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‘They’ve Sealed Not Only the Courtroom, but the Whole Floor’: Twitter Explodes on News of Secret Grand Jury Hearing
Buzzfeed’s courts and justice reporter Zoe Tillman is reporting on a secret grand jury proceeding in DC, but it’s so secret no one knows what it’s about.
Tillman first points to a Politico piece from October: “Mueller link seen in mystery grand jury appeal.”
Hello from the federal courthouse, where the DC Circuit is set to hear arguments in a sealed grand jury matter. Politico previously reported observing someone refer to it as a special counsel matter: https://t.co/L469FxtYlr Arguments are sealed, we’re waiting to see who goes in
— Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) December 14, 2018
After detailing some court docs as background, Tillman tweets, “They’ve sealed not only the courtroom, but the whole floor.” It’s getting a lot of attention:
The DC Circuit is about to hear arguments in the sealed grand jury matter. They’ve sealed not only the courtroom, but the whole floor, so we’ve been moved away. Haven’t recognized anyone going in earlier as being connected to Mueller’s office, now we won’t be able to see
— Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) December 14, 2018
Politico senior reporter confirms:
Hello from the 5th floor of the US Court of Appeals in DC, where I’m on stakeout with about a dozen of my reporter colleagues. No sightings yet of either side in the mystery apparent Mueller case, which begins in a sealed courtroom in about 20 or so mins. https://t.co/njdZtYMfi1
— Darren Samuelsohn (@dsamuelsohn) December 14, 2018
Update from DC Court of Appeals. Courtroom security sealed the chambers and also booted about 15 reporters on stakeout from the entire 5th floor. We have spread out across the building. No sightings yet to report of note. https://t.co/vGII9WNQ4W @politico
— Darren Samuelsohn (@dsamuelsohn) December 14, 2018
Here’s what some are saying:
Several media folks have asked me and colleagues for weeks what we can imagine this case being, assuming Trump’s people are telling the truth and it’s not them.
To this day, I can’t fathom what the heck it could be that would move this fast and get this much secrecy. https://t.co/EH6X08KDq8
— Bradley P. Moss (@BradMossEsq) December 14, 2018
My money is still on Pence being the mystery party. https://t.co/6BpSlt27zH
— kp (@gokpkd) December 14, 2018
Wow…who oh who could it be? My money is on Jr. https://t.co/WsZei1yxYK
— ijon tichy (@_ijon_tichy) December 14, 2018
Intrigue. https://t.co/FLfou2AmNc
— Kerry Eleveld (@kerryeleveld) December 14, 2018
And they’ve stopped the live audio streaming https://t.co/H4081xjcjs https://t.co/gM2BwG7sj4
— Fix the Court (@FixTheCourt) December 14, 2018
Wtf? The entire floor?
Think about that for a moment. The court has sealed off an entire floor so that secrecy can be maintained.
Someone’s a tad anxious about something. https://t.co/fkuF16US5x
— Edward Shain (@ems1944) December 14, 2018
Also, this from a Reuters justice reporter:
Reporters kicked off the 5th floor entirely for a sealed appeals hearing that may involve #Mueller on s grand jury dispute. They are even searching stairwells for reporters. We have split up and trying to cover all entrances and exits….
— Sarah N. Lynch (@SarahNLynch) December 14, 2018
Image by Josh via Flickr and a CC license
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