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In reply to the discussion: Treasonous: Barr's letting the 13 Russian nationals & 3 Russian entities Mueller charged just WALK! [View all]Igel
(35,296 posts)The tweet doesn't bother with it because reasons don't matter in tweetland.
The Russian side was untouchable. If they were convicted, yippee. They wouldn't be able to come to the US. And some people get bragging rights. US subpoenas documents? Sorry, not in the country.0
The US side was touchable. The Russian side, as part of its defense, requested documents and information. The government could turn it over--revealing more information than it wanted--or it could say, "Sorry, you can't see the evidence against you, you have no right to confront your accusers." That makes most reasonable people uncomfortable. Or the US could say it didn't have the information--either perjury or admitting incompetence.
While the US would seek to limit the harm, the problem is that the US doesn't know what Russia knows, and that makes it difficult to say what would provide useful information to them.
This is the same case where to all appearances Mueller's team believed there'd be no actual trial. When the Russian lawyers came along, the US side did everything possible to get them disqualified so there'd be no defendants represented, just accused. When the lawyers were accepted by the court, the Mueller team immediately had to file for a delay because, in spite of having the Russians' lawyers show up and the time taken before they are deemed the defendants' lawyers, the US side still wasn't ready to prosecute.
This case is like a teddy bear cholla.