By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Thread Song
BBC - Decrypt - LightRead - Honduras - Pod
SDNY COURTHOUSE, June 16 – When jury selection was completed for the retrial of accused CIA Vault 7 leaker Joshua Schulte, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Jesse M. Furman told the jurors, Do not read or say anything about the case. Inner City Press was there, and live tweeted here.
Judge Furman: I'm going to announce the selected jurors. [He reads out 16 names. Inner City Press took fast notes - on on Patreon here]
Inner City Press has filed opposing the sealing of the courtroom for CIA witnesses, and once the witnesses begin anticipates making other filings.
The June 14, 2022 opening arguments, as live tweeted by Inner City Press, are here.
On June 15, Schulte in his own defense engaged in his first cross examination, of FBI Agent Evanchec. Inner City Press live tweeted it here.
On June 16, Schulte completed his cross of Evanchec - then the US put on CIA supervisor Anthony Leonis in a (mostly) sealed courtroom, Inner City Press which seeks to unseal was there then live tweeted here:
Jury entering! Judge Furman: Juror 15, I take it that my deputy conveyed to you... [A nod] Judge Furman: Very good. Proceed, Mr. Schulte. Schulte: Good morning. Yesterday you testified about the search of my Manhattan apartment. How many agents? Evanchec: 8 to 15.
Schulte: How long did you take? FBI Agent Evanchec: 14 to 15 hours. Schulte: For a one bedroom apartment? Evanchec: Yes.
Schulte: You seized all the electronics - how many? Evanchec: Two servers, desk tops, thumb drives, hard drives...
Schulte: There was no National Defense Information discovered on my mp3 players, correct?
Evanchec: Not that I recall.
Judge Furman: Jurors, National Defense Information is a legal term. You'll decide it is or isn't.
Schulte: Was there any classification review by the CIA of the IRC chats?
Evanchec: I don't recall.
Schulte: You seized 20 terabytes of data to try to find anything on me, correct? Evanchec: That is not the goal of our investigations.
Schulte: Your search warrants for GitHub and Reddit, you found no National Defense Information, correct?
Evanchec: No we did not. Schulte: And here you found a movie, Robin Hood with Kevin Costner, correct? Evanchec: Correct.
Schulte: You said you found documents in the headboard of my bed, right? All my CIA documents?
Evanchec: Most of them. Schulte: Like my CIA pay stubs. A: Yes. Schulte: And just because an email has full names doesn't mean it's classified, right? A: It might be.
Schulte: Your notes here, they contain the last names of covert operatives of the CIA, correct? Evanchec: Well, just one. Schulte: But that's a violation, isn't it? Evanchec: I'm not a classification authority. Schulte: Did you purposefully disclose NDI?
AUSA Lockard: Objection! Judge Furman: Sustained.
Schulte: But the government never charged you with a crime, correct? AUSA: Objection. Judge: Sustained. Schulte: Let's talk about Google searches.
Schulte: During this time period, Wikileaks released the DNC emails, right? Evanchec: Yes. Schulte: And there was a fiasco with your director, Comey, right?
There was Guccifer 2.0, right?
Judge Furman: Do you know what Guccifer 2.0 is? Evanchec: No, sir.
Schulte: There were also the Shadow Brokers... Is it your understanding that Wikileaks has NSA code?
Evanchec: I do not know about that. Schulte: Did you know that 80% of the searches you claim I made about Wikileaks were not in fact searches at all? Evanchec: No.
Schulte: Are you aware of Google News? Evanchec: I do not not regularly use Google - so, no. Schulte: Did you know Google makes a special log in your search history when you're using Google News? Evanchec: No.
Interim update 1: the FBI surveilled Schulte family vacation in San Diego. Jurors look interested.
Interim update 2: Schulte went overtime with his cross and re-cross. Here's some of it (trial resumes with "sealed" session at 12:20 pm, so this'll be supplemented later) The FBI found people to wear wires and talk to Schulte about Wikileaks.
The FBI had people "bump" into Schulte at a bachelor party and just, oh by the way, bring up Wikileaks and record him. Schulte made a point of asking, did the FBI surveil my mother and me going to Starbucks? Yes. Jurors looked interested, like it was a tennis match
OK - "sealed" session about to begin - thread will continue later, watch this feed
Whew - out of sealed courtroom after 2 1/2 hours. "Now it can be told" - well, sort of -- The witness, who cannot be physically described under the order, is Anthony Leonis. He was Schulte's supervisor. He identified Schulte as "the man with the shaved head"
Leonis: On March 7, 2017 I was supposed to drive my boss, I was looking forward to the time to talk - but the Vault 7 leak came out on Wikileaks and they said, everyone to the office! There, the conference room was full. Brutal Kangaroo could no longer be usedAUSA Denton showed on the screen the Brutal Kangaroo / Drifting Deadline users' guide.
AUSA Denton: What is air gap jumping? Leonis: A thumb drive infects one computer, and it spreads onto another thumb drive. On the screen: EZCheese LinkFiles / Giraffe Links
Questioning turns back to the decision to relocate Schulte after restraining order against Amol. Email to Schulte: "As discussed, please move to your cubicle." Josh = 9W53-020 Emails involved Debra, Bonnie B. Smith, Frank Stedman, Leonard Small, Patrick Schaffer
Then moving cubicles deemed not enough. Josh to AED/RDB (under Leonis), Amol AED/MDB. Schulte responds with emails that he assumes this is punishment for reporting Amol and getting the protective order. He gets no written answer; writes again.
Schulte was allowed to contribute to, but not administer, OSB Libraries. But, Leonis complains, he still did - & told Jeremy he'd been authorized. Alert! Leonis says he began to consider stripping all of Schulte's access. [A bureaucratic stations of the Cross]
Schulte did not get to start cross examination of Leonis today. AUSA Denton said he has an hour more of direct. So, 10 am tomorrow, the cross.
The trial and this coverage will continue.
Here's from Judge Furman June 13 Order: "as discussed on the record at the classified hearing held on June 8, 2022, the Court concludes that the particular statement Defendant seeks to admit is admissible. The Court further concludes that the information should likely be admitted as a stipulation, which would give Defendant “substantially the same ability to make his defense as would disclosure of ” a portion of the document itself, pursuant to CIPA Section 6(c). See 18. U.S.C. app. 3 § 6(c). Accordingly, the parties shall propose an agreed upon stipulation or competing stipulations for the Court’s approval no later than June 17, 2022."
Previously, in the conclusion of the month long trial of accused CIA leaker Joshua Schulte, on the morning of March 9, 2020 the jury returned guilty verdicts on Counts 8 and 10, with mistrial granted on all other counts. U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Paul A. Crotty set March 26 for the next date.
Then it was moved to April 22 (then May 18). March 9 thread here. Song here.
On November 9, 2021, a status conference was held before Judge Jesse M. Furman to whom the case was reassigned. Inner City Press live tweeted it here - the upshot was a May 23, 2022 trial date was set. Vlog here.
That has since been moved to June, with the admonition that it will not be further moved. Schulte has raised issues of how his right to represent himself is possible with law library, turned off computers and printer paper issues in the MDC.
This was was one of the issues at a May 18 pre-trial conference held on Courtroom 15A of 500 Pearl Street, where Judge Furman has been overseeing a drug trial Inner City Press is also covering, along with other criminal and civil trials. It stepped out - then found that a window had been opened to oppose courtroom sealing. It wrote in to Judge Furman, see below and The New Yorker of June 16: "Matthew Russell Lee, an independent journalist who covered the first trial, recently filed an objection to the government’s motion to seal the courtroom during testimony from C.I.A. officers, but it appears that that condition will again apply."
On June 8 there was a final pre-trial conference, also in courtroom 15A; Inner City Press live tweeted:
OK- at #CIA #Vault7 leak case of US v. Schulte, Inner City Press which has opposed sealing is here, with half dozen gov't reps.
Now US wants to quash subpoena on a witness.
Judge: I would like to avoid sidebars... esp due to Mr Schulte's US Marshals issue. [He has 2 Marshals sitting behind him]
AUSA: When we move to sealed witnesses... Judge: We'll have the jury leave too, to make no one is in the courtroom who shouldn't be. Openings at earliest Tuesday [and probably later]. Four alternates.
Judge: 10 peremptories for the defense. 6 for the US. I'll tell jurors Mr Schulte is charged with 9 crimes [incl with] Wikileaks.
Schulte: Stress that I am presumed innocent.
Judge: I intend to ask jurors if they are vaccinated and boosted.
AUSA: We want our experts and former case agent in the court during other witnesses' testimony. Judge: Experts yes, case agent no.
Judge: Witnesses cannot read transcripts or media. A/V dry run, you can do it when in the courtroom, Mr Schulte.
Schulte: I'll be here til 4 on my Friday SCIF day.
Judge: We'll take up the rest in our classified setting. Adjourned.
Then the prosecutors and Marshals stood around Schulte as he tried to charge his laptop. The continued session would be elsewhere in the courthouse, sealed.
Back on April 13, 2022, Judge Furman held a conference with Schulte present. Inner City Press live tweeted it here....
Previously, Judge Crotty held another proceeding with Schulte and his stand-by counsel. Schulte was moved to the MDC: "JOSHUA ADAM SCHULTE Register Number: 79471-054 Age: 33 Race: White Sex: Male Located at: Brooklyn MDC Release Date: UNKNOWN." [And see its Oct 15 MCC video here]
On March 2, 2021 were the closing arguments [in the first trial], which Inner City Press tweeted, thread here
More on Patreon here.
See Inner City Press filing into the docket on Big Cases Bot, here. Watch this site. The case is US v. Schulte, 17-cr-548 (Furman).
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