Prosecutor Jeannie Rhee and defense attorney Eric Dubelier squared off in U.S. District Court in DC Wednesday as the two sides reportedly engaged in a heated exchange over discovery in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's case against Concord Management and Consulting.
Russian oligarch Yevgeniy Prigozhin, nicknamed Putin's chef, owns Concord, one of three Russian entities and 13 Russian nationals Mueller indicted for election meddling.
Prigozhin hired an American law firm to represent his company and does not have to appear in person.
Concord Management, which is based in St. Petersburg, Russia, appears to have little to lose but its legal fees. Prosecutors have suggested in court filings that the company’s decision to appear may have been a gambit to obtain details on the U.S. government’s investigation.
CNN:
The hearing was the first time both sides have appeared before US District Judge Dabney Friedrich, who will oversee the case as it progresses to trial. Concord Management, accused of funding a Russian effort to influence American voters over social media, pleaded not guilty before a magistrate judge last week to a conspiracy charge.
The fireworks at Wednesday’s hearing came after one of those defense lawyers, Eric Dubelier, complained to Friedrich that the government hadn’t responded to or even acknowledged more than 70 discovery requests he made last month. Instead, prosecutors have offered a massive quantity of social media data from accounts that were allegedly set up under fake identities for the purpose of influencing American politics.
“We had a very brief call on Friday initiated by the government,” Dubelier said. He said prosecutors told him much of the information was in Russian, but they had no translations. “I said, ‘How do you know what’s in it?’”
“I anticipate we are going to get this massive dump of social media accounts in Russian. This is an American court,” the defense attorney added. “That’s not what we’ve asked for. What I’d like to get is information that actually helps us defend our client.”
Prosecutor Jeannie Rhee disputed that prosecutors were being recalcitrant.
“We’ll get to what they asked for. … It is not a ‘data dump,’ Your Honor,” Rhee said. She said the social media accounts in question were a key part of the effort to interfere in the 2016 election.
“That it’s so voluminous just underscores the vastness of the offense conduct in this case,” the prosecutor said.
CNN:
The special counsel's office collected about 1.5 to 2 terabytes of social media data, largely in Russian, related to the indicted Russian individuals and companies' use of social media to influence the 2016 presidential election, ...
A terabyte is equivalent to 1 trillion bytes, and in this case represents hundreds of social media accounts.
(...)
In the hearing Wednesday, Rhee said the special counsel would seek a protective order barring wider dissemination of data the defendants will receive in the case.
She said lawyers hadn't been able to discuss that request before the hearing, because Dubelier had hung up on her team 9 minutes into a call they had last Friday, which was scheduled to last an hour. Dubelier said he "resents" Rhee's representation of the call.
That last disagreement led to Dubelier’s accusation that Rhee [sic] was “demonstrably false” and that he “resented the implication” before cursing loudly after speaking with Rhee once the hearing had ended.
Friedrich directed both sides to meet to settle differences and report back June 15.
Lawyers spar at hearing on Russian troll farm case (Politico)
Russian firm tied to Putin ally, charged in 2016 trolling campaign, clashes with Mueller probe (WaPo)