▪Mueller may have a conflict — and it leads directly to a Russian oligarch▪
Special counsel Robert Mueller has withstood relentless political attacks, many distorting his record of distinguished government service.
But there's one episode even Mueller's former law enforcement comrades - and independent ethicists - acknowledge raises legitimate legal issues and a possible conflict of interest in his overseeing the Russia election probe.
(((In 2009, when Mueller ran the FBI, the bureau asked Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska to spend millions of his own dollars funding an FBI-supervised operation))) to rescue a retired FBI agent, Robert Levinson, captured in Iran while working for the CIA in 2007.
Yes, that's the same Deripaska who has surfaced in Mueller's current investigation and who was recently sanctioned by the Trump administration.
Some aspects of Deripaska's help were chronicled in a 2016 book by reporter Barry Meier, but sources provide extensive new information about his role.
They said (((FBI agents courted Deripaska in 2009 in a series of secret hotel meetings))) in Paris; Vienna; Budapest, Hungary, and Washington. Agents (((persuaded))) the aluminum industry magnate to underwrite the mission. The Russian billionaire insisted the operation neither involve nor harm his homeland.
"We knew he was paying for his team helping us, and that probably ran into the millions," a U.S. official involved in the operation confirmed.
(((One agent who helped court Deripaska was Andrew McCabe))), the recently fired FBI deputy director who played a seminal role starting the Trump-Russia case, multiple sources confirmed.
Deripaska's lawyer said the Russian ultimately spent $25 million assembling a private search and rescue team that worked with Iranian contacts under the FBI's watchful eye. Photos and videos indicating Levinson was alive were uncovered.
Then in fall 2010, the operation secured an offer to free Levinson. The deal was scuttled, however, when the State Department become uncomfortable with Iran's terms, according to Deripaska's lawyer and the Levinson family.
FBI officials confirmed State hampered their efforts.
"We tried to turn over every stone we could to rescue Bob, but every time we started to get close, the State Department seemed to always get in the way," said Robyn Gritz, the retired agent who supervised the Levinson case in 2009, when Deripaska first cooperated, but who left for another position in 2010 before the Iranian offer arrived. "I kept Director Mueller and Deputy Director [John] Pistole informed of the various efforts and operations, and they offered to intervene with State, if necessary."
FBI officials ended the operation in 2011, concerned that Deripaska's Iranian contacts couldn't deliver with all the U.S. infighting. Levinson was never found; his whereabouts remain a mystery, 11 years after he disappeared.
"Deripaska's efforts came very close to success," said David McGee, a former federal prosecutor who represents Levinson's family. ((("We were told at one point that the terms of Levinson's release had been agreed to by Iran and the U.S. and included a statement by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pointing a finger away from Iran. At the last minute, Secretary Clinton decided not to make the agreed-on statement.")))
The State Department declined comment, and a spokesman for Clinton did not offer comment. Mueller's spokesman, Peter Carr, declined to answer questions. As did McCabe.
The FBI had three reasons for choosing Deripaska for a mission worthy of a spy novel. First, his aluminum empire had business in Iran. Second, (((the FBI wanted a foreigner to fund the operation because spending money in Iran might violate U.S. sanctions and other laws))). Third, agents knew Deripaska had been banished since 2006 from the United States by State over reports he had ties to organized crime and other nefarious activities. He denies the allegations, and nothing was ever proven in court.
The FBI rewarded Deripaska for his help. In fall 2009, (((according to U.S. entry records, Deripaska visited Washington on a rare law enforcement parole visa. And since 2011, he has been granted entry at least eight times on a diplomatic passport,))) even though he doesn't work for the Russian Foreign Ministry.
(((Former FBI officials confirm they arranged the access))).
(((I was alerted to Deripaska's past FBI relationship by U.S. officials who wondered whether the Russian's conspicuous absence from Mueller's indictments might be related to his FBI work.)))
(((Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz told me he believes Mueller has a conflict of interest because his FBI previously accepted financial help from a Russian))) that is, at the very least, a witness in the current probe….
http:// thehill.com/opinion/white-house/387625-mueller-may-have-a-conflict-and-it-leads-directly-to-a-russian-oligarch?amp