Did Reed Smith partner hang up on prosecutor for special counsel? Tensions erupt at hearing
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A Reed Smith partner representing a Russian company in special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe took offense in a court hearing on Wednesday when a prosecutor said he hung up about nine minutes into what was supposed to be an hour-long meet-and-confer phone call.
Partner Eric Dubelier said the claim by special counsel prosecutor Jeannie Rhee was “demonstrably false,” report the National Law Journal and the Washington Post.
“It didn’t happen,” he said. “She knows it.”
Dubelier said he hung up because both sides agreed there was nothing more to discuss.
Dubelier continued to press his case after the hearing ended. He pointed his finger at Rhee and declared that her account was “bullshit,” according to the National Law Journal. NPR and the Associated Press also have coverage of the hearing before U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich of Washington, D.C.
Rhee worked for WilmerHale before joining the special prosecutor’s office. Dubelier’s client, Concord Management and Consulting, is accused of helping fund an internet troll company’s effort to interfere in the 2016 presidential election and support Donald Trump. The indictment, which also named 13 Russian nationals and two other entities, said the defendants sought to sow discord and influence the election by creating fake personas on social media and staging rallies.
According to NPR, Dubelier signaled during the hearing that he planned an aggressive defense. He said he intends to file motions raising issues regarding due process, selective prosecution and the mandate given to Mueller.
Dubelier also complained about the extensive electronic data the government plans to “dump” on him in what the Post describes as a “heated exchange.” Rhee countered that the “voluminous” evidence illustrates the extent of Russia’s information warfare.
Some legal experts told the Post that the hearing could signal a possible “scorched-earth defense that consumes government resources and prods prosecutors to make embarrassing or security-sensitive revelations.”
“Initial hearings in criminal cases are typically scheduling exercises to prepare for trial,” the Post reports, “but Wednesday’s proceedings veered into political theater.”
In an earlier court filing, Dubelier and another Reed Smith lawyer, Katherine Seikaly, said Mueller had charged a “make-believe’ crime. “The reason is obvious, and is political: to justify his own existence the Special Counsel has to indict a Russian—any Russian,” the filing said.
