Paul Manafort appeared in court again Thursday as he continues to try to get charges against him dismissed, arguing Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation is too broad.
Defense attorney Kevin Downing argued anew to U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington that even Mueller’s appointment order permitting him to probe “any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation” wouldn’t cover the political consulting work that Manafort did in Ukraine for a decade.
But Justice Department attorney Michael Dreeben said prosecutors were justified in investigating Manafort because he had served as Trump’s campaign chairman.
“He had long-standing ties to Russia-backed politicians,” Dreeben told Jackson. “Did they provide back channels to Russia? Investigators will naturally look at those things.”
... [Judge] Berman Jackson questioned Manafort’s attorney Kevin Downing’s assertion that Special Counsel Robert Mueller overstepped his authority in bringing charges that Downing said fell outside of parameters set by the Justice Department’s No. 2 official Rod Rosenstein.
Jackson signalled some willingness to consider whether at least one count in the indictment could be dismissed because the criminal action cited was covered by another charge.
Prosecutors’ sharpened rhetoric came as Manafort’s attorneys argued that Mueller exceeded his authority by charging Manafort with numerous felonies, including conspiracy, bank and tax fraud, and money laundering, related to work before 2014 on behalf of Ukraine’s pro-Russian president at the time, Viktor Yanukovych.
Downing said the FBI in 2014 closed out an earlier investigation of Manafort’s Ukraine business dealings without pursuing charges, meaning the matter cannot be covered by Mueller’s probe.
Dreeben said the special counsel had explicit authority from Rosenstein to probe Manafort’s Ukraine dealings based on an August 2017 memo.
“It is not a blank check,” Dreeben said of Rosenstein’s parameters for the probe.
The memo was written a month after the FBI executed a search warrant at Manafort’s home in Alexandria, Virginia. Downing said Rosenstein’s memo seemed to come “after the fact” to justify the investigation.
Jackson heard similar arguments about Mueller’s authority at a hearing on April 4, when Downing defended his civil lawsuit that also said prosecutors had no authority to charge Manafort. The judge expressed deep skepticism then about whether a civil lawsuit was the proper legal step. She didn’t say when she would rule in either case.
The same questions will be tested again on May 7 in Virginia, where Manafort has moved to toss out a second criminal case brought by the special counsel.
Ex-Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort in court asking to have criminal case dropped (WaPo)
Manafort Suspected of Serving as ‘Back Channel’ to Russia, DOJ Says (Bloomberg Politics)
Judge questions Trump ex-campaign chief's bid to dismiss all charges (Reuters)