A federal judge in a Washington D.C. District Court Thursday denied a request filed by special counsel Robert Mueller and federal agencies seeking to delay an upcoming hearing in a lawsuit filed by author Jerome Corsi.
The government's attorneys said the government shutdown cut off funding for the Justice Department, hindering their case, but Judge Richard Leon denied the request, confirming the hearing will be held next Thursday in Washington, reports CNBC.
The government had claimed that DOJ lawyers were prohibited from working during the shutdown. But an attorney for Corsi, 72, said that was "highly doubtful." Corsi tweeted that he plans to be in court for the hearing on Jan. 3.
Larry Klayman, Corsi's lawyer, wishes to argue why the case against Mueller, the FBI, CIA, DOJ and the National Security Agency were related to other lawsuits that had been filed against people such as President Barack Obama and ex-FBI Director James Comey.
The most recent complaint is "intricately related" to the past cases, said Klayman in a filing on Wednesday, as it "involves a continuing pattern and practice of illegal and unconstitutional misconduct."
Government attorneys have asked for several other delays, reports CNBC, after the partial government shutdown started at midnight last Friday. Corsi claims in his lawsuit that the defendants illegally searched his phone records.
He also says Mueller tried to force him to lie under oath that he had been a liaison between his friend, political operative Roger Stone, a longtime confidant of President Donald Trump, and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange that led toward the publication of leaked Democratic emails.
Corsi is demanding $100 million in "general and compensatory damages," and $250 million in "punitive damages."
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Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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