| Assange Visitors
Sued Pompeo For 4th AM
Violations Now Get 1 Month
Extension to File
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
Book
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
May 5 – 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.
[July 20 denial
of access here;
Brutal
Kangaroo]
On August 15,
2022 after conviction Schulte,
a group of lawyers and
journalist who visited Julian
Assange in the Ecuador Embassy
in London sued Mike Pompeo for
surveillance in violation of
the US Fourth Amendment. They
held a press
conference, and Inner
City Press asked if they will
seek emergency relief. Not for
now (video here;
Complaint here).
On October 12,
plaintiffs' counsel asked to
adjourn and postpone the
October 17 conference in the
case: "Plaintiffs had
difficulty locating the
accurate addresses for the two
Spanish defendants, David
Morales (“Morales”), a Spanish
citizen, and Undercover Global
S.L. (“UC Global”), a Spanish
corporation."
On January 13,
2023, the US Attorney's Office
wrote to Judge Koetlt
requesting a pre-motion
hearing for them to dismiss
the complaint against Pompeo
and the CIA. DOJ argues
that there is no "Bivens"
remedy available, and states
that "matters intimately
related to foreign policy and
national security are rarely
proper subjects for judicial
intervention."
On January 18,
the plaintiffs responded that
the CIA and Pompeo have
defaulted, and waited until
the last day to filed a letter
for a pre-motion conference.
They note they are not suing
the CIA for money, only an
injunction against sharing
information. They say the
Court will conclude that the
Defaulted Defendants motion to
dismiss should be denied.
On Saturday,
January 14, Judge Koeltl
ordered that "the parties are
directed to appear on January
20, 2023 at 2:00 p.m. (Signed
by Judge John G. Koeltl on
1/13/2023) (jca)
On January 20,
Inner City Press covered and
live tweeted it, thread here.
On February 16,
US DOJ requested and obtained
another 30 day extension,
saying the Fourth Amendment
claim requires it. The
plaintiffs did not consent,
but the extension was granted.
Letter on Patreon here.
On March 16,
Judge Koeltl granted a joint
request under which the CIA
and Pompeo expanded their word
limit to 14,000 - and the
plaintiff's delayed their
opposition to May 8, reply May
30.
But on May 4,
plaintiffs' counsel wrote in
asking for an additional money
due to being on trial and
traveling. On May 5 Judge
Koeltl granted the extra
month.
On March 20, the
US filed its 42 page motion to
dismiss, arguing among other
things that Plaintiffs Had No
Reasonable Expectation in
their alleged conversations
with Assange, and that the
"incident" capture of US
Citizen info during
extraterritorial surveillance
of foreign targets does not
violation the 4th Amendment."
More on Substack
here. Inner City Press
will stay on the case.
Inner City
Press will stay on this.
Back on October
13, Judge Koeltl pushed the
initial pre-trial conference
back to February 21, 2023:
"ORDER granting [13] Letter
Motion to Adjourn Conference.
Adjourned to Tuesday, February
21, 2023, at 2:30 PM. SO
ORDERED."
On November 29
Morales' and UC Global's
lawyer filed a denial full of
misspellings, such as pointing
to Wikipedia to state that
"purpouse [sp] far from acting
as journalistic information
whose sole purpose is dissent
and media manipulation in
order to influence public
opinion with the clear
intention of destabilizing the
interests of Western
countries," etc.
On December 8,
Judge Koeltl ruled starting
" ORDER: The plaintiffs
in this action have served all
four of the defendants. See
ECF Nos. 15-19. For two of
those defendants, the Central
Intelligence Agency ("CIA")
and Michael R. Pompeo, the
deadlines to answer were
November 9, 2022, and November
18, 2022, respectively. To
date, neither of those
defendants has answered or
otherwise responded to the
complaint. The time for these
two defendants to answer is
extended-" full Order on
Patreon here.
And this: "NOTICE
OF APPEARANCE by Jean-David
Barnea on behalf of Central
Intelligence Agency, Michael
R. Pompeo..(Barnea,
Jean-David)."
On February 21,
Judge Koeltl ordered: "on
December 8, 2022, the Court
directed those defendants to
obtain local counsel and to
ensure that such local counsel
filed a notice of appearance
and, if necessary, an
application for admission pro
hac vice on or before January
30, 2023. See ECF No. 21. The
Court also directed those
defendants to submit a letter,
with local counsel's
assistance, indicating whether
the November 29, 2022
submission was intended as an
answer to the complaint or a
motion to dismiss. Id. That
letter was due no later than
February 10, 2023. To date,
there has not been any
appearance by local counsel
for Mr. Guillen or for
Undercover Global S.L., and
the requested letter was never
filed. The Court notes, as it
did in its prior Order, that
Mr. Guillen may proceed prose,
but that Undercover Global
S.L., as a corporate
defendant, must appear by
counsel. The time for Mr.
Guillen and Undercover Global
S.L. to retain local counsel
is extended to March 21, 2023.
Local counsel should file a
notice of appearance and, if
needed, an application for
admission pro hac vice by that
date. By April 7, 2023, local
counsel for Mr. Guillen and
for Undercover Global S.L. (or
for only Undercover Global
S.L., in the event Mr. Guillen
chooses to proceed prose)
should file a letter
indicating whether the
November 29, 2022 submission
(ECF No. 20) was intended as
an answer or as a motion to
dismiss. If local counsel
wishes to file a new
responsive pleading or motion,
local counsel may request an
opportunity to do so in that
letter. If Mr. Guillen chooses
to proceed prose, he should
file his own letter meeting
the same requirements by the
same deadline. The plaintiffs
are directed to serve a copy
of this Order and of the
Court's December 8, 2022 Order
(ECF No. 21) on both Mr.
Guillen and Undercover Global
S.L. and to file proof of such
service on the docket by March
3, 2023. SO ORDERED. (Signed
by Judge John G. Koeltl on
2/21/2023)."
Inner City
Press will continue to cover
the case.
Back in August,
Inner City Press immediately
asked the United Nations, from
which it remains banned,
"What are the comments and
actions if any of SG Antonio
Guterres on lawsuit filed Aug
15, 2022 in SDNY alleging that
lawyers and journalists visting
Assange in the Ecuadorian
Embassy in London were spied
on?" No answer.
On August 16, the case was
assigned to SDNY District Judge
John G. Koeltl, of whom Inner
City Press has so far reported
on 223 cases. It will report on
this one. There was an earlier
notice: "info for these parties
has been modified: Margaret
Ratner Kunstler, Deborah Hrbek,
John Goetz, Charles Glass, CIA,
Michael R. Pompeo, David Morales
Guillen, Undercover Global
S.L.," tweeted here.
It is Kunstler, et al. v.
Central Intelligence Agency, et
al., 22-cv-6913 (Koeltl)
***
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