11:40 last night-Mueller dropped a court filing that says-DOJ is authorized to investigate collusion

[kpete]

At 11:40 last night, Mueller’s dropped a court filing that says:
-How much Rosenstein is fully behind this investigation
-They’ve investigated Manafort for allegedly helping Russians interfere w elex
-Knew exactly what else they were pursuing last August
MEMO HERE:
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/03/politics/read-rosenstein-aug-2-memo/index.html



Mueller authorized by DOJ to investigate alleged Manafort collusion with Russian government
Anchor Muted Background
By Katelyn Polantz, CNN

Updated 7:31 AM ET, Tue April 3, 2018


(CNN)Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told special counsel Robert Mueller in a classified August 2, 2017, memo that he should investigate allegations that President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was "colluding with Russian government officials" to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, prosecutors in the Russia probe revealed late Monday night.

Mueller was also empowered by Rosenstein to investigate Manafort's payments from Ukrainian politicians, a cornerstone of the Trump adviser's decades-long lobbying career that has resulted in several financial criminal charges so far.


The revelation of the August 2 memo comes amid a broader court filing from Mueller's prosecutors that offers a full-throated defense of their investigative powers and indictments thus far. In the filing, the special counsel's office argues that a federal judge should not throw out Manafort's case. Manafort has sought to have the case dismissed, arguing that the charges against him are outside of Mueller's authority.

The filing Monday night crystallizes the extent to which Rosenstein, who has come under fire by President Donald Trump and others, has backed the investigation's actions. (Rosenstein oversees Mueller's investigation following Attorney General Jeff Sessions' recusal.)







MORE:
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/03/politics/mueller-manafort-rosenstein-memo/index.html
https://www.emptywheel.net/2018/04/03/the-mueller-filing/

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[marble falls]

1. It may be moving slowly, but its moving all the time.

[pnwmom]

2. It's not really moving slowly. It's a giant puzzle with thousands of pieces to control. n/t

[marble falls]

4. I support Mueller and I think he crossing t's and dotting i's and Cheetolini's in an airtight ....

trick bag. Mueller needs to be on SCOTUS, or AG. After he gets as many of Cheetolini and his crowd jailed as he can.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

30. 100%. Not often mentioned is the purposely tangled web of numbered companies that hide stuff. . . nt

[TheBlackAdder]

33. Yep! And once you get down to the last 100 or so pieces, it picks up pace.

[ailsagirl]

47. Good point

[malaise]

3. This is huge

Rec

[Honeycombe8]

5. So how long before Rosenstein is fired, I wonder? He will be a hero in the movie, though.

Even if/when he's fired, he's established his character and honor above all, and will be a hero in the story. It had to be tough for him to make the decisions he did. Most others didn't.

[getagrip_already]

12. they won't fire rosenstein or muehler.... the move will be on sessions

They need him to resign. Then they can move pruit or another toadie in and suffocate the investigation.

Apparently sessions would have to die, resign, or have some other similar event happen in order for the federal vacancies act to kick in.

Trump is running into that with his va head. since he was fired, trump can't simply appoint a replacement without waiting for confirmation. he has 150 days under the act to get someone confirmed. as long as the replacement was also confirmed for another similar or higher position, they can fill in.

Otherwise he would just tweet sessions away and replace him with pruit. Then pruit would be in charge of the investigation.

[Generic Brad]

39. There's a reason Sessions has not resigned

Mueller most likely had him nailed from the start. I suspect Mueller offered him immunity or a reduced sentence if he recused himself and remained in his post so as to protect the investigation.

[getagrip_already]

46. I don't think it's quite that way....

muehler would never do something like that. It would be a potentially unethical act.

I suspect sessions has own reasons for not resigning. He may have cut a deal with muehler (likely), but muehler isn't keeping him in his position out of self preservation.

Nope, sessions has a lifetime worth of hatred and frustration built up, and he is getting to unleash his inner klansman by weoponizing the doj to attack minorities and those that would protect them.

He will never be in public office again once he resigns, and he knows it. He could get rich, but power would never be his again.

[GreenEyedLefty]

52. Sessions isn't that good of a person.

There is no altruistic motive - he has a racist agenda and he's going to see it through.

[HipChick]

6. K&R..For visibility...

[kentuck]

7. Why did he "drop" it at this time??

I think it was an attempt to protect Rosenstein from the chopping block. They believe that Trump is ready to fire him at any moment and this court filing might give him a bit of a shield from being fired?

By protecting Rosenstein, Mueller is protecting himself.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

31. It was to counter a Manafort filing trying to dismiss the charges on basis of not in his mandate. nt

[riversedge]

32. Yes, Mueller is really saying--I have Rosenstein behind my investigation.

yet, it really puts Rosenstein out on a fence for Trump to knock him off. Trump has been acting so erratic lately, that he just might do it.

Link to tweet

[muntrv]

8. MAGA...

?v=2018-01-30-09-40&background-image=wood&effects=inner-glow

[Raster]

29. LOVE. THAT. SHIRT.

[Mr. Ected]

9. Is this in response to Manafort's assertion last week

That Mueller had exceeded his authority in broadening the scope of his investigation to include Manafort's dealings in Ukraine?

[malaise]

10. Ding ding

etc.

[kentuck]

15. Why would he feel the need to respond to Manafort?

Even though Manafort has challenged Mueller's authority to investigate him on such matters, saying that they are beyond the scope of the Special Counsel.

Manafort's only hope seems to be a pardon from his buddy, Donald Trump?

[Mr. Ected]

18. This is actually a court pleading, not a "response ", per se

Mueller answers to nobody but Rosenstein and the court of record.

[kentuck]

23. But isn't the time a little unusual?

Why the sense of urgency?

[SergeStorms]

48. I don't think there's any sense of urgency.....

I just think Mueller wants it in place so any Judge looking at Manafort's claims that he (Mueller) has over-stepped his authority can dismiss it immediately, and not tie up any time arguing the point in court. I think when Mueller's next batch of findings, indictments etc. come down they're going to be swift, brutal, and far reaching. Why chance a court challenge and allow these scumbags time to re-group? Maybe, maybe not, I have no information other than what everyone else has.

[woundedkarma]

24. 285 pages worth of legal opinions on why Manafort can't get the charges dismissed LMAO n/t

[Cartoonist]

11. Drop?

In legal terms doesn't that mean he no longer supports it?

[Nitram]

16. In contemporary slang, "drop" has numerous meaning related to bring out, bring on, introduce.

"Drop one" means to fart. "Drop a CD" means to release it. Check out the Urban dictionary for 11 pages of different uses of the word "drop."

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Drop

[Cartoonist]

20. Defs

I know of other uses for drop, but this is a legal situation and should use legal terminology.

Mueller drops all charges against Manafort.

That's what I read.

[Nitram]

21. The language police don't allow lay people to discuss court cases using contemporary slang?

How could "dropped a court filing" mean "dropped all charges?" I don't follow. I recommend using context to discern the meaning of what you read,

[Cartoonist]

25. Yeah, I get that

I did figure it out. It's still sloppy to use a legal term incorrectly when discussing legal matters.

[SomethingNew]

27. Not sure I'd call "drop" a legal term.

It's used in legal settings consistently with common usage.

[Enoki33]

36. Also refers to a transmission point for spies.

[LanternWaste]

40. You then believe the legal usage of the word is limited to one, and only one definition?

You then believe the legal usage of the word is limited to one, and only one definition?

[Cartoonist]

41. I don't mean to cause a fuss

But when the prosecuting attorney in my case said they were dropping the charges, I couldn't have been happier.

The title of the OP gave me a start.

[Demit]

28. It was ambiguous. I couldn't be sure either, till I read the article.

You can drop the matter, or you can drop something into someone's lap... slang is fun, but this time it was obfuscatory. Pointing that out isn't language policing. It's liking things to be clear.

[Nitram]

13. And Mueller just keep rollin'...

[Ligyron]

14. I'm starting to believe something significant might actually happen to Trump and Co.

Looking more promising all the time. K & R.

Wonder what is in all that redacted material?

We are in for some pleasant surprises I'll bet. Some things that none of us even imagined at this point? Names we never even heard of as yet may play a part. Perhaps omething totally out of left field even?

hmmmm...

[Nitram]

17. The redacted material is clearly classified evidence of collution.

[Ligyron]

19. That's what I was thinking and hoping is the case.

[magicarpet]

22. The Orange Reality TV star....

..... ain't going to lie and cheat his way out of this convoluted mess, Muller won't let him slither off and profess innocents so easy as he has done millions of times before.

[Phoenix61]

26. Looks like Mueller has Manafort in a vise

Doesn't look like he's going to be able to weasel out of this. Wonder if he'll flip? I'm betting he will. I don't think he's someone who would be willing to spend even one night in jail for someone else.

[flibbitygiblets]

34. My guess is Manafort has been promised a pardon

Besides, he's probably more afraid of the Russians getting to him of he flips.

[Nitram]

44. I agree, flibitty.

[watoos]

35. Don't try to use logic with Trump

he will see Rosenstein as his enemy and will do everything in his power to fire him. This act by Mueller may give Rosenstein some cover, for now.

[BlueJac]

37. Get it on Mueller!

[Mountain Mule]

38. K&R! nt

[Scurrilous]

42. K&R

[BobTheSubgenius]

43. I strongly suspect Manafort is going to have a much bigger role to play.

Once he is forced to accept that he's staring down the barrel of a reported total of 305 years, and his wings are clipped, making him unable to flee, he will cooperate, hopefully. I've also read that Drumpf fears Manafort's hypothetical flip bigly.

It would be a serious blow if this dismissal motion flies. I can't see how it can, but I never, ever could have foreseen things becoming the way they are.

[Vinca]

45. That was sweet.

I thought this particular Manafort ploy was a bit ridiculous. It's like saying if you're investigating a burglary and come across a murder you should ignore it.

[sharedvalues]

50. Speculation: this motion designed to bring out documents

There’s been speculation that Manafort’s legal team filed this loser of a motion to get information from the Special Counsel.


For example in this reply the Special Counsel (Dreeben) disclosed the existence of this Rosenstein Memo. Which could be useful info for Manafort, Bannon, or even that president.

[Vinca]

53. Good point. I hadn't thought of that.

[sharedvalues]

49. Good, but ... Duh.

We knew Mueller was going after collusion from the first Manafort indictment. (Which covered Ukraine connections and links to Kilimnik, former/current GRU agent).



One small point: it’s interesting that the Rosenstein memo uses the term “collusion” and not “conspiracy”. The last Mueller indictment suggested they would be charging conspiracy against the United States.

[Cha]

51. I immediately think of

trump! But, he's not mentioned.. yet.

This is still great news!