Judge upholds DOJ’s redactions in Mueller report

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  • Source: WND Staff
  • 09/04/2020

Robert Mueller

A federal judge has upheld Justice Department redactions as it releases thousands of pages of witness-interview transcripts connected to former special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia-collusion investigation.

U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton rejected the arguments of BuzzFeed and CNN, the Washington Examiner reported, citing attorney work product privilege and presidential communications privilege exemptions under the Freedom of Information Act.

The Justice Department has been blacking out sections from FBI interview notes, known as "302s," from hundreds of Mueller witness interviews.

Walton previously critiqued Attorney General William Barr for his handling of the Mueller report, which found an absence of evidence that President Trump's 2016 campaign had colluded with Russia.

The DOJ currently is releasing about 500 pages of the statements per month.

"Here, the information withheld by the Department from the FD-302s pursuant to Exemption 5 based on the attorney work product privilege falls squarely within the scope of the privilege," Walton ruled.

"The plaintiffs have failed to produce any evidence showing 'that the [Department] [handling its] FOIA request is engaged in illegal activity' or 'unprofessional behavior [on the part of the Department’s lawyers that] [would] vitiate the work product privilege.' Lacking any such evidence of misconduct on the part of the Department, the plaintiffs' argument must be rejected."

The plaintiffs had claimed that the government was redacting information negative to the Trump administration while releasing favorable information.

But the judge said the publications "have failed to provide the court with sufficient evidence that calls into question the department’s redactions in this case."

Since the release of Mueller's report in April 2019, evidence has surfaced that the Steele dossier used by the Obama administration to pursue the collusion claim was full of Russian disinformation.

The DOJ said it was authorized to withhold three types of information: "(1) communications between government officials or staff during the administration in connection with presidential decision-making; (2) communications between transition officers or staff which concern potential presidential decisions after the inauguration; and (3) communications involving private parties concerning presidential decision-making."

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