Mueller Must Know His Efforts Are Flawed

On June 21, 2018 Politico.com reported, "Mueller worried 'widespread media attention' may have biased jurors."

This is the first public recognition by U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller that his James Comey/Rod Rosenstein inspired 13 month, $ 20 million "Russian Collusion" probe in is in trouble.

This Politico report refers to the first Paul Manafort trial, with Mueller’s team, which is set to begin in the next several weeks in Alexandria, Virginia.

Politico asserts that Mueller, in an eight-page motion filed in federal court for the upcoming criminal trial, fears that his " . . . overall probe into the Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Moscow election meddling, as well as the Manafort case specifically, had generated extensive media coverage — not all of it correct — that could taint the jury pool.

"Manafort is facing a series of financial fraud, tax and lobbying charges in cases spiraling out of Mueller’s broader probe."

The motion indicates that the prospective jury panel may be tainted by the fact the special counsel’s team will represent the U.S. at the tria

The piece also refers to Andrew Weissmann as, " . . . one of Mueller’s lead prosecutors . . . "Mr. Weissmann’s conduct in the prosecution of two other cases has been questioned by the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit.

This motion by Mueller, if true as reported by Politico, signals to any experienced federal criminal trial lawyer, that Mueller's case is weak.

Robert Mueller appears to be laying the predicate for some kind of  a bailout.

The original intent of the Special Prosecutor Mueller’s directive was to determine if there was any interference/collusion by Russian operatives in the 2016 American election.

Implicit in Mueller’s authorization was that Russians wanted Trump to win and Trump campaign personnnel were pawns of Russians.

Mueller and his team of "experienced" lawyers know that Alexandria and Northern Virginia is politically solidly Democratic. Elections in Northern Virginia over the last decade attest to this fact.

With this knowledge, why would Mueller and his team be worried about "widespread media attention?" Certainly, the metro-Washington, D.C. media is as liberal, if not more so, than the national media.

This a very strange court pleading, considering the trial’s location and the political voting history of the residents.

Mueller will have FBI agents scout the prospective jurors for any and all information about their personal lives. The Mueller FBI agents will search the prospective jurors’ lives to the fullest.

These investigations may have already been done.

Mueller’s publicity has in the greatest majority been favorable, and he knows this.

But, Mueller also knows how bad it looks that his prosecutorial team is weighted with Obama/Clinton/Democrat loyalists. Some jurors may actually be repulsed by such bias.

Robert Mueller doesn’t seem to care. He knows this — that in any court trial, competent defense attorneys will raise the issue as well as the corrupt genesis of the investigation and the reason for his appointment as special counsel.

"The Steele Dossier" will also be on trial along with any defendant(s). The trial judge will have to let such testimony in or most certainly be reversed on appeal.

Meanwhile, there is no question that the recent congressional testimony of Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General (IG) Michael Horowitz was damning to the DOJ and the FBI.

Horowitz has no prosecutorial authority nor has he authority to interview any person who is not a present DOJ/FBI employee.

Horowitz may make criminal referrals to the DOJ. He has reasonable grounds to believe that present and former DOJ/FBI employees have violated federal criminal codes.

Horowitz’s written report, book length, is a tempered and thoughtful presentation of questionable conduct by Former FBI Director James Comey, former Assistant FBI Director Andrew McCabe, other high-ranking FBI officials, lawyers, and agents, as well as, DOJ employees including former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, and others.

Many of these people may be indicted.

What has received no coverage by the newsmedia is this fact — the IG Report sets forth that FBI agents/employees received gifts such as tickets to sporting events, paid golf outings, drinks and meals, and admittance to non-public social events. The newsmedia obtained information-classified and unclassified-from DOJ/FBI employees — in return the employees received gifts. Whether money was also given is for a fair and impartial investigation. (See the United States Code: Bribery, 18 USC section 201.)

Mueller will also have to face this question among many more in any trial where FBI agents testify. The credibility of any and all FBI agents called to testify in any case, is now in question.

FBI agents’ reports (302s) used in the Gen. Michael Flynn plea are now reportedly under scrutiny for alterations.

Mueller has problems in all his cases, even the cases in which he has obtained pleas. Mueller, as an experienced trial lawyer, has to know all of his cases are flawed.

James H. Walsh was associate general counsel with the U.S. Department of Justice Immigration and Naturalization Service from 1983 to 1994. Read more reports from James Walsh — Click Here Now.