Judge Dismisses Legal Bid For Mueller Leak Probe
Source: Newsweek Magazine
FBI AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT MUST INVESTIGATE MUELLER LEAKS, CONSERVATIVE GROUP SAID, BUT JUDGE DISAGREED
BY JOSH SAUL ON 12/21/17 AT 1:26 PM
A federal judge won't order the Justice Department and FBI to investigate leaks from the ongoing special counsel's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, dismissing a lawsuit by a conservative advocacy group on Wednesday.
The suit, filed by Freedom Watch last month, demanded that the court order government officials to fulfill their duties because of "a persistent torrent of leaks from Robert Mueller's probe.
Considering their nature, it is clear that the majority of these leaks are coming from Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his staff, most of whom are suffering from serious conflicts of interest," the suit argued.
The lawsuit gave many examples of news stories that purportedly describe the inner workings of the Mueller investigation. The examples provided evidence that leaks must be coming from Mueller and his staff.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson didnt buy that argument.
The problem in this case is that even if the allegations in the complaint concerning bias or wrongdoing on the part of the special counsel are accepted as true, Freedom Watch didnt make a case that that wrongdoing hurt its legally protected interests, Berman wrote.
Freedom Watch was founded by Larry Klayman, who also founded Judicial Watch, which uses open records and freedom of information laws to uncover alleged government misconduct and corruption, according to its website. Klayman filed many lawsuits against Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, Vice President Dick Cheney, OPEC and Facebook and has been called a legal gadfly, but has also won important legal victories like a 2013 decision that said the National Security Administration likely violated the constitution by keeping records of Americans phone calls.
Link to tweet
The Freedom Watch focus on Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who is named as the first defendant in the suit, is almost ironic given that Sessions came out so strongly against leaks earlier in the yearthough his focus was on leaks about President Donald Trump.
First, let me say I strongly agree with the President and condemn in the strongest terms the staggering number of leaks undermining the ability of our government to protect this country, Sessions said in an August speech. He also announced that the Justice Department tripled the number of active leak investigations compared with the number the Obama administration had pending when it left office.
This nation must end the culture of leaks . We will investigate and seek to bring criminals to justice. We will not allow rogue anonymous sources with security clearances to sell out our country any longer.
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Read more: Link to source
Full article posted with the permission of Newsweek. -- Don
turbinetree
(24,720 posts)Jeff Sessions and his talkathon with a known Russian Spy, three times last time I checked, and once or twice at the republican convention---------------------
How about this "guy", he's a real piece of work: Dana Rohrabacher.............
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-russia-rohrabacher-subcommittee-20171026-story.html
Then you have this dairy farmer...............Kevin Nunes:
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/20/house-republicans-quietly-investigate-doj-fbi-310121
But then you have this from Kevin McCarthy and then the head cheese from Wisconsin:
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/paul-ryan-keeps-it-family-kevin-mccarthy-russia-trump
So Mr. Klayman, do you think that there just might be a fucking conspiracy going on here?
And we haven't even gotten to the accused sexual predators team............ this just a opinion
Gothmog
(145,554 posts)EricMaundry
(1,619 posts)marble falls
(57,204 posts)unscheduled stops.
wallyworld2
(375 posts)That's all they are, tea baggers supported by kocks and the wealthy