DOJ moves to drop charges against Russians accused of funding troll farm

[Calista241]

Source: Axios

Justice Department prosecutors on Monday filed a motion to dismiss charges against the shell companies accused of financing the Internet Research Agency, a Russian troll farm that engaged in a social media disinformation scheme to interfere in the 2016 election.

The big picture: Prosecutors claim that the Russians were essentially able to evade accountability and punishment while taking advantage of the discovery process to potentially harm U.S. national security.

Context: The shell companies, Concord Management and Concord Consulting, were charged by special counsel Robert Mueller in 2018 along with 13 Russian individuals and the troll farm itself — known as the Internet Research Agency. The scheme, outlined in the 2018 indictment and again in the Mueller report, sought to sow political discord ahead of the 2016 election.

Details: The Concord companies sought to fight the indictment in court, unlike the other Russians charged by Mueller. In doing so, prosecutors say they were able to "obtain discovery" from the U.S. government regarding its efforts to "detect and deter foreign election interference" — while also ignoring court-issued subpoenas.

Read more: https://www.axios.com/justice-department-russian-trolls-internet-research-agency-9bf95c0d-2f6a-4377-84a5-c5f3eb8c4abb.html

[cstanleytech]

1. Anyone not surprised?

[Pentatonic]

11. No. It was foolish to charge them.

The DOJ never expected the defendants to hire US attorneys and demand discovery. When a corporation is charged with a crime, no human needs to appear.

Every attorney I’ve discussed the case with agreed that the DOJ got clowned by the Russians on this one. These were career prosecutors that didn’t think things through.

[padah513]

14. Foolish to charge them?

Really? Everybody in the country knew they weren't going to ever get the Russians to answer to the charges. This was symbolic more than anything. Foolish? SMH

[Lock him up.]

20. Symbolic it was, yes, but it did 'inform' those of us who didn't know

their existence (and what they did: Help elect the idiot criminal) before.

Of course nobody can realistically get them to pay for their meddling in jail, even after Putin himself admitted to it on video tape in Helsinki!

[lagomorph777]

22. Welcome to DU. In this country, the DOJ investigates and charges crimes, even by Putin's henchmen.

That is, until Putin's henchmen took over our government. You think it's OK to let Putin control our government?

[Hekate]

33. Welcome to DU, where we take a dim view of foreign interference in our elections

Enjoy your stay

[Evolve Dammit]

2. Bill Barr's DOJ. Undermine our democracy. It's fine, have at it. Traitor. Impeach the SOB.

[Progressive Jones]

24. Barr's name will go down in history, but it won't be good. Traitor's end for him. nt

[Evolve Dammit]

31. He has his vision and it is a Christo-fascist, non-inclusionary, entitled rich vision.

[Progressive Jones]

32. And that's a problem for the US. nt

[captain queeg]

3. While everyone is distracted...have to keep their priorities straight.

The Trump crew may need a safe haven to escape to.

[stillcool]

4. more nails in the coffin

[bluestarone]

5. We win in November then

REFILE! With Kamala Harris as AG!!!

[Alacritous Crier]

6. Aye. n-t

[in2herbs]

9. Kamala as VP. Pete Breha (???sp) for AG nt

[radical noodle]

19. Pete Breha?

Do you mean Mayor Pete? If so, he isn't an attorney so not the best pick for AG.

[in2herbs]

23. No. I meant former US atty Preet Bharara. Couldn't remember his name when posting. nt

[radical noodle]

26. Ah, the Pete confused me!

I agree. Preet would be a great AG. Also Sally Yates.

[in2herbs]

29. One could be AG the other could be in charge of all prosecutions related to Trump. nt

[radical noodle]

30. Truly, the second would be

a full-time job.

[Calista241]

13. They can't, the charges are going to be dismissed with prejudice. n/t

[Pentatonic]

15. You're not following what happened

Basically, because the Russians were charged with a crime, they had the right to see our top secret intelligence that might be used as evidence. The DOJ didn’t anticipate that the Russians would hire an attorney and demand to see it. Out of embarrassment the DOJ had to dismiss the charges.

It was quite dumb to file the case in the first place, and the DOJ will never do this again.

[yardwork]

21. "Quite dumb" is the kindest way to describe Bill Barr's leadership.

[TheFourthMind]

25. I speculate they had easier ways to see our top secret intelligence. n/t

[Mr. Ected]

7. Mueller must be rolling over in his grave

The grave I imagine him in. He's dead to me.

[Botany]

8. Someday i hope Trump and Barr wind up in Colorado's Supermax Federal Prison

Traitors

[Roy Rolling]

10. Four Words

Attorney General Kamala Harris.

[Nictuku]

12. I hope the judge in the case denies the request

[Igel]

18. Why?

Part of the problem is that the defendants have a right to discovery.

US government: We have a lot of information about what Russians have done. A lot of it's classified, but it's there. And if it goes unchallenged, you have to convict.


Defendants rush into the room: Hey, judge. We're the defendants' lawyers. Let's see it. We have a right to see the evidence against us--and to rummage to see if we can find evidence you have that exculpates us or shows that the evidence presented is inaccurate incomplete. And what we can see, we're free to dispute and give evidence over ourselves, naturally. (Plus we can share with the rest of the staffers back home in merry Moskva!)

US government, considering the difficulty of assessing Moscovite information, and the wisdom of letting the russkies see and evaluate the information that the DOJ has): Let's not be so hasty about sharing, boys. Judge, do us a solid and dismiss the case? Thank you.


It was obvious this was not going to go well when the DOJ was surprised at having lawyers show up for the defendants. They even tried to get the defendants' lawyers dismissed (and continue to do so, to be honest--no defendants' before the court, they win by default). The DOJ quickly went from, "Yes, your honor, we're ready and eager to prosecute this case" to "Disqualify them, pretty please?" to "Uh, can we have a few months to get ready?" The DOJ assumed there'd be no challenge and made no plans for the challenge. Sloppy and unprofessional. Seems amateurish. Or based on reasoning that seems oddly motivated.

The defendants played the prosecutors' game this time. It flipped from "charge, and claim victory when the defense doesn't bother to defend" to "defend, and claim victory when the prosecution doesn't prosecute."

[kimbutgar]

16. Wow hoping during chaos they can sneak this in

What a frickin traitor Barr is! I hope he burns in hell.

[turbinetree]

17. Bullshit.................and more bullshit......................this is not some smoke

and mirrors crime................................this was an attack on the very core of this republic.................and the head "guy" who likes to go to Federalist Society meetings wants to have this dismissed.......................

I really hope the judge says no.....................not today......................tomorrow......................fucking never...........

https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/4564492/united-states-v-concord-management-and-consulting-llc/

[mitch96]

27. NPR and Clarissa Ward CNN did an excellent job flushing out a russian troll farm in Ghana

It was made to look like a NGO but when you got into it the whole thing was about black lives matter. Funded by the IRA in russia, the internet research agency in St Pete. The head of the NGO was thought to be a South African but it turns out he was Nigerian that lived in Russia for 10 years. Most of the shit they were spewing was aimed at Africian Americans to mess up the vote. Facebook got involved and and Shut them down... Good show... Ward said this was the tip of the iceberg.
m
https://twitter.com/clarissaward?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor