Congress prepares for a battle over secret grand jury evidence in Russia inquiry

A historic clash is brewing between Congress and Attorney General William Barr over some of the most sensitive evidence in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.

Barr is reviewing Mueller's final report and said he hopes to reveal much of it by mid-April. House Democrats want it sooner. They signaled that their biggest fight won't be over how quickly they can read the report but whether they get access to some of the evidence Mueller gathered that did not lead to criminal charges.

The fight centers on evidence obtained using grand juries. Barr said federal law requires him to keep it secret, even though the government has disclosed it in previous high-profile cases. The evidence is particularly sensitive because grand juries give prosecutors the power to force reluctant witnesses to testify.

Democratic lawmakers said they need access to that evidence to get a clear picture of Russian interference in the 2016 election and how that benefited Donald Trump's presidential campaign, even if no Americans conspired with foreigners. They could launch a legal battle to obtain the information as soon as Wednesday.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/03/31/congress-prepares-fight-justice-ag-barr-robert-mueller-russia-grand-jury-evidence/3266131002/

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Sater’s story is a familiar plotline in the Trump-Russia narrative: An opportunistic ex-con ingratiates himself into the Trump Organization, landing a rent-free office on the 26th floor of Trump Tower, then brokers connections between the future president, Trump’s family and company, and Russian elites, eventually including the Kremlin. When the unbecoming details of Sater’s past — his secret prosecution, his ties to organized crime — come to light, the president disavows their relationship.

The less familiar story is how Sater got here, and how his path to the center of the current political scandal was enabled and, arguably, abetted by some of the same people who went on to work in the special counsel’s office. The government has acknowledged Sater’s long-running cooperation and he has spoken publicly about his purported role in obtaining Osama bin Laden’s phone numbers before 9/11, identifying a North Korean official seeking to buy nuclear weapons technology from the Russians, and helping to disrupt an assassination plot on former Secretary of State Colin Powell in Afghanistan.

But the details and terms of Sater’s agreement with the government remain largely secret, contained in sealed court filings submitted in his 20-year-old criminal case.

https://theintercept.com/2019/03/31/felix-sater-trump-russia-mueller-report/