MAJOR POTENTIAL SETBACK FOR MUELLER'S TRUMP-RUSSIA REPORT

Major Potential Setback for Mueller's Trump-Russia Report

A court case--completely unrelated to the Trump-Russia investigation--could "torpedo" Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report, according to Politico.

Next month, a Washington D.C. appeals court is set to hear arguments involving a decades-old, unsolved case of missing Columbia University professor, Jesus Galindez. If the court sides with the Department of Justice and finds that judges do not have the ability to release secret grand jury information, it may prevent Mueller from publishing his report on President Trump and his campaign's alleged ties to Russia.

The ruling could also keep the special counsel from sending its report to Congress.

“It is a sleeper case,” Harvard Law professor Alex Whiting told Politico. “If the D.C. Circuit were to accept the Department of Justice’s arguments…that would have potentially enormous implications for the future of the information from the Mueller investigation. That could close out a path by which that information becomes public.”

Attorney and author, Stuart McKeever spent decades investigating the disappearance of Galindez. He wants a judge to release secret testimony from a grand jury that investigated Galindez's case. 

However, Politico notes that "the Justice Department argues that judges don’t have “inherent authority” to release such information unless it falls under exemptions approved by Congress, which don’t apply in the Galindez case — or in many others, including potentially Mueller’s investigation."