Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team asked Judge Ellis Thursday to keep the transcript of a sidebar conversation under wraps so as not to reveal important information in an ongoing investigation, and the judge has agreed to grant the request.
The conversation concerned whether investigators had questioned Rick Gates, the government’s star witness and Mr. Manafort’s longtime deputy, about the Trump campaign.
Prosecutors argued that they needed to protect the secrecy of their inquiry — though they did not specify the Russia investigation — and limit the “disclosure of new information.” The judge, T. S. Ellis III, ruled in their favor.
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On Tuesday, one of Mr. Manafort’s lawyers asked Mr. Gates, who pleaded guilty this year to two felony charges and has since been cooperating with prosecutors, whether he had been “interviewed by other members of the Office of Special Counsel about the Trump campaign.”
When Mr. Gates answered yes, the lawyer, Kevin Downing, continued: “And were you interviewed on several occasions about your time at the Trump campaign?”
Prosecutors then objected, and Judge Ellis called both sides to the bench to discuss the line of questioning out of the jury’s hearing.
In their motion, prosecutors argued that disclosing what was said would “reveal substantive evidence pertaining to an ongoing investigation.” They added, “Sealing will minimize any risk of prejudice from the disclosure of new information relating to that ongoing investigation.”
In his order, Judge Ellis agreed to seal those six pages of a 262-page transcript of the day’s proceedings “until the relevant aspect of the investigation is revealed publicly, if that were to occur.”
Special Counsel Is Granted Request to Keep Inquiry Details Private (NYT)