One of the last gasp legal plays for Trump and his allies to close down the Mueller investigation has lost in court.
Roger Stone associate Andrew Miller will have to testify to a grand jury in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation or will go to jail, a three-judge panel at the DC Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday morning, in an endorsement of Mueller’s authority as a prosecutor.
The court agreed with a trial-level judge’s ruling that Miller should be held in contempt of court and jailed for refusing to testify under a grand jury subpoena from Mueller.
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The appeals court said that Mueller was legally appointed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein as special counsel in May 2017. Mueller has conducted a grand jury investigation that is within his legal authority, the court wrote in its opinion.
Read the appeals court ruling:
[pdf-embedder url=”https://www.politicususa.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/18-3052.pdf”]
Trump and His Pals Are Running Out Of Options
For all the talk of the Mueller investigation wrapping up, it is clear that the special counsel still has a lot of ground to cover. Trump and his friends are using every legal avenue that they can come up with to try to escape justice. There was nothing wrong with Mueller’s appointment, or the scope of his investigation.
Despite Trump howls of “witch hunt” on Twitter, there is no indication that Robert Mueller has gone beyond the scope of his investigation.
The walls are closing in, and the talk of Mueller being done with his investigation is increasingly sounding like wishful thinking from Trump and his associates.
Mueller got legal validation for his investigation, and in the process dealt a blow to the Trump claims that the probe is illegal.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
