By Sheetal Sukhija, International Technology
14 Aug 2018, 05:46 GMT+10
WASHINGTON, U.S. - A federal district judge on Monday, backed Special Counsel Robert Mueller in the federal Russia investigation, uploading not only Muellers appointment but also his constitutional authority in a case against a Russian company.
The Russian company, Concord Management and Consulting LLC has been accused of helping fund a propaganda operation to sway the 2016 U.S. presidential election in the favor or then-Republican candidate, Donald Trump.
Prosecutors have stated that Concord is controlled by a businessman Evgeny Prigozhin.
Prigozhin has been identified by the Russian media as being close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. officials have also stated that he has extensive ties to Russias military and political establishment.
As part of its investigation into the alleged criminal and espionage conspiracy to tamper with the 2016 U.S. election with the agenda to disparage the Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton and boost Trump - the special counsels office recently indicted Concord, along with two other entities and 13 Russian individuals.
On Monday, Judge Dabney Friedrich, who was one of the first judges to be placed into a federal court position by U.S. President Donald Trump, serves at the trial-court level in DC federal court.
Filing an opinion in the U.S. District court for the District of Columbia on Monday, Judge Friedrich wrote that Concord Management and Consulting could not have its case tossed on constitutional grounds.
Her opinion came after the Russian company filed an argument, claiming that Mueller was unlawfully appointed and lacked prosecutorial authority since he was not appointed by the President and confirmed by Congress.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, acting on behalf of Attorney General Jeff Sessions who recused from the 2016 election probe last year, had appointed Mueller to head the investigations.
Rosenstein has broad power as the acting head of the Justice Department for the election probe.
However, Concords lawyers had argued that Rosenstein violated the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution in hiring Mueller in May 2017.
On Monday, in her opinion filed in court, Judge Friedrich pointed out, "The appointment does not violate core separation-of-powers principles. Nor has the Special Counsel exceeded his authority under the appointment order by investigating and prosecuting Concord.
Further, the Judge also rejected the companys argument over Rosensteins decision to appoint Mueller and citing opinions by three other federal judges to back her decision, she ruled that U.S. Supreme Court and circuit court rulings made clear Rosenstein did have statutory authority to bring in Mueller.
She cited opinions by Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who oversees Paul Manafort's criminal foreign lobbying case; Judge T.S. Ellis, who oversees Manafort's financial fraud case; and DC District Court Chief Judge Beryl Howell.
Previously, all the three judges have denied requests to invalidate Mueller's authority.
Ever since allegations of meddling in the American Presidential elections were first made in 2016, Russia has denied any involvement.
Meanwhile, Trump, whose election campaign is being probed for alleged collusion with the Russians, has maintained that there was no collusion and has repeatedly attacked Muellers investigation, calling it a witch hunt.
Further, both Trump and his lawyers, Rudy Giuliani and Jay Sekulow, have claimed that Mueller's investigation violated the Constitution.
In a tweet early in June, Trump wrotethat Mueller's appointment was "totally UNCONSTITUTIONAL."
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