A former senior CIA official whose case made headlines after FBI brokers discovered over $40 million in gold bars in his Virginia dwelling will remain in jail pending a trial in the case, a federal decide dominated Friday.
During Friday’s detention listening to for David Rush, who allegedly lied about his training and navy background in purposes to be part of and be promoted throughout the agency, prosecutors referred to as the previous CIA officer a “master manipulator.”
“Mr. Rush is in a world of trouble,” prosecutor Gavin Tisdale instructed Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick in Alexandria, Virginia, on Friday morning — arguing that Rush had the means and motivation to flee. “Mr. Rush simply cannot be trusted.”
Rush has been charged with theft of public cash over $77,000 in paid navy go away that prosecutors stated he was not eligible for, having been honorably discharged in 2015. He has not entered a plea.
Rush’s arrest has prompted a response throughout the CIA. Several decrease stage CIA workers have been positioned on go away and different extra senior officers had been reassigned over how they managed Rush’s requests for cash or for failing to catch preliminary inner flags that his requests might not have been a professional half of his work, in accordance to a supply accustomed to the matter.
NCS has reached out to CIA for remark.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe, alongside performing Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel, additionally briefed prime lawmakers on Capitol Hill and President Donald Trump on the case, 4 sources accustomed to the conferences instructed NCS.
Judge Fitzpatrick stated on the Friday listening to that discovery has not been supplied at this stage of the case and “the heart of the complaint” towards Rush “is essentially false statements” however finally discovered Rush had “the means and the motive” to current a flight threat.
“The government clearly satisfied its burden,” Fitzpatrick stated, including that as extra proof is supplied the protection they may file a movement to rethink the detention order.
According to the FBI’s affidavit, Rush lied about his academic background in addition to his navy service throughout a number of purposes to the CIA, together with in one software for development.
“We are here on a single charge of timecard fraud,” Rush’s lawyer, Jessica Carmichael, argued Friday, noting that every one the gold bars — which introduced nationwide consideration to the case — had been accounted for in Rush’s basement, locked in a protected.
“The gold bars requested and approved are all accounted for,” his lawyer stated, noting the CIA had given her consumer the gold for work and that he has not been charged over these requested funds.
Tisdale stated Rush “was not supposed to have that sort of funds in his home” and whereas the FBI discovering all of the gold bars “might be good news for Mr. Rush,” the case towards him will get stronger “every day.”
In addition to his request for the gold bars, which prosecutors stated had been improperly saved at his dwelling, Rush additionally requested a major quantity of overseas foreign money, prosecutors stated, a lot of which stays unaccounted for.
“It is not the defense’s job” to account for the overseas foreign money, Carmichael stated, including that she is performing with a “blindfold on” over the “new sensational accusations” from the morning’s sealed listening to.
The public portion of the listening to adopted a closed-door session that lasted 40 minutes the place the decide heard extra proof from the federal government concerning the case.
Tisdale additionally stated Rush had bought commodities that may assist make funds and purchases more durable to uncover, together with the 35 luxurious watches seized from his dwelling in May.
Carmichael argued that whereas “some of these claims” towards her consumer “sound bizarre and secretive,” the very nature of the CIA and its work is usually “bizarre and secretive.”
Rush’s lawyer additionally instructed the decide she wants the prosecutors to inform her “the specific protocols that are required” to get hold of the funds Rush stored.
Carmichael concluded by arguing the gold bars had been now a “non-issue” and that the federal government’s case for detention rested on “vague allegations.”
This story was up to date with reporting from the listening to.