Mueller accused over transition emails

WASHINGTON - A US lawyer for President Donald Trump's transition team on Saturday accused Special Counsel Robert Mueller of improperly obtaining tens of thousands of Trump transition emails and called it "unlawful conduct" during an investigation into the alleged Russian meddling in last year's presidential election.

Kory Langhofer, counsel to Trump for America, said in a letter to several congressional panels that Mueller's team obtained these emails from the General Services Administration, the government agency that hosted the transition email system.

In the seven-page letter, he accused Mueller's team of "unlawfully producing TFA's private materials, including privileged communications, to the Special Counsel's Office", according to a TheHill news daily report.

The lawyer urged the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee "to protect future presidential transitions from having their private records misappropriated by government agencies, particularly in the context of sensitive investigations intersecting with political motives".

Mueller's probe into the alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential elections entered a new phase earlier this month when former national security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia.

Asked for comment, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said: "We continue to cooperate fully with the special counsel and expect this process to wrap up soon."

The special counsel's office waved off the transition team's complaint.

"When we have obtained emails in the course of our ongoing criminal investigation, we have secured either the account owner's consent or appropriate criminal process," said Peter Carr, spokesman for the special counsel's office.

The GSA did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

Trump himself has loudly declared Mueller's effort a waste of time. "There is absolutely no collusion. That has been proven," Trump told reporters on Friday.

Russia denies interfering in the election.

Xinhua - Reuters

(China Daily 12/18/2017 page11)