Department of Justice lawyers defend Mueller's ability to investigate Trump when Roger Stone is filed



[ad_1]

The dispute took place amid a series of filings Friday night in the Stone case, in which prosecutors rebuffed Trump's legal attacks against Mueller and the criminal charges he faces. Stone pleaded not guilty to the charges against him and asked the court to dismiss them.

"While the Department of Justice is of the opinion that" the indictment or criminal prosecution of an incumbent president would unacceptably undermine the ability of the executive to acquit functions assigned to him by the Constitution ", he also believes that a criminal investigation under his mandate is allowed," wrote the prosecutors.

If the constitution "prevented any investigation of a president or his campaign while he was in office, the government could not keep any evidence while new memories were available and documents were available. more than the government can investigate the president of alleged wrongdoing. "

In another case filed on Friday, Justice Department lawyers argued that Mueller did not need to bring an underlying conspiracy case to sue Stone for lying to Congress and filibustering. This is an argument on which the White House and Barr have also focused on whether a case of impediment could be brought against the president.

Mueller has gathered evidence regarding possible cases of obstruction of justice against the President at several points in his term of office, without however making a decision as to the charge. Instead, Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein decided not to sue Trump, citing at the outset, among other things, the absence of an underlying conspiracy crime between the campaign of Trump and the Russian government in 2016, which Stone repeated.

Stone also claimed that his criminal charges should be brought before a different judge because they had little to do with a case that Mueller had brought against several Russians who allegedly hacked into the Democratic National Committee. These Russians, who are intelligence agents of the army, did not appear in US court or were apprehended.

Her case is currently before Federal Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington, who also directed the criminal case against former Trump campaign president Paul Manafort, who is now in jail.

Washington-based prosecutors of the Justice Department – who took over from the Mueller case in the Stone case – said Stone's charges stemmed from a joint investigation using similar search warrants. He would have lied to Congress.

"The accused's misrepresentation was made before a congressional committee charged with investigating the alleged alleged behavior in Netyksho," prosecutors said, referring to a case against Viktor Borisovich Netyksho, l & # 39, Russian intelligence officer allegedly responsible for piracy. surgery.

"In addition, the defendant's misrepresentations to the committee concerned issues raised in the Netyksho indictment," prosecutors wrote Friday. "The defendant's argument that this case should now be reassigned (to another judge) on the basis of the special counsel's report is inconsistent with the plain text of the rule, which does not require that the activities that overlap is criminal or that the accused are charged with the related activities. "

In another case, the Department of Justice explained to a federal court why Stone should not have access to the unredacted Mueller report while he was preparing for his trial.

The Department of Justice had previously told the judge, at a hearing, that he would take this position.

Prosecutors said the unexpurgated report was not evidence in Stone's case – and they are already providing his legal team with all the evidence he needs.

"Stone is no more entitled to the unexpurgated report than it would to a lawsuit report or a declassification statement, which are exempt from discovery," wrote the prosecutor in a new folder.

Stone's attempt to obtain Mueller's un-drafted report is one of the many claims that federal courts are currently considering.

CNN's Sara Murray contributed to this report.

[ad_2]

Source link