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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
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Mueller Produces More Than ‘400,000 Items’ in Building Manafort, Gates Case

Special counsel Robert Mueller has produced hundreds of thousands of documents, copied 36 electronic devices and 2,000 "hot" documents in preparing the government's case against Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, a status report filed Friday says.

(CN) — Special counsel Robert Mueller has produced hundreds of thousands of documents, copied 36 electronic devices and 2,000 "hot" documents in preparing the government's case against Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, a status report filed Friday says.

The five-page report filed in the federal court in Washington by Kyle Freeny of the Justice Department came on the same day investigators made their latest discovery production to Manafort and Gates' attorneys that "may be considered helpful to the defense."

Materials produced Friday included 116,000 items including several described merely as “hot” documents, and, for Gates only, imaged copies of 27 electronic devices/media seized from Manafort’s residence.

The filing explains what documents and evidence were provided to the defense teams as part of the discovery process, and provides a rare glimpse into the tactics being used by federal investigators.

However, it also stops well short of detailing the contents of the evidence.

According to the filing, Mueller's team has compiled more than 400,000 items in its investigation to date, including financial records; records from vendors identified in the indictment; email communications involving the defendants; corporate records; approximately 2,000 documents that the government has identified for the defense as “hot” documents; defendants’ statements to law enforcement; imaged copies of thirty-six electronic devices such as laptops and phones and thumb drives obtained in the investigation; and copies of fifteen search/seizure warrants and related applications.

The status reports says the Mueller team made its first discovery production on Nov. 17, 2017, in which it prioritized certain bank and other financial records, including foreign bank account records for the accounts in Cyprus and Saint Vincent & the Grenadines, domestic financial records totaling more than 116,000 pages.

"The government also produced a hard drive with approximately 89,000 items," the filing says.

The Mueller team made its second discovery production on Nov. 22, 2017. This consisted of two hard drives with approximately 120,000 separate items.

The third discovery production was just last week, when the Mueller team produced additional search warrants and related applications; deposition testimony given by the defendants in another matter; and an additional hard drive containing approximately 80,000 items.

Categories / Criminal, Government, National, Politics

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