Prosecutors were scolded for making “salacious” allegations in the indictment about Butina offering to trade sex for a job, which they largely walked back in subsequent court filings.
Yes, those allegations were an unforced error on the part of the prosecution.
U.S. Attorney Jesse Liu […] said he was unaware that such material existed. […] He said that the government is conducting an ongoing review into the “hypothetical scenarios” that Driscoll floated
It’s Jessie Liu, Ms. Kirkland, and she’s a woman.
Driscoll’s letter lays out his desire for a discovery index that includes Russian-English translations of all the relevant materials, page numbers, and other identifying information.
He’s also demanding that the prosecution highlight and tab-mark all material helpful to his client. It’s as if he’s never tried a case before.
He accused federal prosecutors of intentionally turning over “a huge file of useless and superfluous material to frustrate the defendant’s review.”
Yeppers.
And I’m sure his discovery request was specific and narrowly drawn. Yeah, that’s it.
Why in Russian? Ms. Butina is a graduate level scholar at American University and spent a lot of time hobnobbing with people not generally known for their ability to speak Russian.
Could it be they want to have Butina’s handlers look it over for useful intelligence material?
It seems like her attorneys are playing the dumb mans Manafort strategy. Whine, nit pick and complain non stop and hope to find a sympathetic judge.
Bingo. Those Russians are mining every situation that comes their way to glean information and to play dirty tricks.
I can see looking for a sympathetic judge if you’re a wealthy American white man complaining about being picked on by the “Deep State”. A Russian woman accused on interfering in an American election? Gonna be tough to find sympathy on that one.