by WorldTribune Staff, January 9, 2019
The attorney for a Russian firm charged in the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller said the judge in the case, via her defense of Mueller, is showing “at a minimum an appearance of bias or prejudice in favor of the government.”
Eric Dubelier, the attorney for Concord Management and Consulting, also said that the major media, specifically MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow, have “whipped” viewers into a frenzy over his team’s handling of the case, resulting in death threats against his co-counsel.
Mueller brought an indictment against Concord in February 2018 on charges of funding a trolling operation during the 2016 campaign that created false personas on Twitter, Facebook and other social media.
On Jan. 4, Dubelier filed a brief suggesting Mueller’s team obtained evidence unethically.
On Jan. 7, U.S. District Court Judge Dabney Friedrich came to Mueller’s defense.
“Mr. Dubelier, I will tell you now that I found your recent filings, particularly the reply brief that you filed on Friday, unprofessional, inappropriate, and ineffective,” Judge Friedrich told him.
Dubelier said: “It is clear that at each court appearance the government has been represented by ten or more lawyers and investigators working for the special counsel, the U.S. Department of Justice National Security Division, and the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. Each one of these individuals is an experienced attorney, perfectly capable of advocacy on behalf of the government. None of them, in pleadings or in court, have expressed any problems with the content or tone of Defendant’s filings other than vigorously opposing the relief sought. For a reason unknown to undersigned counsel, the Court [judge] took it upon itself to defend the special counsel, creating at a minimum an appearance of bias or prejudice in favor of the government.”
Dubelier said the major media have ignored his written arguments which have criticized the judge for approving Mueller’s attempts to hide evidence based on national security grounds.
The judge, he said, “did not consider the fact that while the mainstream media has largely ignored Defendant’s pending motions, when the word ‘Judge’ appears before a person’s name, this political adornment suggests to the public that there now is some higher level of wisdom than among the mere mortal lawyers in the case, and as such, every single mainstream media organization repeated the Court’s words as gospel. The direct consequence was swift and clear; that is, undersigned counsel have received overnight and continuing today a flow of hatred in the form of voicemail and electronic mail from self-proclaimed patriots containing threats, intimidation, and the desire that both undersigned counsel.”
Dubelier said that MSNBC’s Maddow, “unknown to undersigned counsel,” influenced viewers until they were “whipped into their frenzy” and made death threats against his co-counsel.
“So while counsel’s words used in advocacy can hurt, the words of a Judge can have devastating consequences,” Dubelier said.
He also said Judge Friedrich is putting the burden on him to show he is entitled to evidence.
“Unfortunately, it appears that the Court believes it is the burden of the Defendant to establish it is entitled to discovery as opposed to the burden of the Special Counsel to establish that Defendant is not entitled to discovery,” Dubelier said. “Given the fact that there is no case law to support the special counsel’s position in this case, Defendant remains perplexed by the Court’s statement, but will leave that argument for another day.”
Reports say that part of Judge Friedrich’s scolding of Dubelier arose from the defense attorney’s use in last week’s filing of a famous line from the 1978 comedy Animal House.
In referencing the movie, Dubelier had said: “The Special Counsel’s argument is reminiscent of Otter’s famous line, ‘Flounder, you can’t spend your whole life worrying about your mistakes! You f—ed up . . . you trusted us. Hey, make the best of it.’ ”
Friedrich told Dubelier she had read his latest filing and “you have made many inappropriate remarks.” She told him to “knock it off.”
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