Mueller Has Impaneled A Grand Jury in Washington, D.C.

Photo Source: Politifact

The Wall Street Journal reported today that Special Counsel Robert Mueller has impaneled a grand jury in Washington to investigate Kremlin interference in the 2016 elections. This is a second grand jury related to the Trump campaign - a grand jury investigating former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn’s paid work on behalf of the Turkish government has been meeting for some time.

The article from The Wall Street Journal can be found here.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/special-counsel-mueller-impanels-washington-grand-jury-in-russia-probe-1501788287

The Washington Post reported today that the second grand jury, which has broad authority to investigate financial records, has been meeting for several weeks.

From The Washington Post:
“Mueller’s investigation now includes a look at whether President Trump obstructed justice by firing FBI Director James B. Comey, as well as deep dives into financial and other dealings of former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
“Federal prosecutors had previously been using a grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia, and even before Mueller was appointed, had increased their activity, issuing subpoenas and taking other investigative steps.”

The article from the Washington Post describing the grand jury can be found here.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/special-counsel-mueller-using-grand-jury-in-federal-court-in-washington-as-part-of-russia-investigation/2017/08/03/1585da56-7887-11e7-8f39-eeb7d3a2d304_story.html?utm_term=.374800ebef61

What Is A Grand Jury?
According to an article in USA Today, “a grand jury is a group of citizens who gather to hear evidence in secret to determine whether there is probable cause to prosecute someone. The secrecy surrounding its deliberations is meant to protect innocent people from unfounded charges, per the American Bar Association.”

Two USA Today articles explaining today’s report and giving information about grand juries can be found here.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/08/03/special-counsel-robert-mueller-impanels-grand-jury-russia-investigation-intensifies-reports-say/537839001/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2017/08/03/what-is-a-grand-jury/537804001/

Law.com states that a federal grand jury traditionally has 23 members, either appointed or drawn from a pool of nominees, and they have two potential responsibilities:

• To hear evidence of criminal accusations in possible felonies by the federal prosecutor and to decide whether the accused should be indicted and tried for a crime
• To hear evidence of potential public wrong-doing by public officials, including acts which may not be crimes but are imprudent, ineffective or inefficient, and to make recommendations

What Is The Magnitsky Act?
CNN reported today that Mueller’s team has subpoenaed both documents and testimony related to Donald Trump Jr.’s June 2016 meeting with representatives of the Russian government regarding damaging information on Hillary Clinton and discussions of lifting the Magnitsky Act. The Magnitsky Act, is a bipartisan piece of legislation enacted into law in 2013, which freezes assets of 44 Russianm officials responsible for the death of Sergey Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer investigating corruption, in a Moscow prison in 2009.

The CNN report can be found here.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/03/politics/mueller-grand-jury/index.html

A Washington Post article with more information about the Magnitsky Act can be found here.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/07/14/the-magnitsky-act-explained/?utm_term=.25ea5fc94cfa

An Atlantic article about the Magnitsky Act can be found here.
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/07/magnitsky-act-kremlin/535044/

---