Mueller braces for challenges to his authority
Source: Politico
The special counsel has won some early court victories in the Russia investigation, but with charges filed defense attorneys and others are lining up to rein in the probe.
By DARREN SAMUELSOHN and JOSH GERSTEIN 11/04/2017 07:14 AM EDT
Robert Mueller is on an early winning streak.
Stacked with some of the country’s premier prosecutors, the special counsel has beaten back a pair of preliminary attempts to block his subpoena power and limit who he can question as a potential witness. In July, Mueller’s team also managed to win approval to execute a no-knock search warrant—unusual in a white-collar case. But as the criminal case against former Donald Trump campaign officials Paul Manafort and Rick Gates speeds toward a possible spring 2018 trial, Mueller’s team is bracing for an array of challenges to its authority.
The battle lines are already taking shape.
Kevin Downing, Manafort’s lead attorney, submitted a document Friday indicating that he anticipates filing pre-trial motions that question “the legal basis for and sufficiency of the charges, the suppression of evidence improperly obtained by search warrant, subpoena or otherwise.” Downing also said he may try to prevent Mueller’s prosecutors from presenting some of their evidence during the criminal trial.
Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/04/mueller-russia-probe-challenges-244538
Trump attorney: We’ll challenge Mueller if he investigates old real estate deals
BY JOHN BOWDEN - 11/04/17 12:01 PM EDT
An attorney representing President Trump in the ongoing special counsel investigation into whether his campaign colluded with Russia said in an interview published Saturday that his team would challenge Robert Mueller if the probe began looking at Trump's former business deals.
Politico reported Saturday that Jay Sekulow, a conservative attorney who joined Trump's team in June, said that Trump's attorneys are ready to challenge the legality of Mueller's actions if he detours into anything they consider "outside the scope" of the inquiry, such as looking at old real estate deals the president might have been involved in through his Trump Organization.
“We’d view that as outside the scope of legitimate inquiry,” Sekulow said. “We’d raise it.”
Trump himself has said that any investigation of his personal finances by Mueller would be out-of-bounds.
more
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/358766-trump-attorney-well-challenge-mueller-if-he-investigates-old-real
= new reply since forum marked as read
...but you're probably right about the Supreme Court. If the lawyers can find a way to drag it there, they'll probably get a favorable ruling.
However they can only get there through the appeals process, which means they have to go to trial first. There's no way to avoid going to court. Meanwhile Mueller's got other irons in the fire. This is going to take years.
