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FOIA News: Mueller-related FBI interviews properly withheld

FOIA News (2015-2023)Allan BlutsteinComment

Judge won't force disclosure of key parts of Mueller interviews

Court upholds Justice Department's claims that FBI reports are legally privileged

By Josh Gerstein, Politico, Sept. 3, 2020

A federal judge has approved the Justice Department’s decision to deny the public access to large swaths of the thousands of pages of FBI reports on witness interviews from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged ties between President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia.

U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton ruled Thursday that officials had the right to white out the information from public releases because the exchanges with witnesses reflected the thought processes of Mueller’s prosecutors and of FBI personnel working at their direction.

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