Reporters who had descended on a Manhattan courthouse on Friday grew frustrated as a “dramatic scene” unfolded which may or may not have something to do with special counsel Robert Mueller, according to BuzzFeed News.
The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit heard Friday morning arguments involving a grand jury matter that is currently sealed – a typical practice while cases are pending. The publicly available information on the case offer little clues as to what’s going on, as there are no description of the subject of the case, no information on the parties or their lawyers, and no public access to the documents.
The tight-lipped approach of Mueller and his team has led to rampant speculation and curiosity. In October, Politico reported that on the day a filing was due in the sealed grand jury case, a journalist overheard a man in the clerk’s office request a copy of the special counsel office’s latest sealed filing so that the man’s law firm could put together a response. Several hours later, a sealed response was filed in the grand jury case.
It was not confirmation that the sealed grand jury case was indeed related to Mueller’s investigation, but it was enough to make Friday’s arguments a must-attend event. –BuzzFeed
What makes this interesting is that the federal court in DC is where Mueller’s team has brought most of their cases – as there have been two other grand jury matters we know about in front of said court; one relates to Paul Manafort and the other is still pending in the DC Circuit involving former Roger Stone associate Andrew Miller.
Reporters began to gather more than an hour before arguments were scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m., however no members of Mueller’s team, anyone connected to the Russia investigation, or anyone from the Trump administration were spotted. After arguments began, reporters began to huddle outside the courtroom in the hopes of discovering more about the case.
The first case was argued. Then the second. Still nothing. At the end of arguments in the second case, court employees instructed everyone in the courtroom to leave. Court staff and security officials then cleared the entire floor, an unusual occurrence in the courthouse. Reporters scattered, staking out other hallways, stairwells, and exits. At one point at least 20 journalists roamed the courthouse building and its grounds.
After roughly an hour and a half, reporters were allowed back onto the floor, although the courtroom was locked and it wasn’t clear if arguments had ended. A little after noon, the courtroom deputy confirmed that the judges were, in fact, done hearing arguments for the day.
“I’m ready to go to sleep forever,” one reporter was heard saying as she boarded an elevator to leave. –BuzzFeed
In short – something apparently big happened today in a Manhattan court, which may or may not involve the special counsel’s investigation, and nobody knows anything about the case outside of public records showing that the sealed grand jury case was filed in August, made two trips to the DC circuit, lost one appeal – and a second appeal was heard by a three-judge panel on Friday.
Until we know more, this is much ado about nothing.
via RSS https://ift.tt/2QwUtnU Tyler Durden