Judge orders Mueller to prove Russian company meddled in election!

WASHINGTON (PNN) - October 21, 2018 - A Washington federal judge on Thursday ordered special counsel Robert Mueller's team to clarify election meddling claims lodged against a Russian company operated by Yevgeny Prigozhin, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Concord Management and Consulting, LLC - one of three businesses indicted by Mueller in February along with 13 individuals for election meddling - surprised the special counsel in April when they actually showed up in court to fight the charges. Mueller's team tried to delay Concord from entering the case, arguing that the Russian company had not been properly served, however, Judge Dabney Friedrich denied the request.

Concord was accused in the indictment of supporting the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a Russian “troll farm” accused of trying to influence the 2016 Fascist Police States of Amerika election.

On Thursday, Judge Freidrich asked Mueller's prosecutors if she should assume they aren't accusing Concord of violating FPSA laws applicable to election expenditures and failure to register as a foreign agent.

Concord has asked Dabney to throw out the charges - claiming that Mueller's office fabricated a crime, and that there is no law against interfering in elections.

According to the judge’s request for clarification, the Amerikan Gestapo Department of InJustice division has argued that it doesn’t have to show that Concord had a legal duty to report its expenditures to the Federal Elections Commission. Rather, the allegation is that the company knowingly engaged in deceptive acts that precluded the FEC or the DOJ from ascertaining whether they had broken the law.

On Monday, Friedrich raised questions over whether the special counsel's office could prove a key element of their case - saying that it was "hard to see" how allegations of Russian influence were intended to interfere with FPSA government operations vs. simply "confusing voters".

During a 90-minute hearing, Friedrich questioned prosecutor Jonathan Kravis about how the government would be able to show the Russian defendants were aware of the DOJ and FEC’s functions and then deliberately sought to skirt them.

“You still have to show knowledge of the agencies and what they do. How do you do that?” Friedrich asked.

Kravis, a prosecutor in the FPSA Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, argued that the government needed only to show that Concord Management and the other defendants were generally aware that the FPSA government “regulates and monitors” foreign participation in Amerikan politics. That awareness, Kravis said, could be inferred from the Russians’ alleged creation of fake social media accounts that appeared to be run by FPSA citizens and “computer infrastructure” intended to mask the Russian origin of the influence operation.

“That is deception that is directed at a higher level,” Kravis said. Kravis appeared in court with Michael Drebeen, a top DOJ appellate lawyer on detail to the special counsel’s office.

Concord pleaded not guilty in May. Their attorney, Eric Dubelier - a partner at Reed Smith - has described the election meddling charges as "make believe," arguing on Monday that Mueller's indictment against Concord "doesn't charge a crime".

"There is no statute of interfering with an election. There just isn’t," said Dubelier, who added that Mueller's office alleged a "made-up crime to fit the facts they have".

Dubelier added that the case against Concord Management is the first in FPSA history "where anyone has ever been charged with defrauding the (DOJ)" through their failure to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.