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DOJ drops charges against ‘Russian trolls’ after they dared demand evidence in US court

The US is dropping the much-hyped indictment for ‘election meddling’ against a company supposedly behind the so-called Russian troll farm, closing the opening chapter of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russiagate investigation.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller's heavily redacted report is shown during a House Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington, June 10, 2019. © REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Special Counsel Robert Mueller's heavily redacted report is shown during a House Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington, June 10, 2019. © REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Further pursuing the case against Concord Management & Consulting LLC “promotes neither the interests of justice nor the nation’s security,” the Department of Justice wrote to the federal judge overseeing the case on Monday in a motion to drop the charges.

DOJ lawyers cited “recent events and a change in the balance of the government’s proof due to a classification determination,” saying only that they submitted further details in a classified addendum. 
 

 

Concord was one of the three companies – the Internet Research Agency is another – and 13 individuals charged in February 2018 with waging “information warfare against the United States of America” using social media. 

The DOJ rationalizes the motion to dismiss by arguing that Concord is “a Russian company with no presence in the United States and no exposure to meaningful punishment in the event of a conviction.” That has always been the case, however. What really changed since the indictment was filed is the complete implosion of Mueller’s case, helped in part by Concord fighting the case in court.

The motion inadvertently reveals that Mueller’s prosecutors never intended the case against Concord, two other entities and 13 individuals to actually go to trial, otherwise they would have anticipated what ended up happening: Concord’s lawyers demanding discovery documents from the DOJ, which the US authorities say risks “exposure of law enforcement’s tools and techniques.”

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Source: RT

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