Should Mueller Recuse Himself Due to His Prior Dealings with Russian Oligarch Oleg Deripaska?

Mueller previously, how do I say this?, colluded with the Russian oligarch, who may now be a witness in his prosecution of Paul Manafort.

New concerns have been raised regarding a possible conflict of interest in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia collusion probe, involving a Russian oligarch, the FBI, and its failed attempt to get him to assist in the investigation.

Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska is a name that pops up from time to time in the collusion narrative, though it has been conspicuously absent from Mueller’s indictments. Now, a new report published at The Hill by investigative reporter John Solomon could help explain why: Deripaska has a history of working with Mueller's FBI.

According to Solomon's sources, the Bureau in 2009 asked the oligarch to spend millions of his own dollars to fund an FBI-supervised operation to rescue retired FBI agent Robert Levinson, who was captured in Iran while working for the CIA in 2007. The sources include more than a dozen participants inside and outside the FBI, the Levinson family, a retired agent who supervised the case, Deripaska's lawyer, and Deripaska himself.

Alan Derschowitz questions not only Mueller's conflict of interest, but asks the question: If Paul Manafort was indicted for colluding with Deripaska, why was Deripaska himself left out of the indictment? That seems like on-its-face evidence that Mueller's judgment is compromised when it comes to his old Russian gangster/oligarch pal.

Is the FBI now just the Best Friends Club with Guns?

posted by Ace of Spades at 02:28 PM

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