Russian firm Concord Management and Consulting, indicted in the documents, says it has the right to see the evidence — and could thus learn how the US government detected their activities in the first placeWashington — A centrepiece of US special counsel Robert Mueller’s two-year investigation — his indictment of 16 individuals and companies in Russia for interfering in the 2016 election — now threatens to backfire in a court-ordered release of US intelligence-gathering secrets.
So far, US district judge Dabney Friedrich in Washington has restricted the release of the documents. But some of those shared with the defendants have already been disclosed. The judge is weighing whether to ease the restrictions, balancing US security concerns against the constitutional right to a fair trial for the company, Concord Management and Consulting. Her ruling could force the US to drop the case.
Concord is accused of bankrolling the wide-ranging, multi-million-dollar operation using false names and social media accounts to promote Trump’s candidacy during the campaign while attacking his rivals, including Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton. The conspirators also conscripted otherwise innocent Trump campaign workers to help organise rallies, the US says.
Assistant US attorney Jonathan Kravis said in court that 4-million documents have been handed over to Dubelier, 3.2-million of them identified as “sensitive”. Their importance has less to do with the value of each page. Instead, the documents cumulatively reveal what the US was able to learn — or not learn — about specific accounts used by the Russians, according to Kravis.