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So looks like Mueller is about to wrap things up?

rokkerkory

Member
Another one bites the dust... when your lawyers leave in droves or are in trouble themselves, you've got the BEST winning team I am sure.
 

bucyou

Member
The Virginia indictment alleges Manafort hid tens of millions of dollars he earned advising pro-Russia politicians in Ukraine from the Internal Revenue Service, all occurring years before Donald Trump ran for president.

Under questioning from Ellis, government lawyers admitted that Manafort had been under investigation for years in the Eastern District of Virginia before Mueller was ever appointed special counsel.

And Ellis said it was implausible to think that the charges against Manafort, which primarily concern his business dealings and tax returns from about 2005 through 2015, could have a real connection to Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.

Ellis suggested the real reason Mueller is pursuing Manafort is to pressure him to 'sing' against Trump, though he also noted that such a strategy is a 'time-honored practice' for prosecutors and not necessarily illegal.

'You really care about wanting information you could get from Mr. Manafort that would relate to Mr. Trump and lead to his prosecution, or impeachment, or whatever,' Ellis said.

Government lawyer Michael Dreeben said the special counsel's mandate is broad, and that Manafort fits within that jurisdiction because of his connections to both the Trump campaign and to Ukrainian and Russian officials.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...nsels-powers-Manafort-case.html#ixzz5EYdFRwCe


Damn, smackdown of Mueller by a federal judge, interesting..
 

bucyou

Member
If you consider that a smackdown of Mueller then please elobarate 😄

How is it not?


A federal judge states there seems to be no link between manafort and the "collusion" case he special counsel is investigating, he also questions the wisdom of giving any one person or group that was not elected, unfettered power and a $10 million budget. Judge also states the charges looks like they are just trying to flip manafort to the point of making up false claims to try to save himself. He then questions whether they have blown through the whole budget yet, which special counsel attorney declined to even answer.
--
The prosecution told the judge that some of the scope of its powers, which date back to August 2017, cannot be released because of national security.

The judge offered a scathing response, characterizing their position as: 'We said this was what [the] investigation was about, but we are not bound by it and we were lying.'

--


yeah, the judge is literally mocking the special counsel, but nah its not a smack down ;)
 

mr2xxx

Banned
How is it not?


A federal judge states there seems to be no link between manafort and the "collusion" case he special counsel is investigating, he also questions the wisdom of giving any one person or group that was not elected, unfettered power and a $10 million budget. Judge also states the charges looks like they are just trying to flip manafort to the point of making up false claims to try to save himself. He then questions whether they have blown through the whole budget yet, which special counsel attorney declined to even answer.
--
The prosecution told the judge that some of the scope of its powers, which date back to August 2017, cannot be released because of national security.

The judge offered a scathing response, characterizing their position as: 'We said this was what [the] investigation was about, but we are not bound by it and we were lying.'

--


yeah, the judge is literally mocking the special counsel, but nah its not a smack down ;)

So a judge made statements about a case where the evidence hasn’t all been presented yet and to you that is smack down. The judge is saying that Mueller will get Manafort to sing due to the pressure that Mueller is applying and there is nothing illegal that he is doing, but that’s a smack down on Mueller. We will have to agree to disagree here on this “smack down” 😉
 
So a judge made statements about a case where the evidence hasn’t all been presented yet and to you that is smack down. The judge is saying that Mueller will get Manafort to sing due to the pressure that Mueller is applying and there is nothing illegal that he is doing, but that’s a smack down on Mueller. We will have to agree to disagree here on this “smack down” 😉

Except if the Manafort investigation is outside of the scope of Mueller's authorization, as the judge believes it is, then Mueller has broken the law.
 

mr2xxx

Banned
Except if the Manafort investigation is outside of the scope of Mueller's authorization, as the judge believes it is, then Mueller has broken the law.
The authorization Mueller has is pretty broad, he’s good. Even the judge said “Mueller should not have "unfettered power", which means he has the power 💪. Nothing the judge can do about that, he can complain but he is beholden to the law and has to accept Mueller has that power. Manafort isn’t going to be walking away a freeman.
 
The authorization Mueller has is pretty broad, he’s good. Even the judge said “Mueller should not have "unfettered power", which means he has the power 💪. Nothing the judge can do about that, he can complain but he is beholden to the law and has to accept Mueller has that power. Manafort isn’t going to be walking away a freeman.

Actually, Mueller is not allowed "unfettered power". He has no such legal position. No one in the US does. The judge is also above Mueller legally.

He has a scope, and that scope can be ruled to be illegal if it is too broad. Your argument is equivalent to saying a burglar is free to reburglarize a home he already hit, penalty free, because he already did it once.
 
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mr2xxx

Banned
Actually, Mueller is not allowed "unfettered power". He has no such legal position. No one in the US does. The judge is also above Mueller legally.

He has a scope, and that scope can be ruled to be illegal if it is too broad. Your argument is equivalent to saying a burglar is free to reburglarize a home he already hit, penalty free, because he already did it once.


Rosenstein gave Mueller broad authority not only to investigate "any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated" with the Trump campaign, but also to examine "any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation."

Mueller is well within his rights as special counsel to charge Manafort. Not much different than getting a mob boss in jail for tax evasion.
 
Rosenstein gave Mueller broad authority not only to investigate "any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated" with the Trump campaign, but also to examine "any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation."

Mueller is well within his rights as special counsel to charge Manafort. Not much different than getting a mob boss in jail for tax evasion.

The judge has the ability to rule that scope as illegal. Just because Rosenstein authorized it does not make it inherently legal.
 
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