As the investigation into the Trump campaign’s possible ties to Russia gains traction, special counsel Robert Mueller has begun quietly assembling a formidable team of top lawyers and investigators.
Mueller has so far hired 16 people and intends to bring on more, his spokesman Peter Carr told The New York Times.
Only a handful have been named publicly so far, but legal experts and fellow lawyers who have spoken to media in recent days lauded the new hires as a powerhouse team of experienced professionals with sterling credentials who rank among the best in their field.
Dreeben, the deputy solicitor general overseeing the Department of Justice’s criminal docket, is widely regarded as one of the top criminal law experts in the federal government. He will work for Mueller on the investigation part-time as he juggles the DOJ’s criminal appellate cases. Dreeben is best known for having argued more than 100 cases before the Supreme Court — a feat that fewer than 10 other attorneys have accomplished in the court’s history. Peers say his hiring reveals how seriously Mueller is taking the investigation, and how wide-ranging it ultimately could be. “That Mueller has sought his assistance attests both to the seriousness of his effort and the depth of the intellectual bench he is building,” Paul Rosenzweig, a former Homeland Security official and Whitewater investigator, wrote on the Lawfare blog. Preet Bharara, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York who was recently fired by Trump, called Dreeben one of the DOJ’s top legal and appellate minds in modern times
Weissmann joined Mueller’s team after taking a leave of absence from his current job leading the DOJ’s criminal fraud unit. He formerly served as general counsel to the FBI under Mueller’s leadership. Weissman also headed up the Enron Task Force between 2002 and 2005, for which he oversaw the prosecutions of 34 people connected to the collapsed energy company, including chairman Kenneth Lay and CEO Jeffrey Skilling. He spent 15 years as a federal prosecutor in the eastern district of New York, where he specialized in prosecuting mafia members and bosses from the Colombo, Gambino, and Genovese families. “As a fraud and foreign bribery expert, he knows how to follow the money. Who knows what they will find, but if there is something to be found, he will find it,” Emily Pierce, a former DOJ spokeswoman under the Obama administration, told Politico. Weissman is one of several attorneys in Mueller’s team that has donated to Democrats, although he does not appear to have donated in the 2016 election. He gave $2,300 to President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign, and $2,000 to the Democratic National Committee in 2006, according to CNN’s review of FEC records.
Rhee is one of several attorneys to resign from the WilmerHale law firm to join Mueller’s investigation. She also has two years of DOJ experience, serving as deputy assistant attorney general under former Attorney General Eric Holder. She advised Holder and Obama administration officials on criminal law issues, as well as criminal procedure and executive issues, according to her biography on WilmerHale’s website. As many critics of Mueller’s investigation have pointed out, Rhee represented Hillary Clinton in a 2015 lawsuit that sought access to her private emails. She also represented the Clinton Foundation in a 2015 racketeering lawsuit. Rhee is also one of the members of Mueller’s team under scrutiny for her political donations, and has doled out more than $16,000 to Democrats since 2008, CNN reported. She maxed out her donations both in 2015 and 2016 to Clinton’s presidential campaign, giving a total of $5,400.
Quarles is another of Mueller’s former WilmerHale colleagues, who left the firm to join the special counsel investigation. Quarles is a well-respected, longtime litigator who served as an assistant special prosecutor in the Watergate investigation early in his career — experience that gives him a significant edge in the Trump-Russia probe, according to colleagues. “There is nothing comparable to the kind of pressure and obligation that this kind of job puts on your shoulders,” Richard Ben-Veniste, one of Watergate’s special prosecutors, told CNN. “Having been there before gives [Quarles] the confidence to know how to do it and how to do it right.” Quarles is also being scrutinized for donating almost $33,000 to politicians in past years. Although most of the donations went to Democrats — including Obama and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaigns — FEC records show he has also donated small amounts to Republicans such as Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz.
Zebley is a longtime FBI staffer who spent years in the counterterrorism division as a special agent before becoming the agency’s chief of staff under Mueller’s leadership. Between FBI stints, Zebley served as assistant US attorney in the national security and terrorism unit. He then moved to the DOJ’s national security division before eventually joining the WilmerHale firm in 2014. He, like Quarles and Rhee, left his job at the firm to work on Mueller’s investigation. Zebley’s early work at the FBI consisted of grueling, complicated investigations into terrorist groups like Al Qaeda — even before 9/11 propelled the organization into infamy. Yet in recent years at WilmerHale, his focus has turned to cybersecurity. A recent profile in Wired called Zebley a “dogged FBI agent turned prosecutor turned confidant,” noting that his tenacity, history of working alongside Mueller, and globetrotting, investigatory experience will be crucial assets moving into the Trump-Russia probe.
Greg Andres joined the all-star team on August 1, according to Reuters. Andres spent two years at the US Department of Justice from 2010-2012, and is now the 16th lawyer on Mueller’s roster. During his time at the Justice Department, Andres oversaw the fraud unit as deputy assistant attorney general and managed a program targeting illegal foreign bribery. He oversaw the prosecution of Robert Allen Stanford for operating an $8 billion Ponzi scheme. Most recently, Andres practices white-collar criminal defense with David Polk & Wardwell, a New York based law firm, Reuters reported. Before his stint in the DOJ, Andres spent a decade as a federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, and served as the chief of the US attorney office’s criminal division, Reuters reported. Andres helped bust members of the Bonnano organized crime family. One of the family members was accused of plotting to have him killed.
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About SouthernGirl2
A Native Texan who adores baby kittens, loves horses, rodeos, pomegranates, & collect Eagles.
Enjoys politics, games shows, & dancing to all types of music. Loves discussing and learning about different cultures.
A Phi Theta Kappa lifetime member with a passion for Social & Civil Justice.
Jeb Bush on Trump’s first 200 days: Feels like world has been ‘turned upside down’
08/08/17 04:06 PM EDT
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) on Tuesday said President Trump’s first 200 days in the White House makes it feel as if “the whole world’s been turned upside down.”
“It’s exhausting. I mean, it’s an incomplete grade in the sense that not much has been done,” Bush told Univision News about grading Trump’s first six months in office. “But it feels like the whole world’s been turned upside down.”
https://twitter.com/psddluva4evah/status/895049390586507266
https://twitter.com/KeithOlbermann/status/895051280892219392
Daniel GrossVerified account @grossdm
looking forward to next Politico piece: “After failing to avert thermonuclear war, Ivanka and Jared are moving on.”
https://twitter.com/shadowandact/status/894966638759510018
White House defends silence on mosque bombing, says it might have been faked by liberals
The White House will not officially comment on the bombing of a Minnesota mosque because it may be a hate crime faked by a liberal, according to Trump national security adviser Sebastian Gorka.
An as-of-yet unidentified individual threw a makeshift bomb through the window of a mosque in Minnesota Saturday, and Gorka was asked on MSNBC Monday if the White House will comment. Gorka said that the White House will “absolutely” comment once there is a finalized investigation into the incident.
“There’s a great rule: All initial reports are false,” Gorka said. “You have to check them and find out who the perpetrators are. We’ve had a series of crimes committed, alleged hate crimes by right wing individuals in the last six months that turned out to be prop propagated by the left. Let’s allow the local authorities to provide their assessment and then the White House will make its comments.”
https://twitter.com/deanbarker/status/894907886526230528
——————–
McConnell Slams Trump for ‘Excessive Expectations’
August 8, 2017 at 2:14 pm EDT
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) “offered some of his toughest criticism yet for President Donald Trump in a speech Monday,” CNN reports.
Said McConnell: “Our new president, of course, has not been in this line of work before. I think he had excessive expectations about how quickly things happen in the democratic process.”
He added: “Part of the reason I think people think we’re under-performing is because of too many artificial deadlines unrelated to the reality of the legislature which may have not been understood.”
http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/08/politics/mitch-mcconnell-excessive-expectations/index.html
Yeah, McConnell is an expert on the “democratic process”.
2018.
JESUS CHRIST! This imbecile here! What the hell have you done, America?
https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/895013204849336320
Hopeless. Utterly hopeless.
What is Trump up to w/ sending private appreciation messages to Robert Mueller after publicly calling the investigation a witch hunt? Is he trying to Comey him?
https://twitter.com/make5calls/status/895044857332461569
Glen Campbell, RIP.
🎶Like a rhinestone cowboy…riding out on a horse in a star-spangled rodeo🎶
RIP Glen Campbell
https://twitter.com/RVAwonk/status/894984706877521920
So wrong!
https://twitter.com/cjwerleman/status/894672077684260864
Those people need a huge dose of love and compassion!
Here are some good pins to counter them:
http://www.debbieschlussel.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/whitesagainstwhiteviolence.jpg
https://i1.imged.com/70-s-nazis-no-fun-rock-against-racism-civil-rights-political-pinback-button-pin.jpg
https://digital.library.yorku.ca/islandora/object/yul:248776/datastream/JPG/view
I dunno, Yahtzee. I think what they need is to hear a cell door slam behind them.
They can’t be saved. They aren’t worth the effort.
I actually meant that their hate needs to be wiped out and replaced with kindness so they will no longer be mean…not that they should be given compassion…I didn’t word my first comment clearly.
Hate crimes and violence need to be prosecuted!
https://image.spreadshirtmedia.com/image-server/v1/mp/compositions/P1013637381MPC1022412672/views/1,width=300,height=300,appearanceId=658,backgroundColor=E8E8E8,version=1479002342/protest-quote-love-stops-hate-t-shirts-vintage-sport-t-shirt.jpg
https://img1.etsystatic.com/147/0/7249228/il_340x270.1214080893_8ot6.jpg
Predators ALWAYS preying on black people….
https://twitter.com/rjoseph7777/status/894971804808118273
https://twitter.com/RawStory/status/894966829415878656
https://twitter.com/BSO/status/894606014405763072
The NFL owners believe they can blacklist Kaepernick, make an example of him, and never have to deal with this again. They believe the millions of dollars they pay to some players really should be enough to buy their silence on social justice issues that are offensive to their racist white fans. Apparently those are the only fans that matter.
But 70 percent of NFL players are black. And, the projected revenue for the 2017 season is 14 billion. So, it would appear that the NFL is making boatloads of money off those black players.
Maybe the NFL owners should stand up for them. Maybe they should try the f***ing high road just one time and see what it’s like.
NFL will reach $14 billion in 2017 revenue
Posted by Mike Florio on March 6, 2017, 11:29 AM EDT
Commissioner Roger Goodell said seven years ago that he’d like the NFL to reach $25 billion in annual revenue by 2027. The league is roughly on track to get there.
Daniel Kaplan of SportsBusiness Journal reports that the NFL expects to generate $14 billion in 2017. That’s a $6 billion increase from 2010, when the NFL racked up $8 billion.
This year’s increase, per Kaplan, came from the Thursday Night Football package and the opening of the new U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. The opening of the Falcons’ new stadium and the Chargers’ move to L.A. could contribute to future increases, culminating in what should be a major increase when the Chargers and Rams move into their new stadium in Inglewood.
Getting to $25 billion per year by 2027 remains a challenge, especially in light of the complexities of the next wave of TV deals and potential challenges to holding the domestic audience together and growing the sport internationally.
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2017/03/06/nfl-will-reach-14-billion-in-2017-revenue/
Elections have consequences….
But…he was gonna make America great again…LOL
Didn’t fool me, or millions like me, Boo. How come he ‘ fooled’ your neighbors…..
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/08/07/trump-tpp-deal-withdrawal-trade-effects-215459
FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS
Landlord troubles: rich San Franciscans in uproar after their private street is sold
Residents in the highly exclusive Presidio Terrace neighborhood got a surprise taste of the city’s infamous housing woes after a private road was sold at auction
https://twitter.com/NBCPolitics/status/894944181411614720
https://twitter.com/ErinBurnett/status/894729139810254849
https://twitter.com/LeslieProll/status/894711965767000064
The decimation of the DOJ is in progress. It is just a question of how far they get before we finally get rid of Trump and Sessions and perhaps Pence. Rebuilding is harder than tearing down.
https://twitter.com/GeorgeBearClaw/status/894951344670334976
In the words of Martha And The Vandellas “Nowhere to run to, baby, nowhere to hide. Got nowhere to run to, baby….”
https://twitter.com/PalmerReport/status/894686153323970560
https://twitter.com/RWPUSA/status/894774893363023873
https://twitter.com/SenFeinstein/status/894694650535067649
Lips pursed
https://mobile.twitter.com/VABVOX/status/894847014143479808
https://twitter.com/AngryBlackLady/status/894915182111014913
https://twitter.com/CharlieMBrownX/status/894890247183642624
JIM CROW
https://twitter.com/ACLU/status/894913477638328320
https://twitter.com/sarperduman/status/894557308595961856
Awe😍😍😹
“Until one has loved an animal a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.”
Truth.
So dear!
Good Morning,Everyone 😄😄😄
Good morning, everyone.
https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/894798359160131589
Uh huh 😒
YEP