Mueller signals outside prosecutors may eventually take over Russian trolls case
By Devlin Barrett
June 22 at 5:52 PM
A handful of new federal prosecutors have joined one of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s cases — an indication that he is preparing to hand off at least one prosecution to others when his office completes its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
In a pair of court filings Friday, the special counsel added four assistant U.S. attorneys to the case against Russian entities and people accused of running an online influence operation targeting American voters.
People familiar with the staffing decision said the new prosecutors are not joining Mueller’s team, but rather are being added to the case so that they could someday take responsibility for it when the special counsel ceases operation. The case those prosecutors are joining could drag on for years because the indictment charges a number of Russians who will probably never see the inside of a U.S. courtroom. Russia does not extradite its citizens.
The development suggests Mueller is contemplating the end of his work and farming out any potentially outstanding prosecutions to other parts of the Justice Department.
The case stems from a February indictment against 13 people and three companies accused of a long-running scheme to criminally interfere with the election.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/mueller-signals-outside-prosecutors-may-eventually-take-over-russian-trolls-case/2018/06/22/3d55ba00-764d-11e8-b4b7-308400242c2e_story.html
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