Judge Rebukes Mueller for Falsely Alleging Evidence of Russian Government Involvement In Hack; Muller's Own Prosecutor Admits No Evidence
Mueller Testimony to House Postponed

Gee, I wonder if these things are related. I wonder if Mueller needs time to, um, recalibrate his claims.

So Mueller's testimony has been delayed a week.

Former special counsel Robert Mueller’s highly-anticipated Capitol Hill testimony will be delayed one week under a tentative arrangement he reached with House Democrats, according to multiple sources briefed on the discussions.

Although it’s unclear why Mueller's testimony was delayed until July 24, lawmakers familiar with the matter said one reason was an ongoing negotiation about how much time they would have to question the former special counsel.

It is possible that's part of the reason -- Nadler is trying to limit who can ask Meuller questions, and grandstanding Democrats aren't happy that they won't get TV Time.

But I think it might also have to do with Mueller and Nadler gaming out Mueller's answers to Republican questions about why Mueller insinuated evidence of a Russian government connection to the DNC hack, but then, when rebuked by a judge for insinuating it without providing evidence of it, had to claim they never claimed it at all.

See below.

Now that a judge has rebuked Mueller for claiming this, one of Mueller's prosecutors comes before the judge and says that the Mueller team never claimed evidence of a Russian government connection:

The Federalist's Adam Mill has an article about this admission:

A newly released transcript reveals details of a humiliating hearing that took place the day before Mueller’s puzzling press conference. The judge asked the prosecutor, “Can you address also the specific tie to the Russian government, which is the overarching comment that the attorney general made tying both this case and then the case involving the hacking and the release of the e-mails, the GRU case, to the Russian government?”

Buckle up, buttercup, because you’re not going to believe DOJ’s response: “The report doesn’t say that.” What? I thought we “knew” that the Russian government committed an act of war by posting politically charged information on the internet. Now the DOJ is backing away from any tie between the internet troll farm and the Russian government?

The DOJ has now admitted that the Mueller report “itself does not state anywhere that the Russian government was behind the Internet Research Agency [and Concord] activity.” Whoa. The judge then asked, “So it is the government’s position that tying Concord and its co-defendants to the Russian government is not prejudicial?”

In the subsequent order, Judge Freidrich wrote: “On May 29, 2019, following the Court’s hearing, the Special Counsel held a press conference…[in which he] carefully distinguished between the efforts by ‘Russian intelligence officers who were part of the Russian military’ and the efforts of” Concord. This, the Judge found, made the criminal contempt proceedings she contemplated against Mueller’s team “unnecessary and excessive under the circumstances.”

A narrow escape it was indeed. Freidrich found that both the release of the Mueller report and Barr’s statements boosting the report violated DC Rule 57.7 prohibiting lawyers from trying cases in the press. Judge Freidrich rejected the government’s argument that the Mueller report did not smear Concord with unproven links to the Russian government.

Mate's taking a victory lap:

To be honest, I'm feeling that Robert Mueller is a tired old man who was really only the face of this operation. I get the sense that Weissman is the main operator.

Mate's report for Real Clear Investigations was highly recommended to me, but I never read it. I'll correct that this weekend. Here's the link.

posted by Ace of Spades at 01:48 PM

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