The longer Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of alleged Russian collusion in the 2016 presidential election drags out, the more favorable events appear to turn for President Donald Trump.
With the report this week that the FBI admitted it “failed to preserve” thousands of texts exchanged between anti-Trump FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, who were members of Mueller’s team, the president’s legal team could have the basis to file for a motion to dismiss, citing prosecutorial misconduct.
FBI ‘lost’ 5 months of texts between anti-Trump employees who worked on Robert Mueller probe https://t.co/P5TbNoDAM9 pic.twitter.com/tM3xqVW1JK
— Conservative News (@BIZPACReview) January 22, 2018
That’s according to Law & Crime, which said the 5 months of text messages that were released are enough to support existing concerns among Trump supporters that the Mueller investigation is “a politically-motivated scheme.”
The text messages between Strzok and Page, who were having an extramarital affair, suggested that former Attorney General Loretta Lynch knew there’d be no charges filed against Clinton before the investigation into her use of a private server ended and spoke of “pressure” to wrap up the probe after Trump secured the GOP nomination.
Lynch knew no charges would be brought against Hillary; see FBI agents explosive mocking texts https://t.co/aMNXp4czmK pic.twitter.com/04w4GDAu92
— Conservative News (@BIZPACReview) January 22, 2018
Their exchanges “showed a potential Justice Department bias towards Hillary Clinton,” Law & Crime noted.
A reality that will not escape President Trump’s lawyers.
“The fact that now nearly half a year’s worth of text messages between Strzok and Page during the time leading up to Robert Mueller‘s appointment as Special Counsel weren’t preserved by the Justice Department will surely fuel motions from Team Trump’s lawyers against the investigation,” wrote Rachel Stockman and Ronn Blitzer.
They said former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, who sued the DOJ after being indicted by Mueller, will “jump all over this.”
Strzok headed up the Manafort investigation before being dismissed from the Mueller team, according to the legal news site.
“Throw in this evidence that the investigation may have been tainted before Mueller even took over,” Stockman and Blitzer said, “and that the DOJ could be covering up damaging information, and a motion to dismiss alleging prosecutorial misconduct is a near certainty.”
Although, getting the entire indictment dismissed would be difficult.
“Though it doesn’t look good and will only further embolden conspiracy theorists I don’t see how this could be used to attack any charges already filed or future charges,” former federal prosecutor Henry E. Hockeimer told Law&Crime.
“A judge will focus on whether clear evidence supports the charges in response to a motion to dismiss.
Via BizPAC
