Mueller collected 'nude selfie' in probe, says indicted Russian firm

A lawyer for a Russian company accused of bankrolling efforts to disrupt the 2016 presidential campaign has said that special counsel Robert S. Mueller III has "collected a nude selfie" as part of his probe into the case.

An attorney for Concord Management and Consulting LLC, the Russian firm that has been in the crosshairs of the Mueller team for allegedly interfering in the election, made the claim in court filings on Thursday, the Washington Post reported on Friday.

"Could the manner in which he (Mueller) collected a nude selfie really threaten the national security of the US?" Attorney Eric A. Dubelier said in the filing, adding that the Mueller's team illegally kept information from the company.

The document provided no further details on the selfie, such as who was depicted in the photo and when or where it was taken, the report said.

Concord is owned by Yevgeniy Prigozhin, a Russian businessman known as "Putin's chef" because of his close relationship to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The firm had pleaded not guilty to a February indictment charging it, 13 Russian individuals and two other companies with conspiracy in an online effort to trick Americans into following and promoting Russian-fed propaganda that favoured then-candidate Donald Trump and pushed voters away from his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

In the latest filing, Dubelier said he and other attorneys were working their way through "millions of pages of allegedly sensitive discovery" and accused Mueller of being "ignorant of the information available to the general public of the collection techniques he used in this matter".

He added that, while his effort was "likely fruitless," he was compelled to object "both for Concord and every other defendant to whom the special counsel believes the laws and rules of the US no longer apply to his novel adventures."

Mueller is investigating the Russian interference in the election as well as possible collusion between Moscow and the Trump campaign.

--IANS

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