When Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities for interference in the 2016 election, one company – Concord Management and Consulting – hired U.S. lawyers and decided to fight the charges.
Oligarch Yevgeniy Prigozhin, known as Putin's chef, controls Concord, and part of the strategy behind contesting the case is forcing the special counsel to show what evidence he's collected.
Concord's lawyers also sought to have the case dismissed on the grounds the special counsel overstepped his boundaries, but on Monday, a Trump-appointed federal judge ruled in the government's favor.
"By investigating and prosecuting Concord, the Special Counsel did not exceed his authority," [Judge Dabney] Friedrich wrote in her opinion.
She also rejected the company's argument that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, acting on behalf of Attorney General Jeff Sessions after his recusal, was out of bounds in bringing in Mueller to investigate the alleged Russian meddling.
Concord's lawyers, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday, had argued that Rosenstein violated the Appointments Clause of the US Constitution in hiring Mueller in May 2017. Friedrich ruled that US Supreme Court and circuit court rulings made clear Rosenstein did have statutory authority to bring in Mueller.
... Friedrich, who Trump appointed to the U.S. District Court of Washington D.C. last year, is the fourth judge to quash efforts to upend Mueller's legitimacy and cancel his investigation. Judges overseeing the two trials of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort -- D.C. judge Amy Berman Jackson and Eastern District of Virginia Judge T.S. Ellis -- rejected Manafort's bid to invalidate Mueller.
Earlier this month, the D.C. circuit's Chief Judge Beryl Howell issued a lengthy ruling rejecting similar legal arguments offered by Andrew Miller, a longtime associate of Trump confidant Roger Stone, who was attempting to beat back a subpoena to testify before Mueller's grand jury. Miller's lawyer, Paul Kamenar, told POLITICO on Monday morning that Miller still intends to appeal the decision. Last week, Miller was held in contempt of court for again ignoring the grand jury subpoena, a move Kamenar said was necessary in order to pursue his appeal.
(...)
Friedrich agreed that the regulations governing Mueller's probe are ambiguous enough to grant him some sweeping authority, but she found one fatal flaw in the argument: Justice Department leaders may rescind the special counsel regulations at any time. If Attorney General Jeff Sessions or Rosenstein decide to exert more control over Mueller, they can simply rewrite the rules, she noted.
"As a result, the special counsel is effectively removable at will," Friedrich write.
Trump-appointed judge upholds Mueller's legitimacy (Politico)