Concord Management is, Apparently, a Front for Russian Spooks

The Special Counsel’s office said in a court filing Wednesday that 1,000 sensitive files handed over during discovery to defense lawyers for the Russian company Concord Management—which is charged with financing interference efforts in the 2016 presidential election—were subsequently altered and released online “as part of a disinformation campaign aimed (apparently) at discrediting ongoing investigations into Russian interference in the U.S. political system.” The filing comes as part of Mueller’s effort to continue to restrict access to documents in the case against Concord, which has asked the court to allow it to share thousands of sensitive digital documents with company officers in Russia.

Mueller cited an October 2018 breach of the protective order placed on the discovery process where a newly created, Russia-linked Twitter account @HackingRedstone tweeted out: “We’ve got access to the Special Counsel Mueller’s probe database as we hacked Russian server with info from the Russian troll case Concord LLC v. Mueller. You can view all the files Mueller had about the IRA and Russian collusion. Enjoy the reading!” The tweet included a link to a page that Mueller says included sensitive discovery documents that were structured in such a way that made it clear they were obtained after the Russia investigation had begun (and were not hacked before) and were not hacked from U.S. government computers. That leaves the defense team for Concord as the likely leak because the documents were only accessible under very narrow parameters, namely at the U.S. law offices of the firm representing Concord in the matter, Reed Smith LLP.

Mueller isn't accusing the defense lawyers from leaking the documents, but who else could have done it? Mueller is running the most airtight investigation in modern political history.

Unless the leak came from higher up in the DoJ, which would then implicate Matt Whatzizface, the guy Trump temporarily put in to replace Sessions.

Leaking sensitive documents does not make a judge happy. The judge already has made known her displeasure at the antics of the defense lawyers. Pissing off the judge is a high-risk move. It might create grounds for an appeal. It can also get one sanctions by the Bar.