Justice Department documents reveal cell phones of multiple people on then-Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigative team were “wiped” during their Russia probe investigation.
The records show at least several dozen phones were wiped of information because of forgotten passcodes, irreparable screen damage, loss of the device, intentional deletion or other reasons — and came before the DOJ’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) could review the devices, Fox News reported.
The documents were released in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch and reveal that Mueller’s pit-bull Andrew Weissman, “accidentally wiped” his phone twice after entering the wrong passcode too many times in March 2018. Lawyer James Quarles’ phone “wiped itself” without his intervention, the records say.
.@JudicialWatch first asked for this info. nearly two years ago and sued a year ago. Only now is this chart released to us…. https://t.co/vFV4QH8uuY
— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) September 10, 2020
Responding to the documents which detail the phones being “wiped”, President Donald Trump took to Twitter Saturday to “alert” the public over the “Mueller scam”.
“ALERT: So now we find out that the entire Mueller ‘hit squad’ illegally wiped their phones clean just prior to the investigation of them, all using the same really dumb reason for this ‘accident’, just like Crooked Hillary smashing her phones with a hammer, & DELETING HER EMAILS!” the president declared.
“It has now been determined that the Mueller Scam should never have been set up in the first place, there were no grounds. It was all an illegitimate Witch Hunt, & a big price must be paid. How different my life would have been if this fraud on America was never committed!!!” the Commander in Chief expressed. Continued Below
President Donald Trump’s tweets:
….It has now been determined that the Mueller Scam should never have been set up in the first place, there were no grounds. It was all an illegitimate Witch Hunt, & a big price must be paid. How different my life would have been if this fraud on America was never committed!!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 12, 2020
On Thursday, President Trump responded to the U.S. attorney John Durham’s investigation:
In July, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) tweeted that he will grant a request from his Democrat colleagues to call Robert Mueller to testify before the Senate Judiciary committee after the former special counsel penned an op-ed, speaking out against President Donald Trump’s decision to commute the sentence of Roger Stone. Continued Below
The President also wondered if “Andy McCabe [was] ever forced to pay back the $700,000 illegally given to him and his wife … Just askin’?”
Was Andy McCabe ever forced to pay back the $700,000 illegally given to him and his wife, for his wife’s political campaign, by Crooked Hillary Clinton while Hillary was under FBI investigation, and McCabe was the head of the FBI??? Just askin’?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 12, 2020
Fact Check claimed in 2017:
The nearly $675,000 — not $700,000 — donated to Dr. Jill McCabe, who unsuccessfully ran for a Virginia state Senate seat in 2015, came from the Virginia Democratic Party and Common Good VA. The latter is the political action committee of Democratic Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a longtime friend and supporter of Hillary and Bill Clinton.
But the contributions didn’t come from Clinton or her campaign, and Andrew McCabe wasn’t “in charge” of the FBI’s investigation of Clinton’s emails at the time of the donations, either.
Jill McCabe’s campaign received $467,500 from McAuliffe’s PAC and another $207,788 from the Virginia Democratic Party for the November 2015 election. McCabe wasn’t the only candidate to receive “big dollars” from McAuliffe’s PAC that year. Common Good VA gave $803,500 to state Senate candidate Jeremy McPike, who won his race, and $781,500 to Daniel Gecker, who lost his. These donations were all part of a failed effort by the Democratic governor to help the Democrats take control of the state Senate that year.
(Related: Levin Reacts To Mueller’s Briefing: ‘This Whole Damn Thing Has Been A Setup’)
