The ruling is a legal victory for special counsel Robert Mueller, who was appointed to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election. | Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images mueller investigation U.S. judge rejects move to dismiss Mueller indictment against Russian firm

Special counsel Robert Mueller on Thursday scored a legal victory after a federal judge denied a Russian firm’s motion to dismiss charges against it.

Judge Dabney Friedrich, who President Donald Trump appointed to the U.S. District Court of D.C. last year, shot down the motion from Concord Management and Consulting, a St. Petersburg-based firm that prosecutors say financed and organized an army of internet trolls and social media ad buys as well as other tactics to try and sow discord in the U.S. and aid Trump’s candidacy for president.


Mueller, who was appointed to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election, charged Concord as well as two other Russian businesses and 13 Russian individuals in February of this year.

The firm, which prosecutors allege is run by Yevgeniy Prigozhin, a Russian oligarch with close ties to Russian president Vladimir Putin, entered a not guilty plea in court and sought to prove that the charges brought against them were intended only to score political points for the probe and prove its legitimacy.

“The reason is obvious, and is political: to justify his own existence the Special Counsel has to indict a Russian — any Russian," attorneys for the firm argued in May about the reason for the indictment.

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Lawyers for Concord also argued that Mueller’s appointment was illegal and unconstitutional, a claim that had been rejected by three other federal judges before Friedrich also rejected it in August, while also allowing that Supreme Court precedent and not explicit statutory authority factored into her decision.

That Concord retained American attorneys for the case, and is participating in it at all is viewed as an attempt to get a glimpse of the evidence Mueller’s team has compiled, given that no human defendant will likely ever appear in a U.S. court for the case. Some lawyers believe that prosecutors will end up having Concord struck from the case rather than reveal sensitive information about the investigation.

In Thursday’s filing, Friedrich gave both parties a Nov. 28 deadline to confer on a schedule to move forward with proceedings.

