Trump team: Memo will show transition emails should not have been given to Mueller: report

A group representing President Trump’s transition team is claiming that a memo from a government agency provides proof that emails were illegally handed over to special counsel Robert Mueller’s team, The Associated Press reported Thursday.

The group, Trump for America, claims that the General Services Administration (GSA) sent a memo last summer to Mueller’s team that shows the transition team legally owns the thousands of emails, and therefore they shouldn’t have been given to the special counsel’s office. 

Mueller is leading a criminal investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

{mosads}Kory Langhofer, a lawyer for the transition team, told the AP that the group believes the memo was sent last June from the GSA to Mueller. He did not explain how the group became aware of it.

Representatives for the GSA and Mueller’s office declined to comment to the news service.

Trump for America claimed last month that Mueller’s team obtained the transition emails illegally from the GSA, and Langhofer accused the GSA of unlawfully producing the materials.

The special counsel’s office defended its work, saying, “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.” 

The Trump transition team was reportedly advised that they would be required to sign and accept government-furnished laptops and phones. In doing so, they would “have no expectation of privacy” on those devices, since GSA resources are “subject to monitoring,” according to a copy of one GSA memo obtained by Crooked Media through a Freedom of Information Act request.

The emails reportedly include communications from White House senior adviser Jared Kushner and other members of the transition and foreign policy teams. 

Mueller’s investigation has thus far led to two indictments and two guilty pleas.

President Trump on Wednesday reiterated his claim that there was no collusion between his campaign and Russia, and dodged a question of whether he’d submit to an interview with Mueller.

–This report was updated at 10:20 a.m.