The Blacklist

Chapter 407 Hearing of Reddington
Carrie's strategy is very clear. Reddington was arrested because he is a wanted criminal, and Holt had leaked the news through the media before, causing a social impact. Releasing him directly would cause an uproar, so he would attack from the side first, take down the arrogant prosecutor Holt, and take control of the case investigation rights in his own hands.

The next step is to convince the federal judge who will hear the case - the exemption documents issued by various agencies cannot be made public, but they are enough to influence the judge's judgment.

At noon that day, Carrie sent Elizabeth with the authorization document from the Federal Attorney General to the NYPD to bring Reddington back to the CTU State Bureau. Although he could not move freely for the time being, he could live more comfortably within CTU.

As soon as he saw Carrie, Reddington laughed and said, "Lee, I knew you had a way to get me out, thank you!"

"Old Lei, can't you just not eat that burrito?" Carrie said angrily, "You don't really think you're an ordinary old man, strolling around the street casually?"

Reddington was embarrassed when he heard this, but Gina, Elizabeth, Dembe and others all laughed.
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After lunch, Carrie handed over the task of investigating the Holt case to CTU-NY State Bureau, and then "escorted" Reddington back to Washington with the post office. This was a semi-public trip, and all the law enforcement agencies in New York knew what happened in the morning. They talked about it, but no one came out to stop it. The arrogant and domineering Eastern District U.S. Attorney Holt was instantly taken down by CTU, and all departments saw the strength of this organization.

On the plane, Reddington sat next to Carrie with a glass of red wine and asked, "Lee, tell me, how did you take down Holt? I'm very curious."

"It's very simple!" Carrie said, "Hoth himself is not clean. He accepted bribes and fabricated cases. This time he directly took 150 million from the Russian Federal Security Service. He wants to use this case to kill you! Abby found out the anomaly in that case, and Corissa found out the information of her account. I sent these two pieces of information to the Attorney General. Of course, he knows what to choose!"

"Got it!" Reddington nodded. "That is to say, Holt will not be able to go to court and will be dealt with in a low-key manner. Otherwise, the DOJ will lose face!"

"Well, it should be." At this point, Kerry glanced at him and said, "Old Lei, don't worry about it. Things will naturally be handled. You don't need to intervene, so as not to cause new troubles!"

"Don't worry, I know." Reddington agreed. DOJ is not a soft-hearted organization. Hoth's fate is already doomed and it won't be long.
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From Saturday night until Wednesday of the following week, Reddington was "detained" in the post office. He took advantage of these days to play with all the leisure facilities in the building, and even shot twice in the shooting range on the third floor!
During this period, he also went to see the "box" where he was once imprisoned. He felt very emotional when he thought that it had been more than five and a half years since he surrendered to the FBI.
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On Thursday, November 11, the Supreme Court designated the United States Eastern District Circuit to hear the Reddington case.

Subsequently, the Eastern District Circuit Court designated its Chief Judge Roberta Wilkins to preside over the trial, and the Eastern District U.S. Attorney's Office sent Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Cima as the prosecutor.

At the first closed hearing before the trial, Judge Roberta refused to allow Reddington to hire a private lawyer on the grounds that the case was serious!

Therefore, the Federal Public Defender's Office sent assistant attorney Jerome Lonergan to serve as the defense attorney. Reddington expressed his disagreement and applied for self-defense, which was approved by the judge.

Everyone in CTU sitting in the courtroom felt that the judge was targeting Reddington and discussed the matter quietly.

Carrie didn't say anything, but he knew in his heart that according to previous investigations, Judge Roberta was still very fair. The reason why she behaved this way was probably because she had already convicted Reddington in her mind. If he wanted to win this case, he had to influence his concept.
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The next day was a bail hearing requested by Reddington. The prosecutor clearly expressed his opposition, believing that Reddington was the FBI's most wanted criminal and had committed dozens or even hundreds of federal felonies, and that bail regulations should never apply to him.

Judge Roberta was about to agree with the prosecutor's opinion, but Reddington raised his hand and said, "Judge, the reason I applied for bail is because I have more important things to do!" As he spoke, he held up a newspaper of the day and pointed to the headline news on it, "This is what I saw in the lounge before going to court. Several bodies were found in a warehouse in Virginia yesterday. The local police suspected that it was caused by underground drug experiments... Well, this suspicion makes sense, and I can provide clues to help CTU find the person who conducted the experiment!"

Upon hearing this, the judge, prosecutor, recorder, bailiff and others in the courtroom were stunned. However, the CTU agents and several senior officials from DOJ and FBI who were allowed to attend the trial were very calm.

Judge Roberta was stunned for a moment, then looked at the CTU people sitting in the hearing room and asked, "Director Donald, I want to know what's going on?"

Because the court was full of civil servants, Donald stood up and said directly: "Judge Roberta, Reddington means that he is our CTU informant and has been helping us solve major cases!"

Roberta was very surprised and immediately called Donald to the court to ask what was going on.

Donald pointed at the people behind him and said, "In March 2013, Reddington became our FBI informant, and then the relationship was transferred to DOJ. After the establishment of CTU, he cooperated with us. I called the senior officials of these two departments today to confirm this matter with Judge Roberta."

Although Donald did not say more, the knowledgeable Roberta still understood the meaning of his words and asked in a low voice: "You mean, Reddington has an immunity agreement with the government agency?"

Donald did not give a clear answer, but said: "Judge, I cannot reveal the details to you without authorization... But I brought a confidentiality agreement, what do you think?"

As an impartial judge, Roberta has always been pursuing the truth. Upon hearing this, she immediately announced a recess and asked Donald to bring the relevant people to the judge's office with her to clarify things.

After signing three confidentiality agreements with CTU, FBI and DOJ, Roberta saw a series of exemption documents issued by the three agencies, proving that Reddington had been cooperating with federal law enforcement agencies since March 2013!

Although Donald could not mention specific cases, he said that Reddington played a huge role, even indispensable!

(End of this chapter)