide them with the evidence that supports the charges. Entering a plea is part of any criminal case, no matter the charge. American law also is clear that the prosecutor has to turn over copies of the evidence including summaries of testimony to any defendant; let me say that again to ANY DEFENDANT. To be clear, the requests from the Russian company through its attorneys is nothing more than the standard procedure followed in every criminal case brought in the USA.
The problem is that the Mueller team doesn't want to turn over the evidence. In fact, they don't even want to allow the Russian company to enter a plea. Mueller on Friday asked the court to put off Wednesday's scheduled arraignment indefinitely until it can be determined if the Russian company was properly served. Any lawyer familiar with federal procedure who reads this will understand just how ridiculous that request is. The Russian company has lawyers who have appeared in court in response to the charges. They haven't moved to quash the charges on the grounds of defective service. They haven't appeared for the special purpose of challenging jurisdiction. The federal judge would see no reason to put off arraignment to litigate service of process when the issue is raised only by the prosecutor. It would put everything backwards. The validity of service is an issue the defendant might raise, but the prosecution NEVER does.
What is going on is obvious. The Russian company is going to force the Mueller team to put forward its supposed proof of interference with the 2016 elections. And Mueller is going to have to do that quickly since the Russians are entitled to a speedy trial under US law. So, to be clear, Mueller can no longer rely on his photo-op announcement of indictments of the Russians; he is going to have to actually produce EVIDENCE. Most likely, Mueller doesn't have much of that. Indeed, if Mueller produces the evidence for the lawyers for the Russian defendant, my guess is that somehow we will shortly thereafter see stories in the media about what evidence Mueller actually has and about how paltry and incomplete it really is. Of course, the leaks will just come from "knowledgeable sources" or "reliable sources" so we won't know for certain what the source is. The stories (which will likely break on Fox News) will demonstrate, however, that the Mueller team really has not found much of anything. It will be a public relations nightmare for Mueller and anti-Trumpers.
The alternative for team Mueller is not much better. They can dismiss the indictment of the Russian company so that there will be no need to turn over the evidence. Of course, that is a clear admission that they didn't have a basis to indict the company in the first place.
The judge in the case heard the request from the Special Prosecutor's team on Friday and had the expected reaction. He denied it. On Wednesday, the arraignment will proceed unless the indictment gets withdrawn first. If that doesn't happen, what will likely follow is a later dismissal of the charges due to prosecutorial misconduct in failing to turn over the evidence to the defendant. That would be much worse. Team Mueller has a big decision to make.
No comments:
Post a Comment