Late Friday morning the buzz in social media was palpable after a Buzzfeed reporter at the federal Appeals Court in Washington, D.C. revealed “arguments in a sealed grand jury matter” were about to begin, but no one knew what they were because, “They’ve sealed not only the courtroom, but the whole floor, so we’ve been moved away.”
That sent rumors flying.
While details have been hard to come by, what we do know is the “sealed grand jury matter” is related to the Mueller probe.
And now, CNN is reporting some astonishing details about who was inside the courtroom.
Let’s start with this tidbit from CNN’s report:
Security guards “cleared the vestibule to the courtroom and checked the coat closet where attorneys coming to listen to arguments stash their belongings.”
So they weren’t taking any chances that listening or recording devices or anything else might be around.
“They locked the door leading to the attorneys’ lounge on that floor and shooed the more than 20 reporters prowling the hall away from the elevator bank and told them to vacate the nearby stairwells. At one point, even an elevator wouldn’t open its doors on the fifth floor.”
That’s high security.
CNN adds that the “hearing featured the same team from Mueller’s office as before, which included top criminal law appellate lawyer Michael Dreeben.”
Who?
Let’s look at this ABC News article from April, titled, “Meet the prosecutor experts say could be Robert Mueller’s Supreme Court closer.”
ABC explains that “Dreeben is one of the government’s most venerated and tested Supreme Court specialists.”
“I don’t have many insights into his legal approach except to say there is no human being, on the planet, with more knowledge about federal criminal law than Michael Dreeben, and no one with more expertise than him,” said Leah Litman, a constitutional law professor at University of California at Irvine.
Wow.
The CNN report concludes, “about 10 minutes after the court activity appeared to wrap for the day, a black Justice Department car rolled into Mueller’s office building, bringing attorneys including Dreeben and Zainab Ahmad back to their home base.”
Of course, your next question is, “Who is Zainab Ahmad?”
The answer is in this New Yorker Article from 2017.
“Zainab Ahmad has prosecuted thirteen international terrorist suspects for the American government. She hasn’t lost yet.”
Last year she was reassigned to work for Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
She also was one of the prosecutors who charged Michael Flynn.
Attorney, professor, and author of “Proof of Collusion: How Trump Betrayed America,” Seth Abramson, offers some insights:
So, right now all we know is whatever Mueller’s working on, it sounds a lot bigger than many have been focused on. Terrorism and a Supreme Court “closer” sure sound like a big deal.