Robert Mueller just got some very bad news.
Mueller was due in court to defend his office’s abuse of power in expanding his investigation beyond his mandate.
And after the judge delivered his remarks, all hell broke loose.
Federal Judge T.S. Ellis finally stood up to the special counsel.
Attorneys for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort had argued that the charges of bank fraud brought by Mueller—for acts that occurred years before Manafort joined the Trump campaign—were beyond the scope of Mueller’s mandate.
Mueller’s team tried to argue that since the payments involved a Ukrainian politician tied to Moscow, it fell under their umbrella for the Russia investigation.
Judge Ellis wasn’t buying it.
He hammered Mueller’s team for lying and pointed out that their only interest in charging Manafort was inducing him to flip on the President.
Ellis stated that Mueller and his team’s only interest was in prosecuting or impeaching the President.
CNN reports:
“A federal judge expressed deep skepticism Friday of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation in the bank fraud case against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, at one point saying he believes that Mueller’s motivation is to oust President Donald Trump from office.
Although Mueller’s authority has been tested in court before, Friday’s hearing was notable for District Judge T.S. Ellis’ decision to wade into the divisive political debate around the investigation.
“You don’t really care about Mr. Manafort’s bank fraud,” Ellis said to prosecutor Michael Dreeben, at times losing his temper. Ellis said prosecutors were interested in Manafort because of his potential to provide material that would lead to Trump’s “prosecution or impeachment.”
Prosecutors have not disclosed that they’re interested in having Manafort flip, but they have indicated that they continue to investigate him after his former deputy Rick Gates agreed to cooperate.
“That’s what you’re really interested in,” Ellis said, citing how prosecutors regularly turn cooperators in drug cases. He was appointed to the bench in Virginia by President Ronald Reagan in 1987.
Ellis repeated his suspicion that Mueller’s office was after Trump several times in the hourlong court hearing. He said he’ll make a decision at a later date about whether Manafort’s case can go forward.”
Judge Ellis later gave Mueller’s team two weeks to produce the unredacted scope memo – which deep state loyalist Rod Rosenstein has kept hidden from Congress – so he can determine if Mueller is misusing his authority.
Mueller is a zealot whose only mission is to overthrow the President of the United States.
He is subverting the rule of law and attacking America’s democratic foundation that the people get to choose their leaders.
Finally a judge stepped up to this abusive prosecution.
We will keep you up to date on any new developments in this story.
