A Holiday Mystery: Why Did John Roberts Intervene in the Mueller Probe?
We’re about to find out why the chief justice of the Supreme Court decided to get involved in the special counsel’s investigation.
By NELSON W. CUNNINGHAM
December 30, 2018
A mysterious grand jury subpoena case has been working itself through the D.C. courts since August. Doughty reporting by Politico linked the grand jury case to special counsel Robert Mueller. Some of us, connecting the dots, wondered whether Mueller’s antagonist in this secret subpoena battle might be President Donald Trump himself. Speculation heightened two weeks ago when the D.C. Circuit cleared an entire floor of reporters assembled for the oral argument, in order to protect the identity of the litigants.
Four days later, the D.C. Circuit judges burst the speculative bubble with a decision that halfway revealed the identity of the party litigating against the government: not Trump, but an unnamed corporation (“the Corporationâ€) owned by an unnamed foreign state (“Country Aâ€). Although the case is still plenty mysterious (What foreign state? What records of what transactions? Why the hard-fought litigation?), the evident fact that Trump was not directly involved in the litigation seemingly drained further proceedings of direct suspense. Mueller watchers headed off for the holidays.
And then, last week, on the Sunday before Christmas, Chief Justice John Roberts personally intervened in this matter.
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https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/12/30/supreme-court-john-roberts-robert-mueller-investigation-223569