To Avoid Subpoena, Fusion GPS Seeks Recusal Of Judge Who Served On Trump Transition

Daily Caller– Fusion GPS is ramping up its efforts to avoid giving depositions in a dossier-related lawsuit being heard in federal court.

On Monday, lawyers for the opposition research firm submitted a request to federal court in Washington, D.C. seeking the recusal of Judge Trevor McFadden.

McFadden, the Fusion lawyers note, served on the Trump presidential transition team and also worked at the Justice Department last year, when Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley referred Fusion for potential violations of foreign lobbying laws.

The lawyers argue that McFadden’s prior work on the Trump transition “raises issues as to whether in this case the Court’s ‘impartiality might reasonably be questioned.’”

Fusion GPS is not directly involved in the lawsuit, in which Russian businessman Aleksej Gubarev is suing BuzzFeed News in federal court in Florida for publishing the dossier.

A Dec. 13, 2016 memo of the dossier, written by former British spy Christopher Steele, accuses Gubarev of using his web-hosting companies to hack into the DNC’s computer systems on behalf of the Russian government.

Gubarev has vehemently denied the allegation and is suing both BuzzFeed and Steele.

Fusion filed suit in Washington, D.C. to try to quash a subpoena from Gubarev’s lawyers seeking documents related to the dossier as well as depositions of its employees.

The federal court did not respond to a request for comment about the recusal request, but McFadden signed an order in response to Fusion saying that the court “would welcome” a briefing regarding potential recusal.

Evan Fray-Witzer, a lawyer for Gubarev, says that he trusts that McFadden will make “an impartial decision” regarding recusal.

But he also blasted Fusion GPS for what he says is a “shocking display of hypocrisy.”  more here