Mueller’s Second Slam This Weekend
A second federal judge shut down special counsel Robert Mueller over the weekend; rejecting his request to delay a court hearing in a criminal case surrounding Russian election meddling using social media.
The prosecution team sought the delay on the grounds that it’s unclear whether Concord Management formally accepted the court summons related to the case. Mueller’s prosecutors also claimed that they were unsuccessful in their attempts to deliver the summonses for Concord and IRA through the Russian government.
In their request to put off the arraignment, prosecutors blamed the extensive demands for information that the lawyers for Concord Management have set forth since they stepped forward last month.
According to Politico, Judge Dabney Friedrich issued a “brief order” Saturday that denied Mueller’s request to delay the scheduled hearing Friday evening; offering no explanation and setting the stage for a high-stake showdown between the special counsel’s office and 13 Russian nations indicted for interfering in the 2016 election.
Hannity.com reported that the judge’s decision comes just hours after another federal judge rebuked Mueller’s team during hearings in the case against former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort; accusing the special counsel’s office of using Manafort to launch “impeachment” procedures against the President.
“You don’t really care about Mr. Manafort,” said the judge. “You really care about what information Mr. Manafort can give you to lead you to Mr. Trump and an impeachment, or whatever.”