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<\/a>An unsolved 62-year-old mystery could throw a monkey wrench into any plans special counsel Robert Mueller has to issue a public report on his probe\u2019s findings. | Brendan Smialowski\/Getty Images<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n
\u2018Sleeper\u2019 case could torpedo Mueller report<\/h1>\n
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It might even keep the special counsel from sending a report to Congress, shaking Democrats\u2019 hopes that such a document could provide the impetus for impeachment proceedings.<\/h3>\n
By JOSH GERSTEIN<\/p>\n
A little-noticed court case stemming from the apparent murder of a Columbia University professor six decades ago could keep special counsel Robert Mueller from publishing any information about the Trump campaign and Russia that he obtains through a Washington grand jury.<\/p>\n
The substance of the case is entirely unrelated to Mueller\u2019s investigation into whether any of President Donald Trump\u2019s associates aided Russia\u2019s efforts to intervene in the 2016 election.<\/p>\n
But if a Washington appeals court set to hear the murder-related case next month sides with the Justice Department and rules that judges don\u2019t have the freedom to release grand jury information that is usually kept secret, it could throw a monkey wrench into any plans Mueller has to issue a public report on his probe\u2019s findings, lawyers following the issue said.<\/p>\n
And it might even keep the special counsel from sending a report to Congress, shaking Democrats\u2019 hopes that such a document could provide the impetus for impeachment proceedings against the president.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a sleeper case,\u201d Harvard Law professor Alex Whiting said. \u201cIf the D.C. Circuit were to accept the Department of Justice\u2019s arguments\u2026that 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
The case at the appeals court was brought by attorney and author Stuart McKeever, who has spent decades investigating the disappearance of Jesus Galindez, a Columbia university professor and political activist who vanished in New York City in 1956. His body was never found, but there are indications that he was kidnapped and flown to the Dominican Republic, where he may have been killed.<\/p>\n
The unsolved 62-year-old mystery, which also sweeps in the death of an American pilot and two trials in Washington of a man charged with being an unregistered Dominican Republic agent, is so colorful and convoluted that it inspired a 2003 film starring Harvey Keitel, \u201cThe Galindez File.\u201d<\/p>\n
McKeever, 82, wants a judge to release secret testimony given to a DC-based grand jury that investigated Galindez’s disappearance. But the Justice Department argues that judges don\u2019t have \u201cinherent authority\u201d to release such information unless it falls under exemptions approved by Congress, which don\u2019t apply in the Galindez case \u2014 or in many others, including potentially Mueller\u2019s investigation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been on the journey almost 40 years to tell this story,\u201d McKeever said Sunday in a phone interview from his South Carolina home. \u201cThe Justice Department does not want this case to break the dam.\u201d<\/p>\n
The arguments in McKeever\u2019s case next month will take place at the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington \u2014 two floors above where Mueller\u2019s grand jury meets.<\/p>\n
A spokesman for Mueller\u2019s office declined to comment on whether his team is tracking the McKeever case, but one lawyer closely following the Trump-Russia probe said Mueller\u2019s allies are aware of the problems the McKeever case could cause for the special counsel.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are people who are interested in the options open to Mr. Mueller and his investigation who recognize the potential significance of this case,\u201d said Philip Lacovara, an attorney who served as a prosecutor on the Watergate special counsel team. \u201cIt certainly could complicate matters.\u201d<\/p>\n