Judge refuses to dismiss ex-Trump aide Manafort’s criminal case

Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein had followed justice department’s rules

In this Nov. 6, 2017 photo, Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, leaves the federal courthouse in Washington. A federal judge in Washington says special counsel Robert Mueller was working within his authority when he brought charges against President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman.   (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
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A federal judge dealt president Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort a major blow on Tuesday by refusing to dismiss criminal charges brought by special counsel Robert Mueller, after Mr Manafort claimed that the probe has run amok and should be reined in.

In a sharp rebuke of those claims, judge Amy Berman Jackson of United States district court for the District of Columbia ruled that deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein had followed all the justice department’s rules when he hired Mr Mueller and the case against Mr Manafort is not overly broad or improper.

Mr Rosenstein “expressly approved the special counsel’s investigation of the facts alleged in the indictment, so there has been no violation of the regulations, and the special counsel did not act without authority,” wrote judge Jackson, who was appointed by Democratic president Barack Obama.

In response to the ruling, Manafort spokesman Jason Maloni said: “Paul Manafort maintains his innocence and looks forward to prevailing in this matter.” A spokesman for the Special Counsel declined to comment.

Mr Manafort, who performed lobbying work for a pro-Russian former Ukrainian president before serving as US president Mr Trump’s campaign chairman in 2016, is facing two indictments brought by Mr Mueller in federal courts in Washington and Alexandria, Virginia.

The charges against him in the Washington case include conspiring to launder money, conspiring to defraud the US and failing to register as a foreign agent. In Virginia, he faces charges including bank fraud and filing false tax returns.

He has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges, none of which are directly related to work he performed for Mr Trump’s campaign.

In both criminal cases, Mr Manafort has asked the courts to dismiss the charges on the grounds that Mr Rosenstein’s May 17, 2017 appointment order hiring the special counsel runs afoul of justice department rules on special counsels. He has also argued that Mr Mueller’s case against him has nothing to do with Russian interference in the 2016 election, and that the probe by the FBI into his Ukraine dealings predates the Russia probe.

Mr Trump has denied that his campaign colluded with Russia and called the probe that has dogged his presidency a “witch hunt”.

Judge Jackson was not moved by any of Mr Manafort’s assertions.

“Manafort was, at one time, not merely ‘associated with,’ but the chairman of, the presidential campaign, and his work on behalf of the Russia-backed Ukrainian political party and connections to other Russian figures are matters of public record,” she wrote, adding that it was “logical” for investigators to probe Mr Manafort’s dealings.

Her ruling also pointed to an August 2017 memo by Mr Rosenstein that further detailed the scope of the probe. That memo explicitly gave the special counsel authority to probe all of Mr Manafort’s Ukraine-related work predating the 2016 campaign.

Republicans in the House of Representatives who are critical of the probe have pressed the justice department in recent months to provide them with an unredacted copy of the August memo.

The ruling marks a setback for Mr Manafort, who last month was buoyed when the judge in the Alexandria case aggressively questioned prosecutors about whether their case was overly broad and mused that he believed they were using the charges to get him to turn over dirt on Mr Trump.

That judge, TS Ellis III for the eastern district of Virginia, has yet to rule on whether to dismiss the charges against Mr Manafort.

Judge Ellis, who was appointed to the bench by Republican president Ronald Reagan, has also said he too wants to see an unredacted copy before he can fully form a decision on whether to dismiss the charges.

He told prosecutors to turn over a copy to him by Friday.