ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A judge is urging the U.S. government to explain why part of the memo authorizing special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into foreign election interference and former President Donald’s presidential campaign Trump in 2016, seven years after the publication remains secret.
During a hearing Friday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, Judge Leonie Brinkema gave the Justice Department until Wednesday to explain why the passage should remain secret.
A group of media organizations is asking that then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s portion of the memo be made public. It said it believes the classified section refers to allegations that Egypt secretly gave $10 million to Trump’s cash-strapped campaign in the final days of the 2016 campaign.
Much of Rosenstein’s memo authorizing the Mueller investigation was declassified and made public in the prosecution of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who was also under investigation by Mueller. Manafort was convicted in 2019 and sentenced to nearly four years in prison, but was released to house arrest in 2020 due to the coronavirus. Manafort was eventually pardoned by Trump in December 2020.
During Friday’s hearing, Brinkema told the press coalition’s lawyers that she is unable to make public anything from the trial, such as the redacted portion of the Rosenstein memo, if that information is still classified. She said her only option is to pressure the government to explain the reasons for the continued classification.
Prosecutor Drew Bradylyons said several government agencies have an interest in the classification, and asked for 30 days for Brinkema to explain whether the passage could be released or why it should remain secret.
Brinkema thinks that is too long and gave the government until Wednesday to provide an explanation.
Brinkema, who said she has reviewed the classified portion of the memo, said: “Unless they have a good reason, I don’t see why it should remain secret.”
Ted Boutros, an attorney representing the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and The Washington Post, said the information is of great public importance given Trump’s ongoing presidential campaign. And the need for secrecy has eroded, he said, as the investigation has concluded and the broad outlines of the allegations about Egypt are now public.
“The investigation in Egypt concerned matters of serious and important national importance: the potential bribery by a foreign nation of and illegal campaign contributions to a presidential candidate who became president and who is running for office again,” the press coalition’s lawyers wrote. in their court file. “(T)here is an overwhelming public interest in the greatest possible disclosure here.”
It is not clear that releasing the passage in question will yield significant revelations about the investigation. Details about the Egyptian investigation became public in 2020 as part of a CNN investigation, and a Washington Post report earlier this year provided additional details.
According to media reports, members of Mueller’s team investigated U.S. intelligence reports that Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi wanted to give Trump $10 million to boost his 2016 presidential campaign. Specifically, the report states that an organization linked to Egyptian intelligence withdrew $10 million in cash, in $100 bills, from the National Bank of Egypt right around the time Trump made a $10 million contribution to his own campaign .
Trump’s campaign has denied wrongdoing, noting that the investigation concluded without criminal charges.
Some prosecutors have said their investigations were blocked or thwarted by senior officials in the Trump administration.
