A federal judge who dealt a blow to the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of phone records in 2015 has passed up a chance to hear a case against special counsel Robert Mueller, who is being sued by right-wing author Jerome Corsi.
Corsi is suing Mueller and several other federal government agencies for $350 million over allegations of prosecutorial misconduct, leaking confidential grand jury information, and for “ongoing illegal, unconstitutional surveillance” of Corsi. The plaintiff argues that this surveillance was “at the direction of Mueller and his partisan Democrat, leftist, and ethically and legally conflicted prosecutorial staff.”
Corsi’s lawyer, Larry Klayman, argued Thursday before U.S. District Judge Richard Leon that he should hear the case because it is related to the case he won against the NSA years prior during the Obama administration. That case was later overturned, however.
Leon said Corsi’s case does not fall under an exception in Washington that allows certain federal judges to accept hearing similar cases they’ve already heard as to prevent confusion, and thus it will be assigned to another random judge in Washington.
Klayman called Leon the “last line of defense” in getting justice for his client.
Corsi is an associate of President Trump ally Roger Stone and he has testified before Mueller’s grand jury. Mueller’s team has been investigating whether Corsi and Stone communicated about WikiLeaks, and how the website obtained Hillary Clinton campaign Chairman John Podesta’s emails. Corsi has denied that he knew ahead of time about the hacking and subsequent release of Podesta’s emails.
Mueller has offered Corsi a plea deal in which he could plead guilty to one count of perjury. Corsi has rejected it, saying he never lied.
