Judge signals interest in removing Mueller report redactions
Source: Politico
‘That’s what open government is all about,’ Judge Reggie Walton said during court arguments over a FOIA lawsuit against the Justice Department.
By DARREN SAMUELSOHN 08/05/2019 02:51 PM EDT
A federal judge signaled Monday he’s considering removing the Mueller report’s redactions.
During more than two hours of oral arguments in Washington, District Judge Reggie Walton appeared on several occasions to side with attorneys for BuzzFeed and the nonprofit Electronic Privacy Information Center, which are seeking to remove the black bars covering nearly 1,000 items in former special counsel Robert Mueller’s final 448-page final report.
Walton didn’t issue an opinion from the bench on the case, which centers on a pair of consolidated lawsuits filed against the Justice Department under the Freedom of Information Act. But the judge, an appointee of President George W. Bush, sounded increasingly skeptical of the government's arguments pressing him to leave the redactions untouched.
“That’s what open government is about,” Walton said during one exchange, citing the resolution of a 2008 sex crimes case against financier Jeffrey Epstein as an example of how obfuscating the reasons behind not prosecuting high-profile people generates public distrust in the country’s criminal justice system.
Indeed, EPIC and BuzzFeed filed their lawsuit in order to uncover such information — the redacted explanation of why the special counsel didn’t bring charges against the likes of Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner. And in court Monday, their attorneys argued that disclosing these details would help resolve whether the president is right to claim the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election was a “witch hunt.”............................
Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/05/judge-signals-interest-in-removing-mueller-report-redactions-1448331
If he leaves just a bit, I hope there is a fight to release all.
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PalominoWolf
@KingVolfe
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17m
Replying to
@Amy_Siskind
The case would be appealed, but what would stop someone from releasing the report to the press in the milliseconds between judgement and appeal?
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Mordecai Boone
@MordecaiBoone
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11m
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@Amy_Siskind
and
@JoyAnnReid
Your honor: your country implores you.
D Ram
@yourdrtab
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6m
Replying to
@Amy_Siskind
and
@JoyAnnReid
Bless God for honest judges....why are Barr and Trump afraid of transparency
JosephMoore
@JosephMoore2100
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21m
Replying to
@Amy_Siskind
Good, release it all. The American people deserve to know all the facts.
= new reply since forum marked as read
OH PLEASE 
How wonderful...
