CNN sues FBI to force release of Mueller investigation documents

CNN has sued the FBI under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to produce documents relating to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia interference in the 2016 election, the network announced.

The documents in question, called 302 memos, record the answers Mueller and his team received from about 500 witnesses during the two-year probe. This includes what figures such as ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn, President Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen and Trump’s former deputy campaign chairman Richard Gates told investigators.

{mosads}CNN filed the case in a district court in Washington, D.C., to be handled by Judge Royce Lamberth after the FBI failed to fulfill a March FOIA request for “FBI memoranda from any and all” of the witness interviews. It follows similar lawsuits from BuzzFeed News, which is also seeking the 302s, and the Electronic Privacy Information Center, which is seeking a broader trove of documents relating to the probe. The Washington Post, meanwhile, has asked a court to remove redactions in the memo concerning a January 2017 interview between Flynn and the FBI, which he later pleaded guilty to lying during.

Only a few of the special counsel’s memos have been made public so far, in connection with criminal charges against Flynn.

The memos are also at issue in a subpoena from the House Judiciary Committee to Attorney General William Barr. The House panel has requested the complete, unredacted Mueller report and all underlying evidence, as well as memos from 33 interviews Mueller conducted with witnesses such as former Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

When Barr failed to turn over the documentation, with the White House asserting executive privilege in the matter, the committee voted to hold Barr in contempt. The contempt vote will come before the full House June 11.