The Executive Suite: Lawsuit alleges leaks, conflicts of interests in Russia investigation

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Lawsuit alleges leaks, conflicts of interests in Russia investigation

Monday that they have filed a lawsuit [complaint, PDF] seeking the removal of Robert Mueller as head of the investigation into Russian collusion in the 2016 election. The complaint alleges that the former FBI director has "failed to carry out his oath of office, and fulfill his duties."

The complaint says the special counsel's conflicts of interests have led to leaks, citing articles from various media outlets which contained confidential information, including NBC, The Washington Post, The New York TImes and Reuters.

According to the complaint:
Mr. Mueller and his team are clearly leaking confidential information regarding their criminal investigation to media outlets and the public, as there is no other possible source of the information that has been revealed to the public, through friendly media outlets.Freedom Watch alleges that these leaks are a product of numerous conflicts of interest, including Mueller's relationship with "close friend" former FBI Director James Comey, a 2009 trip to Moscow Mueller took transporting enriched uranium samples, the involvement of recent Clinton Foundation attorney Jeannie Rhee and half of the investigating team's history of donating to the Democratic Party. Reviewing these alleged conflicts, the complaint concludes that "Mr. Mueller cannot offer public confidence in the investigation having personally worked with Russia on such high level issues."

Additionally, the complaint accuses the investigation of "jury shopping." After selecting one grand jury from Virginia, the Special Counsel selected another from Washington, DC. Freedom Watch says that this is because Donald Trump received only 4.1 percent of the vote in DC.