I'm baaacckkk!
Okay, this judge is quite savvy and doesn't take counsel evading his questions lightly. Dreeben tried to tap dance around the "arose" part of the jurisdiction in Rosenstein's original appointment letter but the judge was having none of that. How can an investigation that preceded Mueller's appointment have "arose" from his subsequent investigation? Dreeben, "Huurrr, durrr." Judge asks him again. Dreeben, "Huurrr, duurrr." Judge asks a third time.
Then comes the legal equivalent from Dreeben of, "That's classified, I could tell you but then I'd have to kill you."
Judge takes umbrage at that, instructing Dreeben that District judges have clearance and he's currently handling a few espionage cases and he can see that information. There's a process and he can go through it if they insist.
When Judge Ellis begins questioning Manafort's attorney, Downing, he wants to know if the case can be simply given back to the EDVa to proceed and Downing accurately points out that the evidence amassed through the searches conducted under Mueller were done without legal authority and further convening a grand jury and signing the indictment was done without legal authority. IOW, there's nothing about the current indictment that
can be handed back to the EDVa.
That last part, the signing the indictment might go too far, in my view. Depends on whether the judge buys the argument that whatever defects in jurisdiction Mueller may have had at first were later remedied by the August 2, 2017 Memo. And that depends on what is in the redacted material in the memo. And it is a problematical question for jurisdiction in a now-you-have-it-now-you-don't situation. In my experience, any lapse in jurisdiction during protracted legal proceedings makes everything come to a screeching halt. Or should, anyway.
One thing I found amusing was Downing's (Manafort's lawyer) reveal that he worked at Justice for 15 years, 5 under Rosenstein who was a stickler about memos to the file during his time with him. Downing was suggesting that the August 2, 2017 memo was unlikely to be the only one. An invitation for the judge to ask to see additional material. Wish I were a fly on the wall in the courtroom to see how Dreeben reacted to that.
But Dreeben himself had opened the door on that score as we'll see below.
One thing is still very troubling to me and that is the Mueller team's assertion that the May 17, 2017 appointment letter (which is an order and required to be public) couldn't contain everything Mueller was being tasked with.
That just bugs the crap out of me because it is an assertion that Mueller was authorized to conduct a counter-intel investigation, or the appearance that he was. That is simply not within the purview of a Special Counsel. Period. Oh and consider the door open for the judge to inquire about these "interactions" between Mueller and Rosenstein on the subject of jurisdiction.
Judge was having none of that however:
The last thing that bothers me is that the indictment before this court is for actions going back to 2005, 2006 and that the EDVa had been investigating Manafort off and on since that time but he was never indicted. Isn't there some Statute of Limitations argument somewhere in there?
My .02.
