Joe.My.God. LGBT News
Politico reports:
Roger Stone, the longtime political ally and confidant of President Donald Trump, issued a series of Hail Mary legal arguments late Friday to dismiss the indictment against him from special counsel Robert Mueller that is pending before a federal judge in Washington D.C.
The longshot arguments, some of which have already been considered and rejected by judges in the same courthouse, suggest that Mueller’s appointment was unconstitutional because he wasn’t commissioned directly by President Donald Trump.
Stone also argues that the Justice Department improperly funded Mueller’s investigation because the pot of money supporting his probe wasn’t explicitly authorized by Congress. He separately contends that he has been selectively targeted by Mueller because of his closeness to Trump.
Newsweek reports:
The motions filed by Stone’s attorneys accused Mueller of selective prosecution, arguing that the special counsel targeted Stone “because he has exercised his First Amendment right to associate with, and through speech, support Donald J. Trump, the President of the United States.”
Mueller crossed a constitutional line, claimed Stone’s court filings, by prosecuting the Trump associate without having first received a specific referral from Congress to do so.
“What makes this prosecution particularly selective is that the Special Counsel had to act without a referral from Congress and act outside the limits of his appointment – prosecute obstruction of another branch of government,” reads one of the several documents filed Friday.
ABC News reports:
In court documents, the lawyers argue they are entitled to a private disclosure of the nearly 400-page report that Mueller submitted to Attorney General William Barr late last month and said they “must be allowed to review the Report in its entirety because it contains the government’s evidence and conclusions on matters essential to Stone’s defense.”
“To be clear, Stone is not requesting the Report be disclosed to the world – only to his counsel so that it may aid in preparing his defense,” the lawyers wrote.