Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Judge chastises lawyers in probe
WASHINGTON — The judge presiding over the criminal prosecutions of two of the men charged in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation chided lawyers Wednesday for the number of sealed filings they’ve made.
She said she was determined to set a trial date soon to keep the case moving forward.
Paul Manafort, the former campaign chairman for President Donald Trump, and his business associate Rick Gates were in federal court Wednesday for a routine status conference. Both were indicted in October on charges related to lobbying work on behalf of a Russia-friendly Ukrainian political party. They have pleaded innocent.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said that while she understood the need to protect certain information, such as bank account numbers and names of family members, she thought the lawyers had been “overdoing it” with the amount of filings being made under seal and out of public view. She ordered that several filings in the case be added to the public docket in at least redacted form.
“The fact that this case is of significant public interest is not a reason to seal things,” the judge said. “It’s a reason to unseal things.”
Nonetheless, lawyers for each defendant met privately with Jackson for long stretches on Wednesday.
Manafort and Gates, accused of money laundering conspiracy, making false statements and other crimes, were charged as part of Mueller’s investigation into potential coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia. Prosecutors revealed the indictment against the two men on the same day they unsealed a guilty plea from George Papadopoulos, a former Trump campaign aide. They have since reached a plea deal with former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn.
At one point during the status conference, Jackson appeared exasperated that no trial date has been set for Manafort and Gates, noting that they face serious charges and potentially yearslong prison sentences and should therefore have the case move along.
She also expressed frustration that the early court dates in the case have been largely focused on other matters, such as both defendants’ requests to change the conditions of home confinement that were imposed immediately after their indictment.
Lawyers for Gates said in a court filing made public last week that they had “irreconcilable differences” with their client and have asked to withdraw from the case. The nature of those differences has not been publicly disclosed, and all lawyers in the case remain under a gag order.
DEMOCRATS MEMO
Separately, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee said Wednesday that he is continuing to negotiate with the FBI over the release of a memo packed with classified information from secret surveillance applications but remains unsure if the White House will attempt to block its release.
Democrats argue that their memo, with as yet undisclosed details used to win court approval to listen in on Carter Page, a former adviser to the Trump campaign, would rebut a Republican memo released two weeks ago. Trump has said the GOP memo proves his campaign was the target of a politically motivated spying operation.
“What I don’t know is what authority the FBI and [Justice Department] has been given. When we reach an agreement with the FBI, is that the end of the matter, or will the White House use a veto?” Rep. Adam Schiff of California said at a breakfast hosted by The Christian Science Monitor.
Ty Cobb, the lawyer coordinating the White House’s response to the special counsel’s Russia inquiry, rebutted Schiff’s accusation, flatly saying, “No.” White House counsel Don McGahn wrote the letter Friday seeking more redactions from the Democratic memo, and it was not immediately clear Wednesday afternoon whether McGahn agreed with Cobb.
Schiff and Democratic staff have been talking with the FBI about what portions of their memo to redact, after the White House announced last week that it would not approve its release without significant redactions.